Sick Drummer Magazine

 

Keep up with Phil here:

www.myspace.com/burningskies

 

 

I started playing the drums when a friend of mine at school started getting lessons and tapping on the tables and before long I decided to have a go! I did lessons for about a year and then had my exams and left school. Once I’d left school, there was no kit to play so I only got to jam every now and then until the age of 17 when a friend had a guitar and a drum kit and we wanted to play some metal so we hooked up and it just went on from there!

I was in a few bands that didn’t even get to gig but the experience of playing with other people for the first time was awesome. Then myself and a couple of like minded metalheads started ‘Obtaining Confusion’, a grind band kind of like Discordance Axis, pig Destroyer, phobia etc. I had an awesome time playing with those guys, we gigged pretty hard for a couple of years and it increased my speed like hell!! We split in 2005 and I concentrated on the two bands I had just joined which were Burning Skies and Anything That Moves.  My playing has improved a million times over since I joined Skies as I had to work stupidly hard to play fast AND tight ready to record the Desolation album. I was practicing for 3 hours a day to a click for 3 months leading up to the recording!! All of a sudden I had to do the 1-2 thrash beats and bomb blasts all over place!

Burning Skies has taken me all over the place. We have toured and met so many awesome people in Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Austria,, Switzerland, The Czech republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, all over Scandinavia and… hopefully…soon… America. That would be sweet (I hope Paul from Origin is reading this!).

Just this year alone I have met so many of my favourite drummers that I’ve listened to in my room for years, it’s been amazing! We toured with Origin, Misery Index and Necrophagist around Europe and I got to see Adam Jarvis, John Longstreth and Hannes Grossman play every night for a month!!! I’ve never learnt so much in such a short time!! All of those guys were mega nice and all too happy to help me out with problems on technique and stuff. Thanks guys!! We also toured with Cephalic Carnage and Akercocke this summer and seeing John Merryman blast is just twisted!

I’m totally happy with what I’m doing musically at the moment and I’ve just started playing for two fucking RUDE guitarists from my hometown who are doing some mad technical thrash that’s sounding mad as hell and we are part way through writing the third Burning Skies album which we hope to have in the shops by April ’08. Anything That moves is on the downlow at the moment as we are all involved in other, bigger things at the moment (check out our singers band Shaped By Fate…. Brootal) so we only gig every now and then. Now I’m just trying to gain as much interdepence, speed and power as I can so that I can rip it right up on the new Skies album!!! Keep an eye out for that and more! REMAIN METAL!

 

 

 

Phil Tolfree Interview:

 

 

SD.com: When did you start playing drums?

Phil: I started playing when I was about 14 but I only had basic lessons and came out knowing 4/4 and not a lot else! I've been playing and learning seriously since I was about 18.

 

 

SD.com: Do you play in a school band or any drum corps?

Phil: I was never in any corps or marching bands or anything but I did play Whiter Shade Of Pale once in my school band when I was 15…. It was terrible! I might have enjoyed it more if it was Reign in Blood or something.

 

SD.com: Have you ever taken any lessons?

Phil: Just the lessons at school, I taught myself from age 18 by listening to all the great death metal drummers from bands that inspired/inspire me. I think it’s the best way to learn- listen and experiment.

 

SD.com: Who are your top 5 influences?

Phil: I guess, if I had to shortlist them it would be all the drummers that started me off or changed my playing completely in some way so.......  Vinnie Paul, Paul Mazurkiewics (first blast beat I ever heard!!), John Longstreth, Danny Herrera and Dave Lombardo.

 

SD.com: Assuming that influences doesn't mean favourites, who are your favourites?

Phil: Easy..... 1. John Longstreth     2. Vinnie Paul    3.Thomas Lang     4. Marco Minneman   and   5. Derek Roddy

 

 

 

SD.com: Let us know 3 CD's that are in your current rotation

Phil: And Then You'll Beg by Cryptopsy (It's a vinyl but I don't mind cheating), Discordia by Misery index (Adam Jarvis is the fucking boy!) and Suspended Animation by Fantomas (check these guys out doing this live at the Montreal Jazz Festival on Youtube. Terry Bozzio on the drums.....crazy shit.).

 

SD.com: Do you practice any specific rudiments or combo's regularly?

Phil: I never set myself specific routines to follow as I don’t like it to feel clinical when I practice. I generally start off slowly and get faster and more intense over the practice ending up with death metal and fast Jungle or fusion. I try to implement everything while I’m in a groove or beat, so if I wanted to practice doubles I'd keep a straight back beat going and then put all the different combos of doubles around the kit as fills or ride/hi hat grooves. I find this way more fun and it lets you put things like doubles and paradiddles and stuff into live playing rather than just practicing them as rudiments. This helps for interdependence a lot as well when you start doing doubles on your left foot and soloing over the top and stuff like that!

 

 

 

SD.com: What is your favourite part of your drum kit?

Phil: My bass drum will hate me for saying this but it’s probably my 20" Istanbul ride cymbal. Its fookin' lovely.

 

SD.com: If you could give one piece of advice to younger drummers, it would be...

Phil: Blast faster!! No, probably just never to think something is unplayable, JUST KEEP TRYING!!!!

 

SD.com: Who gave the best live performance you've ever seen?

Phil: Max Kolesne from Krisiun at The Underworld in London a few years back. The stick height that guy gets when he blasts is just sick. Plus the drum solo was totally fucking ripping!

 

SD.com: Aside from drumming, what else do you do with your life:

Phil: I listen to A LOT of music, my stereo is pretty much on 24/7 in the car and at home. I also love films especially comedy and horror with ‘Braindead’ by Peter Jackson being my favourite. I like going to watch Stand up comedy and Metal shows but generally I love hanging out with the people that matter to me and having a good laugh!