I had the privilege of meeting Dewey Martin in the early 1990s... What's that?!?!? Who's Dewey Martin??? Did you click that link??? NO??? Google it dammit!!! Ah fine you lazy bastard!?!?!? Drummer/Vocalist - played with a few musicians you may have heard of: Carl Perkins, the Everly Brothers, Patsy Cline & Roy Orbison??? No??? Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?!?! maybe you've heard of a little band he was in with a couple guys named Neil Young, Jim Messina, Bruce Palmer & Steven Stills called Buffalo Springfield?!?!? Ah, jeez... *sigh* Anyways...
I had the privilege of meeting Dewey Martin in the early 90s. A band-mate's father & Dewey were friendly & we got Dewey to come to come to a couple shows, critique our sound, etc. I was a dumbass then... MUCH more than now, & didn't give a rat's ass about anything he had to say. After all what could an 18 year old, "baddass in his own mind" drummer possibly learn from a professional drummer with umpteen records to his name & 30+ years experience in the delightful cesspool they call the music industry?!?!? So, I shook his hand, nodded & pissed away everything he told me.
Fast forward 2 or 3 years & I'm in another band with that same guy who's dad knows Dewey - although, this time I'm playing guitar & singing - & will jump at the chance to have Dewey sit in on a rehearsal. We were right about to hit the studio to record that band's first demo & HELL YEAH I'll take some professional advice - what a difference NOT being a "shit for brains teen-angster" can make!!! So, Dewey comes in, listens to the 8 songs we're thinking of recording & instantly calls out little things we'd never notice: "...the bass & the guitar are creating dissonance here. Can we push the bass to the off beat?" Done, great advice! Completely Funk-tafied that song!!! "...this part is just messy & muddy. What can we do to clean it up?" How his face lit up when I changed the guitar part. "That's it!!! That's got it!!!" & that change made the song...
Not long after that Buffalo Springfield "Revisited" - with everyone except Neil Young - played a show at Mancini's in the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles & Dewey got us all tickets. What a killer night!!! It was all friends, family & longtime fans in the audience & felt more like being a fly on the wall in a rehearsal/jam session than a show! It was like watching master craftsmen make something for themselves, just for fun... & I still remember the look on Dewey's face as he was doing what he loved most...
Dewey Martin 09/30/1940 - 01/31/2009
