From Drum Magazine: Tommy Clufetos: The Final Zombie Interview
In the final interview as a member of Rob Zombie, Tommy Clufetos sits down with Drum magazine. Read extracts from the interview below.
Tommy Clufetos: The Final Zombie Interview
By David Weiss Published in DRUM! Magazine’s May 2010 Issue
Tommy Clufetos doesn’t believe in metal. He doesn’t believe in Rob Zombie, his iconic rock employer. This Detroit-bred, L.A.-based drummer may not even believe in the drums. He really just believes in two things: the music, and Tommy Clufetos.
Those beliefs have served him well. At the semi-tender age of 30, Clufetos has already been on the international stage for over a decade, recording and touring with the likes of Ted Nugent and Alice Cooper. Now his second album with rock’s reigning undead ruler has arrived, and expectations are high for Hellbilly Deluxe 2 and its 11 fierce tracks.
Looking at the ladder of his career so far, Clufetos schooled DRUM! and then some on what it takes to be a hired drum gun in 2010. If you seek advice on how to nail sixty-fourth-note double bass polyrhythms, flip elsewhere in this issue — but if you seek the keys to a life well lived behind the drum kit, stay planted on the next few pages.
Metal Pro. “For me, the only way to network and go on to the next level is this: Every chance you get to play the drums, you’re prepared 100 percent,” Clufetos says. “Someone who has seen me play the drums leads to what the next thing will be.
“You can’t plan in this business. You can have hopes and dreams, but the only way for me is to give it all I’ve got. I’ll play the drums, and hopefully someone will respond to that. I’ve gotten, in a way, to worry less about my career. You can’t force it.”
To the casual observer, it would seem that Clufetos indeed has little to worry about. One big gig has always led to another for him, and the world stage awaits him and his Zombified bandmates. But while staying committed to his current situation is most certainly his style, getting comfortable in it most certainly is not.
“I’m a lifer — my musical career will go on until I can’t physically play drums anymore,” Clufetos says in his disarmingly direct manner. “I’m not a ‘rock guy.’ You have to evolve into something else. You have to think wisely, think about your career, and be ready for any opportunities as they arise. I’m always working on myself and being ready for what’s coming down the pipeline.
“But I try not to overthink it, because it’s meant to be fun. I still have the same motivation as when I began playing drums at seven. When I did it in bars in Detroit I loved it, and when I play the Staples Center arena today, it’s because I love it. As long as you keep that same attitude as when you were a kid, you’ll enjoy what you’re doing. If it’s about being famous, or being on MTV, or dating this hot chick, or the Mercedes, you’ll end up being disappointed. If it were about that, I would have become a doctor.”
Read the rest of the article here: http://www.drummagazine.com/features/post/tommy-clufetos-the-final-zombie-interview/
OZZY OSBOURNE: ‘Intimate’ U.K. Dates Announced
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net
OZZY OSBOURNE has announced two extremely intimate shows in the U.K.:
June 29 – Folkestone, UK @ – Leas Cliff Hall
July 01 – Oxford, UK – O2 Academy
Tickets go on general sale this Friday, May 7 at 10:00 a.m.
OZZY OSBOURNE will release “Scream” — his first album in almost three years and 10th studio album overall — on June 15 via Epic Records. Produced by Ozzy and Kevin Churko, both of whom did the same honors for Ozzy‘s 2007 worldwide million-seller “Black Rain”, the album will feature the first single “Let Me Hear You Scream”.
Ozzfest 2010
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=139431
More than 15 years after OZZY OSBOURNE debuted Ozzfest, the defining blueprint for hard rock tours and festivals returns this August in six American cities with an explosive bill co-headlined by Ozzy and, in their first-ever Ozzfest appearance, MÖTLEY CRÜE — touring together for the first time with Ozzy since he invited the group on their now-legendary 1984 arena tour. Expect the energy to go way off the charts at the all-day extravaganza of music and deranged merriment.
The 2010 Ozzfest will kick off August 14 in San Bernardino (the birthplace of the first Ozzfest in 1996) and then make stops in Chicago, Illinois; Hartford, Connecticut; Camden, New Jersey; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Boston, Massachusetts.
The main stage will feature full sets from OZZY, MÖTLEY CRÜE and HALFORD (whose frontman Rob Halford last appeared on Ozzfest in 2004 with JUDAS PRIEST), performing songs from Rob Halford‘s solo career along with material from JUDAS PRIEST and FIGHT. DEVILDRIVER and NONPOINT will round out the main-stage lineup. Second-stage headliners and six-time Ozzfest veterans BLACK LABEL SOCIETY will be joined by DROWNING POOL, KINGDOM OF SORROW, GOATWHORE, SKELETONWITCH, SAVIOURS and KATAKLYSM.
Each Ozzfest date will include 13 bands on two stages with music beginning at 1:00 p.m. In addition, concert-goers can once again visit the Ozzfest “Village of the Damned” featuring a mix of interactive activities, shopping and entertainment throughout the venue concourses.
These Ozzfest dates mark the first concerts in the U.S. in connection with the June 15 release of “Scream” (Epic Records), the Ozzfest founder’s first album in three years and 10th studio album overall. Produced by Ozzy and Kevin Churko, both of whom did the same honors for Ozzy‘s 2007 worldwide million-seller “Black Rain”, the album will feature the first single “Let Me Hear You Scream”.
The multi-platinum, Grammy Award-winning Rock and Roll Hall of Famer recorded most of “Scream” at his Los Angeles home studio, The Bunker, and co-wrote all the songs, primarily with Churko. Notably, the album marks the first appearance of Ozzy‘s new guitar player, Gus G. (FIREWIND, ex-DREAM EVIL, ARCH ENEMY). Ozzy‘s band also features bassist Rob “Blasko” Nicholson, drummer Tommy Clufetos (ex-ROB ZOMBIE, ALICE COOPER) and keyboardist Adam Wakeman.
Ozzfest 2010 Main Stage:
OZZY OSBOURNE
MÖTLEY CRÜE
HALFORD
DEVILDRIVER
NONPOINT
Ozzfest 2010 Second Stage:
BLACK LABEL SOCIETY
DROWNING POOL
KINGDOM OF SORROW
GOATWHORE
SKELETONWITCH
SAVIOURS
KATAKLYSM
The dates are as follows:
Aug. 14 – San Bernardino, CA – San Manuel Amphitheater
Aug. 17 – Chicago, IL – First Midwest Bank Amp.
Aug. 19 – Pittsburgh, PA – First Niagara Pavilion
Aug. 21 – Hartford, CT – Comcast Theater
Aug. 22 – Camden, NJ – Susquehanna
Aug. 24 – Boston, MA – Comcast Center
Ozzfest did not take place in 2009 after Osbourne stated that he did not want to tour until he had a new album in stores. The move was not really surprising, given the festival’s scaled-down reconfiguration as a one-day event in 2008 after more than a decade as a full-length summer tour.
In addition to the general slowdown in both the economy and the concert business, Ozzfest began facing competition in 2008 from the Rockstar Energy Mayhem tour and Crüe Fest.
Tour co-organizer Sharon Osbourne experimented in 2007 by making the show admission-free, with fans obtaining tickets through corporate sponsors. But the bands were not paid either, leading to a lack of big names.
The 2008 “destination festival” took place on August 9, 2008 in Dallas and featured METALLICA, SERJ TANKIAN and others along with headliner Ozzy.
