He’s set the beat for some of the all-time greats – Clapton, Beck, and Page – all once members of the pioneering 60s British Invasion band The Yardbirds. The blues/rock band may be best remembered for its guitarists, but Yardbirds co-founder and drummer Jim McCarty, one of the driving forces responsible for the band’s distinctive sound, continues to lead the group today. With hits like “For Your Love,” “Shapes of Things,” and “Heart Full of Soul,” the band cemented its place in rock and roll mythology.
I spoke the McCarty earlier this week a day after he had flown in from London. A brief tour of the East Coast, with a stop at the Narrows Center on Thursday, March 21, will be followed by several days aboard the Flower Power cruise, where the band will share the stage with other 60s and 70s standouts. It’s a busy schedule for the 80-year-old stickman, who noted that touring still has its ups and downs.
“Well, it’s much more comfortable these days,” he said. Travelling in a nice big car, we can get the appropriate flights, so we’re not playing the same day we travel. It also sounds better on stage. We can hear each other, we have proper monitors set up, and that’s so much better than it was in the ’60s.”
McCarty came to the forefront in an age of drummers, alongside legends like Charlie Watts, John Bonham, and Keith Moon. Unlike some of his contemporaries though, McCarty wasn’t trying to outshine his bandmates.
“My role was to hold the band together, to be there in the background for everybody, let them do all the fancy stuff,” he explained. “When I started to play R&B, blues from America, the drumming was supposed to be pretty straight. I remember a couple of the blues guys telling me, ‘Keep the drumming pretty simple.’ So I concentrated on that. I’ve never been a great fan of the drum solo, although I do one in our show now, ad it’s such good fun.”
He recalls playing with the aforementioned guitar greats. “They were all very different,” he said. “Eric (Clapton) was very keen on playing blues and very dedicated. He loved blues music and even copied some of the solos when he started. Jeff (Beck) was over the top and played differently every night. You never quite knew what he was going to do. He had a bit of a wild temperament and was quite nervous, sometimes he’d kick the amps off stage and things like that when he didn’t like the sound.”
“Jimmy (Page) was very professional; he played what the band wanted, he worked it all out. He probably changed a bit in Zepplin. He was coming from being a session musician, playing on other people’s records, he played what was needed, he never had a mood, or anything like that.”
Like other classic acts, McCarty has noticed an increase in younger fans at Yardbirds shows. “The young kids are showing up a lot more than they did,” he said. “We’ve played some festivals recently, and we’ve noticed the kids are there in big numbers; they know our songs and are singing along with the lyrics and all that, which is always nice.”
What’s the biggest contribution The Yardbirds made to the classic rock landscape?
“I think The Yardbirds sound will always be remembered,” said McCarty. “That was with Jeff Beck, he turned the blues covers into something more special. Jeff put different sounds into it, he was very imaginative, he improvised so many solos. He loved futuristic sounds. That’s what everyone remembers as The Yardbirds sound, songs like ‘Shapes of Things.’ The music is unexpected, it takes you into outer space.”
McCarty is also an author – he recently published two books, an autobiography, Nobody Told Me: My Life with the Yardbirds, Renaissance and Other Stories, and She Walks in Beauty, a story about his late wife, who he lost three years ago. “That goes into the paranormal, it’s a bit of a different book,” he added. Both will be available at the show.
The touring band includes McCarty on drums and percussion, John Idan on guitar and vocals, Kenny Aaronson on bass, Myke Scavone on harmonica, percussion, and backing vocals, and Godfrey Townsend on lead guitar and backing vocals. This will be a good one – don’t miss it! Click here for tickets and further details.
