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22/07 Gary in The Times

The legend that is Mr Gary Powell is featured in today's edition of The Times, discussing recent research that shows that drummers are as fit as sports stars.

'It's physical. I warm up, I diet, I go to the gym'

Drummers have a bad reputation. Look at the press about our band. There will be a lot about the singer and the guitarists, but you never hear about the drummer.

They are thought of as just drummers - nothing more, nothing less. They should be acclaimed in their own right.

The comparison with sportsmen is fair: drumming requires a combination of physical and mental agility.  I played a festival on Sunday and even though we only played for 23 minutes, I still burnt off a huge amount of calories.  I came off sweating profusely.

Before I go on stage I stretch out for a good 20 minutes.  Then I warm up on a practice pad to help to get my wrists going.

I don’t drink before I go on stage and I follow a fairly strict diet.  I go to the gym three or four times a week - I’m not trying to bulk up, just trying to keep myself well oiled.

A certain amount of the exertion is showmanship.  You think of John Bonham and Keith Moon, who came from jazz anyway.  They were well versed in playing: after that it was all about having fun.  It was Steve Gadd, the drummers’ drummer, who completely changed the colour and input of drumming.

Drumming became more musical, more emotionally in contact with the rhythm and the melody.  Moon and Bonham tapped into that.

When I play I let myself go on the odd occasion, but for most of the time everything is very carefully choreographed.  We try to limit playing to four to five nights running, then break for a day.  If you don’t, you get a bit of muscle fatigue and you need to replenish salts in your body.

Nowadays you get massages and that sort of thing too.  It might not sound like the sort of thing you would associate with Keith Moon or John Bonham, but they died young.

Who knows what more they could have achieved?

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