Drummer Ken Mary has worked as a session and live player with a list of artists that are beginning to look like a who’s who of metal and rock, including Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Alice Cooper, The Beach Boys, and Gene Simmons of Kiss. He’s been a member of House of Lords, Flotsam and Jetsam, Fifth Angel , toured with German metal legends Accept, and has appeared on recordings of multimillion-selling artists including Don Dokken, Kip Winger, Jordan Rudess, Impelliteri, Bonfire and many more.
Today Mary has released the first video of his series titled “The Neil Peart Experiment,” which can be watched below. What’s the back story? Well, one of Ken’s drummer friends challenged him to play some Rush‘s songs, with a few important twists.
As an experienced session musician, could Ken remove Neil Peart’s drum track from a Rush song and replace Neil’s parts almost note for note? How close to the original recordings in sound and performance could Ken get? But here were the additional rules the friend gave him: Ken must record the songs all in one pass, with no editing or samples, or any adjustment of any kind. And remember, the original songs were not recorded to a click track, so the time drifted on occasion!
Ken’s friend was essentially asking him to remove the “foundation of the house” and replace it since all the other tracks (vocals, bass, guitar, and keys) were recorded after the drums were laid down. Could it be done?
Ken comments: “This experiment was more difficult than I imagined it would be. I had to learn the fills and grooves exactly as Neil played them on the original recordings, as he did change them slightly over the years. I had to rehearse the songs to where they felt natural and know where the band surged or pulled back at times, so I could lock to the existing guitars and bass. And they didn’t use a click track! If anyone else wants to try this experiment, please do. But remember the rules! I have my individual GoPro video and audio to prove this was all in one pass with no editing or enhancement. I hope Neil would have been pleased with this ‘experiment,’ and the fact that another artist would make the effort to record these songs, and get them as exact as possible using the original methods he used. Maybe the greatest gift I received in this whole process was a feeling of getting a bit closer to Neil Peart as an artist, and stealing a brief glimpse at the moment of these recordings.”
Anyone who knows Ken knows his reverence for Neil Peart‘s composition skills. Throughout his career, he has cited Neil as one of his greatest influences, explaining that he’s always wanted to try to duplicate Peart‘s drumming, at least in the technical sense, on a Rush track to experience what Neil did. Make sure to follow Ken on YouTube and Instagram for the upcoming episodes where he plays some of Rush‘s most recognizable songs.
