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Web Exclusive Interview
Lil' John Roberts
 Lil' John Roberts
Lil' John Roberts's name has been popping up more and more here at MD -
in
interviews with other artists, in conversations with people in the drum
industry - and, most importantly, in mail from fans. It
seems everyone is talking about Lil' John. And after seeing him play, you'd know
why.
By Billy Amendola
Not
long after
moving to Atlanta, Lil' John became a favorite among the
hottest producers in that city's R&B scene. Prior to
touring with
Janet Jackson behind her Velvet Rope album, Lil' John funked it up with Monica, En Vogue, Xscape,
and Goodie Mob. When Modern Drummer
recently caught up with him, Lil' John had just completed touring
with
George Duke and Al Jarreau and finishing up new recordings with Duke
and Jonathan Butler.
MD: How
was the tour with George Duke and Al Jarreau?
Lil' John:
Very cool. I played with Rachel Farrell too.
Rachel is from
Philadelphia. We've got a lot of cats in Philly - especially younger
drummers, who have watched us
through the years. Now they're
all playing with the major artists on the scene, like Jill Scott,
Jaguar, and Kindred.
There are some bad boys coming out of
Philadelphia. Some of them are eighteen years old or younger.
MD:
It's scary how some younger players absorb so much at a young age, isn't it?
Lil' John:
Tell
me about it. There's a young guy in Philly now, his name is
Spanky. Nobody really knows about him yet. I think he's
going to be the
next phenomenon. He's just playing all kinds of drums.
MD: Who else is on the
cutting edge?
Lil' John:
Eric Tribbet with Jill Scott. Man, watch out for him! Chris Dave, who
plays with
Mint Condition, is bad, very underrated. And Tommy Pridgen
is already killing. When he gets that seasoned thing down -
when he goes to school and learns all that - he's going to be sick.
And of course, Tony Royster Jr. has already
proven himself. [Among Tony's accomplishments is his knockout performance at Modern Drummer's 1997
Festival.]
He reminds me of when I met John Blackwell at Berklee. John came in
young and enthusiastic and just ready to
play. I see a pattern of all
these cats and how they're growing up, because I saw how John grew up.
I was watching him
the whole time at Berklee - seeing his style change
and just start blazing. And now I'm seeing these younger cats coming
up
the same way. Just like Dennis would watch us grow, that's how we're
doing it with the next generation. I stay
in touch with all of them.
They call me sometimes just to see what's up. Sometimes we don't even
talk drums, we
just talk about life. I feel like I'm like a big brother
to all of them.
MD: How did you hook up with Wynton
Marsalis?
Lil' John:
My professor at high school introduced us. He was putting together a
band for The
Duke Ellington Orchestra. When I was growing up in
Philadelphia I was in a trio with two of the guys who were playing in
the
high school jazz band at that time - bassist Christian McBride and
keyboardist Joey DeFrancesco. And Wynton pulled the three
of us into
the rhythm section for The Duke Ellington Orchestra. We traveled a
little bit. It was about twenty members from
different high schools.
MD: You've obviously got jazz & R&B influences. How about rock?
Lil' John: At Berklee you couldn't help but go through some
rock. I hung out with a lot of
guitar players at Berklee. And the rock
cats were all listening to Joe Satriani, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Steve Vai,
and Jimi
Hendrix. So I learned some things just by hanging out. I
didn't play a lot of it, though I'd like to. I like Blink 182,
Tool,
and Fuel. And I love The Foo Fighters. I got a chance to see them in
Atlanta, and they were blazing.
MD: Who are some of your influences now?
Lil' John:
The younger cats we spoke of. I
really like hearing their ideas,
because - you know how every five or ten years there's a different
groove? Like back in the
'70s, we had disco and the more upbeat stuff
in the clubs. Then we started gearing more towards hip-hop, and
then
some different beats, like Timbaland. He has a different approach to
beats, which means the musicians have to change
their whole approach
playing-wise, because you can't keep playing the same old beat for the
next ten years. You have
to change up and be able to make people dance.
The younger cats are more open to what's going on in the clubs and
the
music that's out now. They're learning how to play Timbaland
beats - which aren't easy to play. So
a lot of these younger players can
play all these fast beats.
MD: Who are some of the artists you're
refering to?
Lil' John:
Timbaland produced Aaliyah and Missy Elliott. He incorporated the
jungle
approach to R&B. Jungle music is really fast - it's 300 bpm.
Timbaland took that jungle style, split it in half, and made
it into
what they are using now as part of these hip-hop grooves. You've got
this fast beat playing in between, but
it's really half of the jungle
groove. You hear those beats overseas in London and throughout Europe.
A lot of
players coming up now are learning that
stuff first. The other stuff is easy for them, because they're used
to
playing all those fast, double-16th-note beats. When it comes down to
just playing a little quarter-note groove, it's
like, "Oh, that's
nothing." [laughs] But remember, there's something to say about just
laying down a quarter-note
groove and making it feel good.
MD: One of your first records was DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince (Will
Smith).
Lil' John:
Yeah, from Philly of course. They weren't used to using live musicians
in the
studio at the time. I brought a whole other idea to them about
using live musicians in the studio, instead of just programming
stuff.
Now Jeff has been using a lot of the live sounds, like on Jill Scott's
record. We're getting back to the
old-school style. Everybody is kind
of tired of drum machine sounds. It's consistent and it's cool, but if
you want to
get the soul of a real drummer playing and bass player?.
It' about emotion. Drum machines don't have emotion;
they're too
mechanical. They're not going to do anything other than what you
program them to do.
MD: Do you think programmed music has hindered drummers?
Lil' John:
Well, the
technology is so much more advanced now. Even if you're not a
great timekeeper, in the studio you can just throw it into a
computer
and fix it. "don't worry, we'll fix it in Pro Tools" - that's another can
of worms. [laughs] You can hear
somebody and think, "Man, they sound
good," but you don't realize what took place to get that going. The
truth comes
out when you play live. That separates the boys from the
men - when you're out in front of thousands of people and
you've got to
do what you did on the record.
MD: Where do you see yourself in ten years?
Lil' John:
I don't know how much drums I'll be playing in ten years, because I'd
like to
do more on the production side. I want to take the ideas that I
come up with as a drummer and take them to the other side of
the board.
There are lots of artists that I've worked with who respect me as a musician,
not just as a drummer.
It's a whole other level when you're thought of
as not just a drummer or a bass player or whatever, but as a
musical
director or producer.
MD: You've worked with some of the best producers in the world. What
have you learned from them?
Lil' John:
How to make a record. Producers usually can't play the
drum parts they
hear in their heads, so they call Ricky Lawson or JR Robinson. That's
what producers do: They hire the
cats who can paint the picture they
want to paint.
For more on Lil' John, check out the May 2002 issue of
Modern Drummer.
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