The Minneapolis Star Tribune (
www.startribune.com) did a huge write up of him last Sunday (4-16), or maybe it was Friday (4-14), on the cover of their 'Scene' section. ?It was about the drummer's past and included quotes from Paul Westerberg, and a small mention about Tommy. ?I didn't think of posting about it since I thought it was a dead horse. ?All it said was that he "once auditioned for Guns N' Roses", no date or year was given. ?Keep in mind that the journalist, Chris R. isn't the most knowledgeable about GNR, based on his prior writings in the paper IMO.
....ah nuts....I just found the article online at
http://www.startribune.com/919/story/356074.html 'The best drummer on the planet'That's what Soul Asylum's Dave Pirner says about Michael Bland, who has turned down the Dixie Chicks and John Mayer to work with hometown heroes.
It's nearly 1:30 Tuesday morning. Drummer Michael Bland knows this weekly routine like a 4/4 drum pattern. He steps off the stage at Bunker's Bar and Grill, and the leader of the Minneapolis bar-band institution known as Mambo's Combo gives him a handful of cash for his night's work.
The Twin Cities' preeminent drummer could have made more money in per diems touring with the Dixie Chicks this year. But it's not about the money for the 37-year-old Minneapolitan.
"He was born in this band," says Combo guitarist Billy Franze, who has played with Bland for 20 years. "He's extremely loyal. He likes the music and he likes the people." And the Combo loves Bland. "You get spoiled," Franze said. "He's one of the top five, 10 drummers in the whole world."
That's not hometown braggadocio. Madonna and Michael Jackson hired Bland, who was 19 when Prince discovered him one Monday night at Bunker's and lured him for a seven-year stint in his New Power Generation.
More recently, Bland worked with two Minnesota-bred rock icons -- Paul Westerberg and Jonny Lang -- and recently joined a third, Soul Asylum.
"I thought he was out of my league," said Soul Asylum singer Dave Pirner, explaining his initial hesitancy to audition Bland with founding members Danny Murphy and Karl Mueller. Bland started gigging with the group in the summer of 2004 and recorded a new album, "The Silver Lining," due in July. The quartet will play Wednesday at the Fine Line in Minneapolis.
"He's the best drummer on the planet," Pirner said. "He can play anything. I've never heard anything like him because he can swing and play aggressively and get a little groove into the rock thing."
Again, Bland's decision to join a band that was in limbo was about the spirit and the music, not the money.
"I bonded with Danny and Dave," Bland said. "We went through Karl's death [from cancer in 2005] together."
Guitarist Murphy was thrilled by Bland's decision to become a full-fledged member of the band: "He is inspiring to be playing with. And he's much looser-wound than the rest of us."
"Michael keeps everyone laughing," added the band's new bassist, former Replacement Tommy Stinson, who doesn't get much levity on his other job with Axl Rose's Guns 'N Roses. "And he is super-versatile."That's a key quality that has led Los Angeles-based producer John Fields to hire Bland for various recording projects, including Mandy Moore, Har Mar Superstar and Evan & Jaron.
"Michael has a full encyclopedic knowledge of the history of pop music," said Fields, a former Twin Citian who played in bands here with Bland. "If I say, 'The kind of drum sound from the second Led Zeppelin album,' Michael understands that -- and all the other stuff, too, whether it's Backstreet Boys or any hit that's been on the radio. He knows what it's supposed to be and somehow manages to get his own spice in there, too."
"He never forgets an arrangement -- even 10 years later," Franze says. "He's got a computer mind."
Last year when Westerberg began rehearsals for his tour at an Edina studio, he seemed as lost as he did during a Replacements gig circa 1980. He'd call out a song title and then turn to Bland with a "How does this start?" look.
Not only did the drummer, who had done a previous tour with Westerberg, know the opening chords but also all the lyrics.
"He's the [bleeping] best. Period," Westerberg said.
New York gig at age 17
Bland is the youngest of four children in a church-going family. Dad taught junior-high science. Mom worked at the St. Paul courthouse. Their only son started playing piano at age 6 and, a year later, took up baritone saxophone. At 9, he got hooked on drums. At 16, he won a "Twin Cities Best Drummer" contest and started gigging around town.
A year later, Bland was swept away by New York jazz/soul guitarist Hiram Bullock for some East Coast gigs. Shortly thereafter, he discovered Dr. Mambo's Combo at Bunker's, where, two decades later, he can be found nearly every Monday night.
With Prince, Bland -- who never got a silly nickname from his Purpleness like other band members did -- always stood out because of his size (5 feet 11 and more than 300 pounds) and his colorful outfits (hats, capes and loud eyeglasses). Nowadays, the drummer just favors prominent glasses and overalls.
Despite finding his fame with Prince's funk-rock from 1989 to '96, Bland refused to be typecast.
"I have managed to cover a lot of ground artistically in this business," he said. "I don't have a niche or a genre or a strong suit."
He's so widely respected that he gets referrals all the time. Last fall, Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers couldn't make a Hurricane Katrina benefit to accompany the Dixie Chicks, so an assistant engineer called Bland. He got the job, and the country trio offered him a yearlong gig in their touring band.
"That was the equivalent of taking a desk job, not that I don't like the Dixie Chicks," he said, adding that he got a call in the middle of all this to rehearse with Nine Inch Nails in Los Angeles. "I made no contribution to the Dixie Chicks' record. We'd just met, and they're not from Minneapolis. So I decided [instead] to scrap it out with the underdog Soul Asylum." He also turned down offers this year from Lang and John Mayer.
Bland's raspy, robust voice resonates like a bass drum. Born-again and college educated, he can get philosophical. But for him, it boils down to the fact that he's a musician, not a businessman.
"I definitely don't work for free, but I don't work for money, either," he says. "I don't like knowing how much money I'm going to make before the year's out. I think your income should be proportionate to your hustle."
In the '90s, he picked up paychecks from two of the biggest names of his generation -- Madonna and Michael Jackson -- without ever hitting the road.
Madonna dismissed Bland after the third day of tour rehearsals in New York after realizing that he was overqualified. She gave him severance pay and replaced him with a drum programmer.
Jackson hired him for a concert tour but Bland lost patience with the delays and jumped back to touring with Westerberg.
Bland also auditioned for Guns 'N Roses, toured with R&B star Maxwell and plays in his own gospel-rock group, Sons of Almighty.
There is only one artist on his wish list: Sly Stone.
A 'traffic cop'
Bland sees his role in a band as "no more than an overglorified traffic cop. Stop. Go."
That's fairly self-effacing for the usually outspoken drummer, who is known for being more blunt than bland.
"I pride myself on being open and direct," he says.
"He's brutally honest," says Franze, who considers Bland his best friend. "He'll never lie to you, even if he should."
Undaunted, Bland speaks his mind and still gets called by Prince, who is notorious for not returning to local musicians he has let go. Bland plays on the title track of Prince's new "3121" album, and often answers late-night calls to come to Paisley Park to record (he lives only 10 minutes away in Eden Prairie).
Bland is excited about being in Soul Asylum. He understands the history -- he once went to a house party where Loud Fast Rules, Soul Asylum's precursor, was playing -- as well as the challenge.
Soul Asylum really has something to build. They've been off the radar for --what? -- since '98 with their last studio record, 'Candy From a Stranger.' Something to prove is kind of important, too."
Even though he's on a mission with Soul Asylum, Bland has an unspoken obligation on any given Monday. If he's in town, he'll be on the bandstand at Bunker's with Mambo's Combo. He has nothing to prove there. "I'd rather be making music," he simply says, "than doing anything else."
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