CCR’s Doug ‘Cosmo’ Clifford talks drumming
The venerable swamp rock drummer talks about records and how to hold your drum sticks.
- Poor Boy Productions
- Doug “Cosmo” Clifford
One of America’s greatest and purest rock ‘n’ roll bands also has one of the harshest feuds. Sure, Fogerty has the songs, the voice, and the licks, but would it really all have come together without his childhood friends who just happened to be the archetype rock ‘n’ roll rhythm section? If Fogerty’s current drummer, Kenny Aronoff’s meat-fisted plodding and overcompensation is any indicator of what a studio drummer would have played in Doug “Cosmo” Clifford’s place, we might live in a different world. Right now you have two options for hearing the Creedence catalog live. You can see Fogerty’s Vegas review, picture perfect version, or you can hear Creedence Clearwater Revisted get down and play some proper swamp rock. The latter will be at Botanical Gardens this Friday night (June 6). I caught up with Doug Clifford recently to talk about drums, rock ‘n’ roll, records, how to hold your drumsticks, all while making a conscious effort to avoid the “F” word.
When did you decide to be a drummer? Was there a moment when you heard a record and knew you wanted to play drums or was it gradual?
It was a gradual thing. I bought my first rock ‘n’ roll record when I was 9. It was “Roll With Me Henry” (aka the Wallflower) by Etta James and it was a 78, which was the format they had at the time. They didn’t have 33’s, they didn’t have 45’s. The second record I bought was “Bo Diddley” by Bo Diddley and you had that tom tom jungle rhythm thing going on and that really did get my attention. So I was sort of pointed in that direction as a result of that record and I would listen to drummers as I continued to buy records. Finally technology changed and they had albums out, and 45’s were pretty cool. I did a lot of listening on the radio and learning that way when I was supposed to be doing my homework (laughs), you know, just messing around and trying things. When somebody was on television I would try and see as much as I could. Most of the time, of course, the camera was on the singer, which is quite natural. That hasn’t changed much, but every time I had an opportunity to see the drummer or listen to what they were doing or hear what they were playing, I would take notice and work on it until I could master it or play something that was as effective and maybe not as many notes.
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I noticed that you play traditional grip, did you teach yourself to play?
Yeah I did.
What made you go with traditional grip instead of match?
Well because, back in the day, that was how drummers played. I mean, all of them. The first time I ever saw matched sticks was when the Beatles played on Ed Sullivan Show. I’d never seen that before. I had been playing since I was 13 and I don’t recall how old I was when the Beatles were on Ed Sullivan, but I did notice it and I thought, “that’s a weird way to play.” When I first started to play it was the early ’60s, might have even been the late ’50s, so any and all drummers (played traditional grip). It was Gene Krupa who inspired me to be a drummer. Gene, just like Buddy Rich, and all of them played in that style, so that’s how drummers were taught. I saw it whenever I went out and saw somebody playing. I would watch what they were doing with their hands and pick up a trick or two. So that’s how I did it, and at the time that was standard.
You use some monster high hats. How did you get on to that?
I use 18”s. I did that in 1969, it was just an idea I had. Most of the songs we played were on the high hat and there wasn’t a lot you could get out of those little things. Those little 14”s were the standard then. I wanted more than that so I bought some extra 18’s and put them on my high hat. In those days, equipment was not as hardy as it is these days. Now it’s built for a sledgehammer and iron bars so cymbal stands are much stronger. So I went to my local hardware store and found a spring that was closest to the same length and I cut it down so it was the exact same length, put it in there and it was stronger gauge metal and that kept the high hats in working shape. You can do a lot of things with those big hats, between the tip and the shank of the drum stick, opening it up a little bit, holding it at a point where you can make up the distance. You open it up: it opens up. And if you have them a little bit tighter but not with your foot down on it, it gives you a lot of different places to put things. When you open them up generally it’s in a chorus or solo or something like that and it has a huge effect and it really showed up on the records.
What kind of drum kit did you play on the original albums?
It was varied. On the first two albums I had a Ludwig set. But in between Bayou Country and Green River, the local drum shop owner said, “there’s a new drum maker that’s come out and it’s the best ever.” The shells are truer, more plys, much stronger, built to last, the sound and the ring of the shells, which translates to the drum heads (was great), and that drum (company) was Camco. Camco was ultimately bought out by DW, which is what I play on now. The lugs on the DW’s are the same lugs I had on my Camco, so that’s how good they were. After all this time, they’re still using the same lugs. Maybe the interior part might be a little different, maybe the springs are a little stronger, or this that and the other thing, but the actual casting is still the same ones I had on my Camcos.
The CCR rehearsal facility, Cosmo’s Factory, was named after you. Where do you guys rehearse these days?
Well, we don’t rehearse (laughs). Everybody stays in shape. We know the songs. What we do is we sound check. We want to be as ready to play as we possibly can. We want to fine tune to every room to make sure we can get the best performance possible. Occasionally you can’t sound check because you’re at a festival there’s a band playing. We call those flying by’s. They can be quite interesting. It’ll take a song or two to get it honed in but sometimes you hit a home run and everything is just ready to go. During sound check we play “Green River” and “Cotton Fields”. There’s reasons for that. “Cotton Fields” is to hone in the harmony vocal parts and “Green River” is to hone in a typical hard rocking song with nice guitar solos, that’s kind of our litmus test, if you will. While we’re up and playing (sound checking) we’ll play other songs that we don’t play during the show, so it keeps it interesting. Should we ever need one of those songs, we’ll play it. For example, we just did a tour of Mexico and there were some songs that were huge hits down there that were never released as singles in America. So prior to going to Mexico we worked those songs out before we went in.
You and Stu Cook are the textbook definition of a solid rhythm section. Where is the pocket?
Well, it’s there in every song. I know where it is, he knows where it is, (laughs) you know? It’s like riding a bike. We’re having a lot of fun right now. We’ve got a great new lead guitar player, and all the personalities match better than they have ever matched, including the original band. That makes a huge difference in the way you approach things and gives you the ability to have more fun and that’s what rock ‘n’ roll is all about. Having fun, having a good time, having something you can feel pounding you in the chest. It’s sort of CPR without touching, that’s what I call it. It’s a magical thing. It makes people go back in time. For the younger fans, it’s creating memories they’ll take with them. To be able to have an effect on so many different people is probably our greatest accomplishment. Certainly the toughest test for a pop medium is the test of time. We’re in the top 5% of classic rock radio airplay, we still sell the original records, and we see younger fans growing up getting turned on to the music. So it lives, it’s quite alive and quite well and we’re going out and bringing the live version to the fans and really having a blast.