Hi, this is Parrothead; we're on the phone with Scott Patterson, Drummer of the Atomic Punks. Let's get started…

              

 Hi Scott, thanks for talking with us. In your own words, who is Scott Patterson?

 I don't have any really "clever answer." I'm not one of those soul-searching cats. I guess my answer would be, I'm the son of Ann and Ray Patterson.

 I notice you have a bit of a Southern accent - where are you from originally?

 North Carolina

 What brought you out to Southern California?

 I came out here to be a rock star.

 Ah, and I'd say you've pretty well achieved that goal.

 Well, I don't know about that… I've done my fair share of stuff, but nothing that I would consider… I've played with some people, but looking back on it, most of it was hokey. Rock stardom, except for a certain few people, most Rock Stars, it's just 70-80% illusion. Just regular people who got lucky.

 When you think "Rock Star" what comes to mind for you?

 Robert Plant. Ya know? I mean Led Zeppelin… those guys were "Rock Stars" that kinda thing… hmmm who else was a "Rock Star"?… Hendrix… the ground breakers… they were really what I would consider a "Rock Star."

 Are you single or married? Kids?

 I am married, and I have a 17-month-old little boy, he is the light of our lives. 

 What book(s) are you currently reading? Who is/are your favorite author(s)?

 I'm not really a book reader, I enjoy documentaries and WWII stuff, but I'm not into fiction or that kind of thing. 

 What's in your CD player right now?

 I make my own compilation CDs of 70's and 80's rock. I haven't bought a new artist in years; I'm just not into that. I prefer the classic rock; a variety, the hits from back then. Sure, some it was cheesy but it's what I like. I've got a 6 CD-changer in the car, and so I listen to a smorgasbord of 70's and early 80's stuff.

 What was the first concert you ever attended?

 KISS, in Raleigh, North Carolina - the Rock And Roll Over Tour. 

 What was the first album you ever bought?

 I think it was the Partridge Family.

 How old were you when you heard your first Van Halen song? Which song was
it, and what was it about the band and music that you liked?

 I think it was "You Really Got Me." I heard it on the radio, I know that. I thought the guitar playing was pretty freaky. I knew it was a remake, because I'd heard the Kinks version, so the guitar solo really stood out.

 What was the first Van Halen song you learned to play?

 Ya know, I never sat down and like 'learned a song'. I've always been able to just hear something and just play it. There'd be times that I'd sit in with some other band and play a song that I've only heard, I've never played it before, but I'm able to play it because I remember the song. So like when we put the Punks together, I didn't sit down and listen to the songs, ever, I just played them. And I'm not saying that I played them just like the record, especially after 10 years, they kinda evolve into their own renditions of their music.

 So the way you play a song, and the way Alex plays it may not be note for note…
     
    

 Oh, hell no. And people will ask me, how do you get that "Alex sound"… I'm not trying to get it. Ya know, I don't mean anything bad by that, it just so happens to sound like it, it's just coincidence. You know, like tuning, and that kinda stuff. I play completely different drums than he does. I just play those songs the way that I would play them…. My interpretation of them.

 Kinda make it your own in other words.

 I guess… you know, there are certain "signature licks" that obviously you should do, to make it sound like the record, because that's why people come to see us, they want to hear the stuff like the record, but you should be able to… you know, there's no reason not to spice it up. I'm sure Van Halen live...they didn't play that shit like the record when they played it live.

 What is your favorite Van Halen song to listen to? To play? Why?

 I couldn't narrow it down to one. I think "Women And Children First" is my favorite album. Ya know, after years of playing the hits, I've heard them… of course I'd heard them a million times before I started playing them, because I was a Van Halen fan, and then after 10 years of playing the mainstay tunes, it's always refreshing for me to hear the obscure stuff. Ya know, the stuff you don't normally hear, like Simple Rhyme, and Sinners Swing, ya know, that kinda stuff. Like the songs that we DON'T play, are the ones I like to listen to, because I hear them every week, so it's like it's something new.

 What do you like to do in your spare time?

 I look after my boy, and play golf… when I have time. I also work on old 60's muscle cars.

 Oh, cool. Have you got one that you are restoring or…?

 I've got three… three pretty obscure cars, all Chevy's… nothin' but. The Atomic Punks is the Chevy band, we all have 'em. And I kinda pushed everybody towards that.

 Cool. Yeah, I've noticed quite a few rockers are into classic cars. Michael Anthony has 'em, Sammy Hagar has 'em…

 Yeah, I'm not into "hot rods", I'm into like 60's 'Vettes, and Camaros, and I redo 'em to just like they were on the showroom floor. They're not like, big tires; they're just like they would have been when you bought them.

 So you restore them to stock?

 Yeah, very correct cars. 

 Very cool. How did you start playing? How long have you been playing?

    

 I was about 6 or 7, and I saw some guy playing some drums with another guy who was playing guitar in the park, underneath one of these covered picnic table things, and these guys were playing, and my friend and I were at the park on our bicycles, I saw the guy, and I was sitting behind the drummer, and it just looked easy, ya know, like "I could do that!" and then a guy down the street that was friends with my older brother had a drum set in his bedroom, and ya know most of the time your brother won't let you hang out with him, ya know when he's five years older, but for some reason they got a kick out of … ya know, the guy that had the drums couldn't play 'em, but I could play 'em KINDA, I mean I'm not saying that I could sit down and wail, but I could play a beat and all that, and I think they thought that was some kind of a novelty that a kid that age could play at least something, so they'd leave, and I'd stay in there and play the guys drums, and he didn't give a damn. Right there in his bedroom, his mother would come in "Hey Scott, sounds good…" and she'd just let me keep goin' and I still have the floor tom off of, they were Red Sparkle drums, and when I finally got my own drums, I got red sparkle, because I wanted to be like the guy down the street. That musta been a couple years later, when I was nine, and then when I was eleven, I remember I bought the floor tom off of the first kit I ever beat on, on my eleventh birthday for eleven dollars. I remember it was all the way down the street, and I walked down there and my dad gave me eleven dollars and I gave the eleven dollars to the guy, and I walked out of the house with that drum, and I was carrying that big ol' drum, all the way down the street. And I still have it, it's still in the attic of my parents house back in North Carolina. Priceless to me. I oughta make a coffee table out of it or something. (laugh)


 How did you get started in the music business? What other jobs have you had?

 I started playing with bands when I was… I don't know, maybe 17 or 18… I played in little bands that never really did anything, but when I was 20, I dropped out of college and went up and down the East coast and played from Florida to Virginia, we covered about 8 or 10 different states. That was when I was 20, it was a band called "Driver", and we just did covers, you know, the top rock stuff of the time. Bart Walsh (the Atomic Punks first guitar player) was in that band also. He and I put another band together before this happened, when we were 19, and that's where we met. In college.

 Is music your full-time job? If not, what do you do as a "day job"?

 Music, full-time.

 Who are your influences?

 I'd say all around favorite would be Steve Smith, umm… as far as Rock goes, it would be Tommy Aldridge. Simon Phillips, Ian Pace, and of course Neal Peart, I do a Rush thing also; they were a huge influence.

 Do/did you play any other instruments?

 No… I made a sad attempt at playing saxophone in the band in school, but that was it.

 Have you written/recorded original music? If so, where can we hear it?

 Yeah, I was in a band before the Atomic Punks, that did original music, and we did a CD. That was along with Bart. 

 Tell us about your other bands/projects.

 I'm also in a Rush tribute band called "Moving Pictures". We do the early stuff, up to about '86.
              
 Am I correct in remembering; at least one other member of the Punks is in that band with you?

 Yes, Russ is our guitar player. It's very convenient, because sometimes it's the opening act, and so we're already there. So all we need is the bass player and singer… shows up, we do an hour of Rush, they go on their way, we readjust, and do the Punks stuff. It's a good fit.

 We've got several drummers and other musicians, on our site, I'm sure they'd love to hear you talk about your kit.

 Like what kind are they, and that kinda thing?

 Like what you play, any special tweaks you've made, that kind of thing…

They're Tama Star Classic maple drums, they're sizes are 8, 10, 12, no, 8, 10, 14, 16, and then a 24 inch Kick. I could get all technical on you, right down to exact… you know, I don't think anybody cares that much. 

Some of our guys love this kind of thing, all the "techie stuff" so whatever you want to share, go for it…

 ummm… bronze… everything's Tama, right down to the pedals, the seat, all that. 

 Is that because that's what Alex plays, or…

 No, he doesn't play them at all, that's just my personal… that's just what I like. Really, I don't do anything to emulate Alex Van Halen. And I don't mean that bad, I just don't… I mean I play Zildjian cymbals, he plays Paistes, He plays Ludwig or DW Drums, I play Tama. There's no attempt here to copy him in any way…Bronze, hand-hammered 5 ½ x14 snare, I use Evans heads, Zildjian cymbals, Brilliant rock crashes, they're 18's. Kaye 17-inch china. And all the cymbals are brilliant, which means they're buffed to a high-gloss finish. There's a 22-inch brilliant earth ride, is the ride cymbal. 10 inch A custom splash, and 14-inch brilliant quick beat high-hat. All stands are Tama. That pretty much covers that. Umm Pro-mark sticks. I don't think anybody gives a sh*t what kinda sticks I play. 

 On average, how many sticks would you say you use in a show?

 Four… I usually break two a show. 

 I've noticed at each of the Punks concerts I've been to, the other bands'
drummers usually come in, throw the kit into place, the drummer does a quick
roll or two for a sound check, and that's it 'til the concert starts; where
I've noticed that you personally place each piece of your kit, and further,
you take the time to tune your drums before each show. Is this your "Alex"
impersonation, or is that the perfectionist in you coming out, or what's the
story there?

 I guess that would be the case…. I like stuff to be right in the spot where it's supposed to be, so when I'm just swinging away, I'm hitting something, you know, like muscle memory. And you know, each room is different, thus the tuning. I mean the drums are tuned pretty much the same all the time, but one room might have a high ceiling, another one might have a low… and ya know, you can tune up, or tune down to make the drums play a little better, or get a little more sound out of them. That's the reason. It's not because I'm trying to make the stuff sound like Van Halen, it's just my own uh…particular… in the way they're set up, frankly I've never been able to find anybody that can do it the way I want it, so I just do it myself. I'm not a "rock star", so I'm not above setting my own shit up. Anything that I want to get done right, as far as what I think "right" is, I do it myself. 

 Ralph's costumes are just incredible. Russ wears the wig and has the Frankenstein striped guitar. Joe wears the jumpsuit and has talked about getting a Jack Daniels bass. Would you consider wearing big dark glasses and a headband or is there anything that you'd like to add to your kit to... oh, "make you a better Alex" I guess we could say?

 We've joked about it, but that's not going to happen. That's just not… … nobody's really looking at me. As you can see, my drum set's not set up like his. I'm the least visual person on stage, and that's fine with me, I don't care. I still get paid the same. If I wore sunglasses, I wouldn't be able to see, and occasionally, on some of the bigger shows, I've got this like striped jail shirt, and that's about as far as I take it. I let the playing do the talking. It hasn't bothered anybody for the last 10 years. I don't think it's going to start now.

 How did you come to know Ralph/Join the Punks?