Chris Pennie of Dillinger Escape Plan and Coheed and Cambria talks about recording the tracks for the “New World Man”:
1) Which of the three songs (New World Man, Fly By Night, Force Ten) was your favorite? Had you ever played any of these songs before while practicing, or in other bands?
My favorite song to play was ‘New World Man’. Even before playing drums I loved listening to Rush, and ‘New World Man’ was a track I specifically enjoyed. When covering any bands’ tunes the interesting thing, when hearing it back is how different your sound is from the original. I think the great thing about doing these songs for the compilation is that the arrangement is a little bit different, and I wanted to add my own flavor to it, so I didn’t learn everything note for note, I wanted to keep it loose, and have fun with it.
2) Can you tell me about any influences Rush may have had on your playing and songwriting ? (Do you have memories of seeing Rush live, or listening to the albums over the Years? Is there a favorite Rush album you have ?
Rush had a big influence on me growing up. Obviously because of Neils’ playing but also the amazing thing, to me, was that for three guys they had such a massive sound, wrote great tunes, and could play their asses off. That is a rare thing to come by. There were many encounters with Rush, I remember watching some live footage of Rush (or maybe it was a video) for Tom Sawyer with my dad when I was four years old. I even remember then my dad praising them, and that continued every so often when I received “Signals” and “Presto” as birthday presents.
3) How did you approach your recording on the Rush tracks ?
My approach to tracking the tunes was to keep it as fun as possible, and add my own take on the tunes. I didn’t want to play them note for note. Having known the tunes since I was a kid, I just felt at this point it was good to just let it happen, and not agonize over every note.
Chris Pennie on Drum Nation Volume Three
4) Peter originally contacted you to work on the album “Drum Nation Volume Three”. How did it feel to step away from the band to compose and record “YMCA Or TCBY” for that project?
Well the great thing about doing that tune was that, besides playing drums, I love writing music, so that felt nice to be on the other end, writing the tune, and then putting the drums to it. I’ve been doing that more and more. Lots of composing, etc. My ultimate goal was and still is to be a musician, a writer, and not just a drummer.
