"Blues Drummer" Don Castagno Interview
www.Facebook.com/Don.Castagno.9
Interview by Roger Zee (05/18/21)
Top Photo: Dragan Tasic
Roger Zee: Who inspired you to take up the drums? Do you sing or play any other instruments?
Don Castagno: Well, it really all started with Ringo and The Beatles -- the musical "Big Bang" of my life! I would constantly listen to my transistor radio to hear the new Beatles song and the top ten countdown. One year, I received a silver sparkle Ludwig snare drum for Christmas and then added a cymbal. A couple years later I got a drum set from my older brother's college roommate -- a Gretsch round badge kit which I used when I first came to NYC and still own today.
As a kid, most of what I heard came from AM radio. For me, it really became all about songs and how the drums fit into them. The guys I listened to played on the records -- Ringo, Charlie Watts, Doug Clifford of CCR, and Mick Waller with Rod Stewart. At the same time, I also heard all the Motown and Memphis stuff on the radio. Such incredible music. Although I don't think I knew about Hal Blaine at the time, I certainly listened to him a lot. Same with Earl Palmer, Roger Hawkins, DJ Fontana, Buddy Harmon, etc.
Later on, but before I came to NY, I got into Bobby Colomby with Blood, Sweat, and Tears, Clive Bunker with Jethro Tull, Kenny Buttrey, Russ Kunkel, and Levon Helm. Because I grew up in the country in Central Illinois, a couple hundred miles south of Chicago, I couldn't see guys play live. When I reached NYC, it felt so good to watch and get to know great musicians who not only played big shows/tours, but also gigged around town. One of my bands that worked a lot at the Lone Star Cafe opened up once for Robert Gordon there and I saw Bobby Chouinard do his thing on that gig. He amazed me and quickly became one of my drum heroes.
For Blues drumming, I listened to Sonny Freeman with BB King, Casey Jones with Albert Collins, Freddie Below, George Rains, Willie "Big Eyes' Smith among others. For Swing, my main guy became Sonny Payne with Count Basie -- IMHO, the greatest Big Band drummer ever!
RZ: You and I first met in the early Eighties when we played together in the Rich Deans Band. Talk about some of the musicians and groups you've gigged and recorded with.
LF: I played my first gigs at Folk City in the West Village, NYC with a band called Mark Johnson and the Wild Alligators. Mark's a great songwriter and does what they now call "Power Pop," melodic Beatle-esque Rock 'n' Roll. We developed a following and buzz around town. Jerry Wexler came down to Kenny's Castaways to see us.
We played a private showcase for Clive Davis. Very cool. I also worked with some of the Folk artists in the Village like Rod MacDonald and Mike Fracasso.
I played the Lone Star Cafe a bunch with a fellow from Louisiana named Will Rambeaux. From playing at the Lone Star, I got called to do some gigs with Rockin' Rob Stoner, bass player with the Rolling Thunder Review, who had an album coming out on MCA. That's kind of the first "journeyman" drumming gig I did, as opposed to either "being in a band" or just doing one off gigs around town.
I started getting more into the East Village music scene and worked for quite a while with a rockabilly singer named Eddy Dixon. Jimmy Accardi played guitar on that gig. His band, The Laughing Dogs, had just broken up. Dixon got hired to do some re-recording of a few songs, "Raunchy," "Be-Bop-a-Lula," and "20 Flight Rock" for a
documentary about the Beatles for United Artists called "The Complete Beatles". Sort of like the "Beatles Anthology" before the "Beatles Anthology." Pretty exciting seeing the movie and hearing some of my drumming in it given I'm such a Beatles fan.
We recorded the session at the Shirt House in Park Slope, NY on the ground floor of the townhouse used by The Shirts. They had come out of the CBGB's scene and recorded three albums for Capitol. When their drummer left, I got a call and ended up joining them for a year and a half or so.
Later in the Eighties, I did a lot of different work including playing in a band with Shirts guitarist/songwriter Artie Lamonica called "Jing". We made one album. Currently, I'm recording tracks with bass player, songwriter Bob of The Shirts for an album with his group, The Botsband.
Jimmy Accardi had a studio in his apartment and started doing a bunch of Hip Hop tracks. He called me for a session with Kris Parker and Scott LaRock, known as Boogie Down Productions (BDP). I programmed the drums on a track called "South Bronx". The world knows Kris better as KRS-1. Scott got tragically killed not long after the single came out. The song became something of a Hip-Hop hit, and they used some of it in the middle break section of Jennifer Lopez's "Jenny From the Block."
I also did an Off-Broadway type comedy review show once a week, Under Acme, called "The Blue Light Club." That show included the late, great guitarist Adam Roth, his brother CP Roth, Jimmy Accardi and others. One of the comedians who did the show sometimes was Denis Leary, got a deal with A&M. Fortunately I got to play
drums on his debut album "No Cure For Cancer." The song "Asshole" turned into a cult classic for him. A fun session!
Also in that period of the Eighties, I played in a very cool band with Phillipe Marcade, the former front man for The Senders. A six piece band, The Backbones included sax, two guitars, bass and myself. We did a high energy kind of Soul and R&B thing. A good band that put on a really good show!
At this point, NYC had developed a very active country circuit. I played a lot of gigs with lots of different country bands. I also started subbing a lot for Blues guitarist Bobby Radcliff at Dan Lynch and other Blues clubs in NY and even some out of town. I met Popa Chubby while playing in a Rock band before he became "Popa
Chubby". Ted (Popa Chubby) was good at getting gigs and also good at keeping them once he got them. We worked a lot at all the Blues clubs in town. He eventually got the gig running the Sunday night Blues jam at Manny's Car Wash in NYC, which I did with him for a couple years. We performed with some major players who came through the jam including Stephen Stills, Odetta, Hiram Bullock, George Porter Jr., among others. We also backed up Blues greats, Earl King, Hubert Sumlin, A C Reed as well as other Blues artists who came to play Manny's but needed a band.
In 1993, Debbie Davies' manager called to see if I could do a two week tour they had coming up. Debbie, originally from California, had relocated to the East Coast and needed players out here. The first gig on that tour took place in Memphis. I signed on, and stayed on the road with her band for the next twenty-five years.
Davies had launched her solo career a couple of years earlier, after working in The Icebreakers, Albert Collins' band for several years. She wrote, sang, and played incredible guitar! We wore out several vans criss-crossing the lower 48 states and Canada playing clubs and festivals. Also made it up to Alaska and out to Hawaii as well as Europe, Australia and the Caribbean. In 1997, Debbie won the W.C. Handy Award for Best Contemporary Female Artist. Also the 2010 Blues Music Award for Best Traditional Female Artist. We performed at both of those award shows. On the 2010 show we also backed up Cyril Neville.
As well as playing drums on many of Debbie's albums, I also placed songs on twelve out of the thirteen recordings she released. In three of those albums, Davies and I wrote all the songs either together or alone. In 2015, when Davies moved back to California, I continued to gig locally with different bands doing Blues, Rock 'n' Roll, Zydeco, and Swing. For most of 2018, I played with upstate NY Soul Bluesman Slam Allen. We
worked a lot at the new casino in Monticello, NY and did some touring Stateside and also went to Europe.
RZ: What drums do you currently play?
LF: Well because of the pandemic, I do a lot of little, outdoor kinds of gigs. So I put together a kit with a split, shallow bass drum that fits in a small band area. It's kind of a mish mosh of brands. When on the road with Debbie, I used a black Yamaha Recording Custom kit. When I bought it, I picked up a couple of extra
toms. So by adding another black bass drum to the 10" and 13" toms, I could keep a second "city kit" in town and leave the rest of it in a van for the touring band.
I also bought a nice little Tama kit a few years back with an 18" bass drum, and 12"
and 14" toms with a beautiful, cherry wood finish. If I need to bring drums in town now, I take that one a lot. Over the years, I mostly used snare drums from Ludwig or Pearl. My favorite's a 2.5" X 13" maple piccolo. If you don't tune it too high, you get a great, throaty sound, and a hell of a wallop when
you crack it. It's also great for traveling on planes to Europe, etc. It fits in your carry on bag. Lot of clubs keep house drums, and that's a beautiful thing! I mainly use Zildjian cymbals with a Sabian or two thrown in every so often.
RZ: Talk about what and how you practice.
LF: I work on a lot of stuff now related to the things I play on gigs -- familiarizing myself with a band's repertoire or approach to playing certain tunes/grooves, etc. I also check out certain drummers with the help of YouTube and a bunch of their tracks. Kind of a style and analysis thing. Also, I work out on a drum pad daily to keep the hands in shape. I put together a program of various tempos so I can go from one to the other without having to reset the click.
RZ: How did you start songwriting? Talk about your "greatest hits!"
LF: At twelve, I wrote my first song, a country tune. Since I didn't play guitar at the time, I just sang it while I played drums. I recorded it on a reel to reel tape that we sent, along with other messages, to my uncle in the Air Force in Vietnam. I remember my Dad once making a point about something, saying, "It's like what Don said in that song..." Seemed pretty cool, the idea of framing a thought in a lyric, with melody and rhyme. And then hearing it become words that someone else would use to express something. Songs would often serve that purpose for me, so when I realized I could do that too, I kept going back to it.
I went through a phase where I did the guitar/harmonica, Folkie kind of thing. That lasted for a time, but
once I got to NY and started playing drums with lots of different bands and singer/songwriters, I stopped focusing on it. When I started working with Blues bands five or six nights a week in NYC and listening to Blues during the day, I started writing in that style. Popa Chubby recorded one of my songs on his first
record. And then when I started working with Debbie Davies, she started putting one or two songs on her albums. Eventually, it got to a point where either as co-writers or separately, we both wrote the whole record.
The TV show, "True Blood," used a tune I wrote called "Scratches," season 2, episode 5. They named the episode after the song and used it for the closing credits. Not sure if you could call that "my hit," but I definitely made more money off of that song than any of the others. Besides Debbie recording over thirty of my tunes, Coco Montoya, Anson Fundeburgh, Sam Myers, and Jay Stollman, among others, covered some of my tunes. I also write country and have an album in the can that I co-wrote and recorded with Rob Taube at his "Groove Garden" studio.
RZ: Do you teach drums or songwriting?
LF: I haven't taught drums for a while now. I originally rented a drum space in the East Village, NY in a music building that I shared with other drummers. That room lasted about twenty-three years and I used to teach some out of there. The landlord eventually took the space back and turned it into hourly rehearsal rooms.
A lot of my students were either older guys who played in Blues bands and wanted to improve their shuffle playing or younger, twenty-something people who wanted to start playing so they could get in a band. When the economy melted down in 2008, I saw a steep drop off in those kind of folks wanting to take lessons. Probably something to do with disposable income. Not long after that, I lost the space.
I liked teaching. It's like trying to solve a puzzle by finding the best way to explain some particular thing
so that each student can get it. I never taught songwriting. I could give people some tips however. Listen to as much of the Great American Songbook as you can. For a time, I would have 25 or so Sinatra CD's out on the
road with me.
RZ: How has the Pandemic affected you? What's on the horizon?
LF: The Pandemic caused a big break in the action. All of a sudden, everyone's gig book looked the same -- all empty! A unique situation. Certainly a sad and scary time, what with losing people you know and not even knowing if you're gonna survive another fourteen days. It's not clear yet how the music scene in NYC will
come back.
The few gigs I did this year all happened outdoors on Saturday afternoons. One new problem that musicians now face -- NYC eliminated over 30K parking spaces because of what they call "open restaurants." Owning and parking a car in NYC for musicians has now become ten times harder than before. Also, musicians who drive in to do gigs will find it a lot harder to park, even at night.
RZ: Describe your most special and/or unusual gig.
LF: One of the most special things I got to do in the music biz didn't actually happen on one of my gigs. Rather, I sat in and played double drums on four tunes with Levon Helm up at his Midnight Ramble. What an amazing experience! I played on a cocktail kit set up next to his drum kit. After the show, he gave a thumbs up
and said to me, "No flams!" That meant that our back beats locked in together. Boy, that made me feel good! I will be forever grateful to Ray Grappone who turned around and handed me the sticks and asked if I wanted to play.
Another cool thing that happened. One Monday evening, I got a call from Bill Sims Jr. who asked about my availability for a gig that night. I said yes and he said to go up to Elaine's restaurant on the Upper East Side. I threw my drums in the car and got up there only to discover that Ahmet Ertegun had hired Sims to play Blues while he and Eric Clapton dined. They ate while we shuffled away! Eric smiled and kept bopping his head. That's pretty cool.
The most unusual gig I ever did occurred at a nudist camp. The piano player and his wife were nudists and got the gig. Luckily for us he kept his clothes on for the entire job. However, at one point in the show, his wife came up, naked as a jaybird, and sang "Dancing in the Streets."
RZ: How do you see the future of the music business?
LF: That's a good question. I'm sure it will continue in whatever form it morphs into. When younger, I joined "original bands." In the music industry, that meant you play gigs, find a manager or a lawyer who shops your demo for a recording or a production deal. You did a showcase and you either got signed or you didn't. Now
it's completely different. "Music business" for me means finding enough places to play. And I hope that continues...
RZ: What advice do you give to up-and-coming musicians?
LF: They could probably give me some advice about how to use all the new media and platforms as it relates to a career in music. I could just give a lot of basic stuff. Like show up on time. Bring something to the table. Be someone people like working with. Strive for consistency in your performance. One other thing I
would tell young drummers: build yourself some kind of home recording studio. So as well as practice a lot, you can also record a bunch and really learn how to sound good on records.
RZ: Do you live with any animals?
LF: No. I had a cat back in the late Seventies and into the early Eighties. Now all I have's an allergy to cats, LOL!
YouTube - Done Sold Everything - Debbie Davies
YouTube - Asshole - Dennis Leary
©2021 Roger Zee
