A Conversation with Anton Fig – HuffPost 7.19.13

Mike Ragogna: So what’s all this about you and The Young Presidents playing at The Cutting Room.

Anton Fig: I met them a few months ago and was asked to play on the album, and then they were doing this gig in New York. It’s a benefit for Alzheimer’s as well as a sort of release party for the album, or maybe an unofficial release party for the album, I’m not exactly sure. They’re getting most of the people that played on the record. In fact, I think everyone who played on the record is doing it. So we’re all getting together to sort of promote it and make some money for the Alzheimer’s Foundation and play the material live.

MR: Right, and just so everyone knows, it’s The Kaneff Foundation’s 1st Annual Music Cures Fundraiser for the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation on July 25. So what was is like recording with The Young Presidents?

AF: It was a lot of fun! I didn’t know much about it. I think I did one rehearsal with them and they had already recorded a few songs when I came in and played with them. What was interesting was that they elected to do almost all of the stuff live with most of us kind of playing in the room. It was kind of an older-school approach to making records in that if one person made a mistake, it would be on the track for everybody unlike the way that people generally record today, which is pretty isolated and you’re able to kind of do your part separately. We were playing together without a click or anything like that, so it was a very organic approach to making music.

MR: A lot of acts over the years have mentioned how they’ve recorded by just layering up, but in later projects, have everyone playing off each other to create that organic vibe you spoke of. You, as a producer and drummer, probably are always conscious of the process.

AF: Yeah, well when you go in on someone else’s project, you try and do the best job that you can to realize the vision that the people that you’re working for are trying to get. I don’t question it, I go, “Okay, this is what we’re working with, this is what we have to do, how’s the best way that we can get it?” You definitely get a different sound. I grew up recording, and a lot of the records I did earlier on were all like this. The band just played. This was before drum machines and stuff. You had to learn how to play and you had to learn how to play together. So it was very, very refreshing to do a record like that again because, like I said, a lot of records nowadays do it a different way. That gives you different results and a certain amount of expediency going around cherry-picking the best parts. But this is a very cool way too and a lot of the records that we listen to that we really love are people just playing. You listen to those English records–the Zeppelin records and all that–it’s people just playing. There are little nuances and little mistakes and idiosyncrasies that you just don’t get when you try and make everything perfect all the time.

MR: Right, and some people use the word “sterile” for something that’s over-corrected. It’s almost like an emotional connection can’t be made because you’re not hearing humans play naturally plus you’re hearing a digital correction. You can’t fool the brain.

AF: Right! I mean you definitely can take the technology today and use it for good, you know what I mean? You don’t have to whitewash everything, you’ve got to stop and you’ve got to know what to correct and what not to correct, and you’ve got to know how to leave some of the dirt in, all that stuff. Some of those imperfections have the most charm. A lot of the time, people tend to make everything perfect, but you don’t have to. When we’re all playing together, it’s very challenging because you’re all in the room together, you’re all on the same team, you’re not just doing it for yourself.

MR: Right, right. When you were asked to perform at this event–obviously because you were on the album it was a natural to have you on the performance–but do you have any personal stories or feelings about Alzheimer’s?

AF: Well, my mom had it. She got it fairly young and had it for a long time. It’s a horrible disease, we don’t know quite how people get it. The way it was always described to me is it’s like your neurons are all firing in your brain but it’s like kicking a soccer ball into a fence. Areas of your brain just kind of shut down slowly like a city shutting down. It’s a very sad thing and it leaves people absolutely powerless. I imagine that people would have died from this more, but died before they had a chance to get it. Now that everybody’s living longer, they’re getting attacked by that disease, so I think if we can find a cure for it, it will make a lot of lives a lot happier and better.

MR: Indeed, and I’m sorry that you have to go through this personal drama with your family.

AF: Well, it happened a few years ago and it’s just one of those things. But, you know, what can you do? It would be nice to find a cure for it as some other debilitating diseases, cancer being a primary one… There are going to be more and more people that are going to be affected by it. It’s hard to know why it happens, what’s the thing that makes it happen, I don’t know. I just play a drummer on TV.

MR: Anton, The Cutting Room gig will be an evening of music, but will also feature clips of Glen Campbell, a glimpse into his life. I guess, inadvertently, he has shone a light on Alzheimer’s ever since he was diagnosed with it. Did you like his music?

AF: Yes, I loved “Rhinestone Cowboy,” “Wichita Lineman”… I believe I played with him onThe Letterman Show at one stage. I believe he was part of the Wrecking Crew, and they did all the sessions in LA. He’s a fantastic guitarist and a fantastic singer and writer. Absolutely. When I was asked to do this gig, I was just thinking in terms of, “Well I played on the record, so that’s cool, we’ll get everyone together and do it.” Then all of a sudden, it was an Alzheimer’s thing and I thought, “Oh, okay, that’s cool.” I didn’t really put my family thing into it at all, but now that it’s come up, it’s kind of nice to raise more money and have more awareness and find an answer for it.

MR: Hopefully, someday, they’ll find a cure.

AF: Yeah, absolutely. It’s not something that I’d wish on anybody. I wouldn’t want anyone to get it and it’s very sad and very hard to see someone’s life absolutely disintegrate and get taken away from it.

MR: Yeah. Hey, moving on to the David Letterman part of your career, Wiki says you’re “The Thunder From Down Under.” Really?

AF: [laughs] That’s what they say on Wikipedia, but I don’t know where the hell it came from because, first of all, I’m from South Africa, not Australia. I don’t know who the hell wrote “The Thunder From Down Under” but it’s completely wrong. Maybe “The Thunder From The Southern Hemisphere,” but I’m not from down under.

MR: [laughs] But you ARE part of “The World’s Most Dangerous Band”!

AF: I am, yeah. Even that, NBC deemed intellectual property and wouldn’t let us keep the name.

MR: Oh, God.

AF: Because Letterman named us that and then when Dave went to CBS, NBC tried to keep and did–a lot of the stuff that was done on the show as their property.

MR: Yikes. Anton, over the years, you have played for everybody, from classic jazz artists to Paul Simon. You are one of the most in-demand studio musicians. These days, are you still a first call drummer?

AF: I don’t know if I’m always the first call guy, but I always worked a lot, and I’ve worked in a lot of different circles. I did some hard rock records with the best guys, I did some pop records with the best people. I was in some world-class bands, and because I like all kinds of music, I was able to mix with a lot of different people and play all kinds of different music. Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of Joe Bonamassa records. He’s a blues guitarist, and I just came back from a tour with him and a singer named Beth Hart, who is a fantastic singer. They did two records together and last week, we came back from a European tour, which was fantastic, and then made a live DVD, and we’ll be coming out for more shows. I do lots of gigs outside of the (TV) show, various live gigs and recordings, all different kinds of stuff. I just try and stay busy and fortunately I have. Things come up all the time. The recording business has changed quite a bit over the decades.

MR: In 2009, you were on Ace Frehley’s album. Bringing you full circle from your early days hanging with KISS. So you guys have remained tight over the years?

AF: Yeah, we played way back. His solo record that I played on is still one of my favorite albums. Then I got to do some KISS stuff and lot of his other records. I just spoke to him the other day. I stay in touch with everybody, pretty much, that I’ve played with and continue to play with.

MR: You also had a solo album. Can you tell us about it?

AF: Yeah, it’s called Figments, it’s available on iTunes and on my website. It’s a really great record and it’s got a lot of great people on it from Ivan Neville to Brian Wilson to Richie Havens, Blondie Chaplin…there’s all kinds of people, all kinds of different musicians. There are a lot of different styles of music on it, and it came out really, really great. It’s really hard to break a record in this climate if you’re not eighteen and have a record company behind you. But the record still holds up and sounds absolutely great to me.

MR: Nice. What’s on the horizon as far as solo stuff or other projects?

AF: Well, I’m actually producing a couple of people. I just produced this guy Joe Silver, his record is out. He’s like a singer/songwriter, and I’m producing another guy but I don’t want to say until it’s done. It’s coming out really, really great. I’m doing some gigs around town, I’m doing some more gigs with Eric Johnson in August. There’s always stuff coming up. I usually don’t like to talk about it too much until it’s already happened. And I’ve got dates booked into next year already.

MR: Do you present workshops or other online events?

AF: I used to do drum clinics. I did maybe about a hundred drum clinics and then I got tired of hearing my own voice so I stopped doing them.

MR: [laughs] What advice do you have for new artists?

AF: Take a leak before you go on stage.

MR: [laughs] Anything after the leak?

AF: Just play in the moment. When you’re playing, it’s great, you can forget about everything else and let the music take you. I don’t really know. I’m still working on the taking a leak part.

MR: [laughs] Thank you very much Anton for your time, it was fun, and all the best at the gig with The Young Presidents at The Cutting Room on July 25.

AF: Okay, thanks so much.

Transcribed by Galen Hawthorne