When I was young, I had one of those Yamaha drum machines, and I used to practice to that quite a bit, just to practice soloing and being in time and completing all my phrases. – John Otto
I’d take the syncopation and play swing, and then read the syncopation lines with my left hand. – John Otto
I really just wanted to play the drum set and match that. I was never really into the percussion thing. – John Otto
Sometimes the band can’t fully hear your fill, so they come in differently. So I’ve also learned not to really step out too much, because you sacrifice the band when you do that. – John Otto
We knew we wanted to put a lot of melody into it – a lot more than what we did on our first album. – John Otto
Even on the drum level, it’s all about stating your theme, going back to certain things that need to be emphasized, not doing fills for the sake of doing fills. – John Otto
I was really conscious of that when I went in because I felt that I was pretty solid on the first one, but I didn’t have the groove exactly where I wanted it. – John Otto
