Rick Astley dropped a few fun facts about himself on a recent edition of ‘What’s In My Bag’ for Amoeba Records in Los Angeles.
Rick revealed that the band he has seen most is Crowded House and that he learned to drum by listening to AC/DC’s ‘Highway To Hell’ album.
About Crowded House Rick says, “This is the band that I’ve seen most live in my life for a number of reasons. One, they are amazing. The records are incredible but live they are absolutely amazing. I’ve seen them here in LA. I’ve seen them all over England. I have seen them lots of places.
“One of the funniest things, I saw them in their early days, maybe two albums in. The drummer (Paul Hester), who is sadly no longer with us, needed to go to the loo. He used to do background vocals but he announced it, he said ‘I can’t hold it, I’ve got to go to the bathroom’. So off he went to the bathroom, and the two other guys and a guy who has been permanently in the band, just jumped on different instruments and started jamming and played something that sounded amazing.
“You could tell they never had done it before because they made the lyrics up about that night and him being in the toilet. My respect level for them went up even higher because the records are really crafted with beautiful songwriting but they could also take the piss out of themselves and just have a laugh. From that day on I just thought whenever they come to town I just have to see them. I think I’ve seen them 12 or 15 times and they are just amazing.
Phil Rudd of AC/DC was Rick Astley defacto drum teacher. “When I was a kid I wanted to play drums and that’s how I got into music really. And this record (Highway To Hell) is how I taught myself to play the drums. I am sort of a closet rocker which people will not believe because I sang ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ and ‘Together Forever’. When I was a kid I was a bit more into musicians generally I think. I had older brothers and an older sister so I listened to a lot of progressive rock as a kid. I listened to loads of bands that had great drummers. Phil Rudd is the name of the drummer in AC/DC. This, if you want to learn how to play the drums play it to this record. Play this record over and over. Sit at your drumkit and play to this. This has the best feel in the world in terms of rock drumming. It is an amazing album. It is just an amazing album.
“When I play live we sometimes murder ‘Highway To Hell’ because everybody in the world knows it. There is nobody who doesn’t know that song. I get on the drums and play it because it reminds me of being 15. I have a little band with a couple of friends and we only do punk and rock that we learned to play from right up to murdering Foo Fighters songs as well. We’re not embarrassed to murder anybody’s songs”.
Watch Rick Astley’s Whats In My Bag selections:
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