Hal Blaine Interview
LeadSister
15 Feb 2003
This was posted over at Nancy's yahoo group.... (so I'm sorry for stealing this! lol ) but.... I was reading it and it just floored me. I'll comment in another post.
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SE: You played on all of the Carpenter records?
HB: Just about. probably about ninety-nine percent.
SE: Karen Carpenter always came off on TV like she knew what she was doing behind the drums . . .
HB: Karen was a very fine drummer. And she lip-synched great.
Because most of the stuff that they did on television were the records, it was me and Joe, she just lip-synched all that stuff and people naturally thought that she was drumming.
SE: But she was pretty good? You heard her play?
HB: She was very good, yeah.
SE: Were you ever there for any of the vocal tracking sessions?
HB: Rarely. I mean she would be singing, live with us so that we knew the song, or heard it. She was a sweetheart. But that’s a whole other book. The Carpenters had one or two songs out, nothing happened, so A&M was going to drop them. Joe Osborne was always their bass player, Joe Osborne had brought them to me at one time. In fact, we were in a Neil Diamond session and Joe said, “You should produce these kids, they’re great!” So I went outside, looked at these kids; they were two little chubby kids wearing Western fringe. “Richard plays the organ, and Karen plays the drums.”
And you know what goes through your head - Hmm, girl drummer, just what I have to **** with! But first of all, I said to Joe, “When do we have time to produce anybody?” We just really didn’t have time! We barely had enough time to take a pee! Anyway, A & M was gonna drop them. So their producer at A&M was Jack Daugherty, a real nice guy. He was a trumpet player who also had a big band. Jack decided to get me in there to play drums instead of Karen, and see what we could do. So, we went in, and the first record, whatever it was, just went through the sky! It was an immediate gold, platinum . . . So, naturally, that started a major string of hits. You know, a funny thing that happens with groups, and I don’t mean anything bad against Karen or Richard because I loved them both, but, once groups get five, six, or seven hits under their belts, you know, in a matter of a year or two, maybe three, and they’re on the road making all kinds of money, they decide that "we don’t need other musicians, we'll make their own records" And that’s always the beginning of the end! As soon as they start making their own records, goodbye! It’s over. I don’t know why that is, but that’s what happens. And that’s what happened with them. And, of course, it’s unfortunate that Karen dies with her problem; Well then Richard opens up the Carpenters Center at Cal State Long Beach. They've built a gorgeous theatre (maybe a fifty million-dollar theatre) It's absolutely gorgeous! And they have all kinds of Broadway shows in there and everything. Beautiful! At the opening night, one of those thousand dollar per seat events, all the notables were there, and they had these screens set up running pictures of Karen playing and the first guy they introduce is Herb Alpert. He’s the one who signed them. Herb got up, said a few words, then turned around and said, “ I’d like to introduce, if I may, my drummer from the Tijuana brass Hal Blaine. Hal, take a bow.” I get up, and I get a big hand, then Lalo Shifrin , who did “Mission Impossible,” came out with a big drum solo in the middle of it . . . “Hey I want to introduce one the first drummers in the world, blah, blah, blah, Hal Blaine.” And all of this went down .. . It was wild! Sitting in front of me was Peggy Lee, and all these wonderful people, so I'm waiting for Richard to say something, but, of course, he never did. You know, he was trying to keep the mystique about the fact that Karen did not play on the records. It was one of those nights, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. All those videos of Karen playing drums while we were playing the music. It was an incredible night. Three or four months later, Richard decides to do his own concert, so we go in and do this concert. There was a big orchestra, it was great, a wonderful night. Richard never did introduce anybody, and about the third time I went [to the Carpenters Center] - by the way, in the beginning it was called The Richard and Karen Carpenter Center because he put in the first three million dollars or something - Anyway, about a year and a half ago, I got a call from Richard’s manager. “We’re doing a season opener at the Center and Richard would love for you to work with him,” so I said, sure you know, I went in and I played. And, for the first time, Richard Said, “ I want you all to meet so and so .” It was very nice. He finally copped out that I was the drummer on all of the Carpenter’s records.
SE: Finally!
HB: After all these years. The wild part about it was - I want to
tell you this story - the first time I ever walked in there, their mother
and father were sitting there. Karen’s mom and dad, were very square type people. They were all from New Haven Connecticut, and , you know me, if I’m, working on a session and I feel or hear something, you know, I’d say it. So, we started playing - I think it was “We’ve only just begun,” and Karen was singing (high pitched) “We’ve only just begun, to live . . .” - and at one point I said, “You know, Richard, it’s awfully high, why is she singing it so high?” “That’s where we rehearsed it, it’s gonna be fine, that’s where she sings.” I told him well it's none of my business but you
know, midrange is so much more mellow and beautiful, and that's why the arrangers always write trumpets, saxophones, trombones, brass, strings, mid range . . . All the while, her parents are sitting right there arguing about it . . . “Leave them alone! Why is he playing drums, I’ve seen a lot of drummers and Karen is as good as any of them!” You know, you can’t argue with these people, you can’t say anything. And now I’m ****ing embarrassed.
So, finally, Jack Daugherty say's, “Let’s take it down a few steps.
Let’s see what . . .” And all of a sudden here was Karen Carpenter,
the way we know Karen Carpenter, beautiful! I never got credit for that. The reason I mention that is because it wasn’t too long after that that there was a television show where at one point, Richard says, “You know, Karen, You're singing this song much too high. Let’s bring it down a bit.”(laughs)
SE: (laughs)
HB: So then Karen comes up to me and she says, “Sweetheart, would you have a set of drums like yours made for me?” And I say, “Sure, these people would be happy to do that. It’s gonna be expensive, but why are you sitting behind the drums?” - by now they’d have about five or six hit records - "Why aren’t you just in front of the band singing?” The mother is screaming, "She’s the drummer! . . . She’s not . . . Richard is the star!” I mean, I personally feel they pushed her in the grave, you know?
SE: Yeah.
HB: And I said,"Well I'm sorry, It's just my feeling, something about
a girl sitting behind the drums doesn't look natural! I don’t care how
good she is, it doesn’t look natural. And she sings so beautifully. She
should be out in front with a nice gown..." So, (laughs) during this
television show, Richard says, “You know, Karen, I think you should come out from behind the drums, I don't think you should be behind the drums . . .”
SE: (laughs)
HB: I never got any recognition for that, and that’s fine. But,
finally, a year or so ago, [Richard] did introduce me. And Richard is a fine, fine arranger, but his ****ing time in the beginning is the worst I’ve ever heard.
SE: Yeah?
HB: He sat at the piano and started the intro to “Close to You,”
plink, plink, ka, dink, dinka, dink, dink (faster), ka, dinka, dink, kadink,
dink . . . I said, “Hold it Rich, wait ho, hoo, hoo, wait!”
SE: (laughs)
HB: “What? What?” We’ve gotta figure out what the tempo is. “Well,
that’s the tempo.” Well you know, which tempo? We went through that thing. And then every time we tried it, it was the same thing, he was rushing so badly... and Jack of course, the producer, understood, and I said "look, why don't we hook up a click track". "oh no, we don't wanna use a click track it becomes very robotic.. .” I tried to explain that a click track is just a guide. Sometimes, you might feel you’re falling behind, sometimes you fell you’re getting a little ahead. It’s just a guide, you don’t- sit- there- and- play- on- the- beat. So we finally talked him into trying it. Daugherty was saying, “Please, let’s try it.” ****, after that, they wanted to do every record with a click track.
===============================================
===========================================
SE: You played on all of the Carpenter records?
HB: Just about. probably about ninety-nine percent.
SE: Karen Carpenter always came off on TV like she knew what she was doing behind the drums . . .
HB: Karen was a very fine drummer. And she lip-synched great.
Because most of the stuff that they did on television were the records, it was me and Joe, she just lip-synched all that stuff and people naturally thought that she was drumming.
SE: But she was pretty good? You heard her play?
HB: She was very good, yeah.
SE: Were you ever there for any of the vocal tracking sessions?
HB: Rarely. I mean she would be singing, live with us so that we knew the song, or heard it. She was a sweetheart. But that’s a whole other book. The Carpenters had one or two songs out, nothing happened, so A&M was going to drop them. Joe Osborne was always their bass player, Joe Osborne had brought them to me at one time. In fact, we were in a Neil Diamond session and Joe said, “You should produce these kids, they’re great!” So I went outside, looked at these kids; they were two little chubby kids wearing Western fringe. “Richard plays the organ, and Karen plays the drums.”
And you know what goes through your head - Hmm, girl drummer, just what I have to **** with! But first of all, I said to Joe, “When do we have time to produce anybody?” We just really didn’t have time! We barely had enough time to take a pee! Anyway, A & M was gonna drop them. So their producer at A&M was Jack Daugherty, a real nice guy. He was a trumpet player who also had a big band. Jack decided to get me in there to play drums instead of Karen, and see what we could do. So, we went in, and the first record, whatever it was, just went through the sky! It was an immediate gold, platinum . . . So, naturally, that started a major string of hits. You know, a funny thing that happens with groups, and I don’t mean anything bad against Karen or Richard because I loved them both, but, once groups get five, six, or seven hits under their belts, you know, in a matter of a year or two, maybe three, and they’re on the road making all kinds of money, they decide that "we don’t need other musicians, we'll make their own records" And that’s always the beginning of the end! As soon as they start making their own records, goodbye! It’s over. I don’t know why that is, but that’s what happens. And that’s what happened with them. And, of course, it’s unfortunate that Karen dies with her problem; Well then Richard opens up the Carpenters Center at Cal State Long Beach. They've built a gorgeous theatre (maybe a fifty million-dollar theatre) It's absolutely gorgeous! And they have all kinds of Broadway shows in there and everything. Beautiful! At the opening night, one of those thousand dollar per seat events, all the notables were there, and they had these screens set up running pictures of Karen playing and the first guy they introduce is Herb Alpert. He’s the one who signed them. Herb got up, said a few words, then turned around and said, “ I’d like to introduce, if I may, my drummer from the Tijuana brass Hal Blaine. Hal, take a bow.” I get up, and I get a big hand, then Lalo Shifrin , who did “Mission Impossible,” came out with a big drum solo in the middle of it . . . “Hey I want to introduce one the first drummers in the world, blah, blah, blah, Hal Blaine.” And all of this went down .. . It was wild! Sitting in front of me was Peggy Lee, and all these wonderful people, so I'm waiting for Richard to say something, but, of course, he never did. You know, he was trying to keep the mystique about the fact that Karen did not play on the records. It was one of those nights, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. All those videos of Karen playing drums while we were playing the music. It was an incredible night. Three or four months later, Richard decides to do his own concert, so we go in and do this concert. There was a big orchestra, it was great, a wonderful night. Richard never did introduce anybody, and about the third time I went [to the Carpenters Center] - by the way, in the beginning it was called The Richard and Karen Carpenter Center because he put in the first three million dollars or something - Anyway, about a year and a half ago, I got a call from Richard’s manager. “We’re doing a season opener at the Center and Richard would love for you to work with him,” so I said, sure you know, I went in and I played. And, for the first time, Richard Said, “ I want you all to meet so and so .” It was very nice. He finally copped out that I was the drummer on all of the Carpenter’s records.
SE: Finally!
HB: After all these years. The wild part about it was - I want to
tell you this story - the first time I ever walked in there, their mother
and father were sitting there. Karen’s mom and dad, were very square type people. They were all from New Haven Connecticut, and , you know me, if I’m, working on a session and I feel or hear something, you know, I’d say it. So, we started playing - I think it was “We’ve only just begun,” and Karen was singing (high pitched) “We’ve only just begun, to live . . .” - and at one point I said, “You know, Richard, it’s awfully high, why is she singing it so high?” “That’s where we rehearsed it, it’s gonna be fine, that’s where she sings.” I told him well it's none of my business but you
know, midrange is so much more mellow and beautiful, and that's why the arrangers always write trumpets, saxophones, trombones, brass, strings, mid range . . . All the while, her parents are sitting right there arguing about it . . . “Leave them alone! Why is he playing drums, I’ve seen a lot of drummers and Karen is as good as any of them!” You know, you can’t argue with these people, you can’t say anything. And now I’m ****ing embarrassed.
So, finally, Jack Daugherty say's, “Let’s take it down a few steps.
Let’s see what . . .” And all of a sudden here was Karen Carpenter,
the way we know Karen Carpenter, beautiful! I never got credit for that. The reason I mention that is because it wasn’t too long after that that there was a television show where at one point, Richard says, “You know, Karen, You're singing this song much too high. Let’s bring it down a bit.”(laughs)
SE: (laughs)
HB: So then Karen comes up to me and she says, “Sweetheart, would you have a set of drums like yours made for me?” And I say, “Sure, these people would be happy to do that. It’s gonna be expensive, but why are you sitting behind the drums?” - by now they’d have about five or six hit records - "Why aren’t you just in front of the band singing?” The mother is screaming, "She’s the drummer! . . . She’s not . . . Richard is the star!” I mean, I personally feel they pushed her in the grave, you know?
SE: Yeah.
HB: And I said,"Well I'm sorry, It's just my feeling, something about
a girl sitting behind the drums doesn't look natural! I don’t care how
good she is, it doesn’t look natural. And she sings so beautifully. She
should be out in front with a nice gown..." So, (laughs) during this
television show, Richard says, “You know, Karen, I think you should come out from behind the drums, I don't think you should be behind the drums . . .”
SE: (laughs)
HB: I never got any recognition for that, and that’s fine. But,
finally, a year or so ago, [Richard] did introduce me. And Richard is a fine, fine arranger, but his ****ing time in the beginning is the worst I’ve ever heard.
SE: Yeah?
HB: He sat at the piano and started the intro to “Close to You,”
plink, plink, ka, dink, dinka, dink, dink (faster), ka, dinka, dink, kadink,
dink . . . I said, “Hold it Rich, wait ho, hoo, hoo, wait!”
SE: (laughs)
HB: “What? What?” We’ve gotta figure out what the tempo is. “Well,
that’s the tempo.” Well you know, which tempo? We went through that thing. And then every time we tried it, it was the same thing, he was rushing so badly... and Jack of course, the producer, understood, and I said "look, why don't we hook up a click track". "oh no, we don't wanna use a click track it becomes very robotic.. .” I tried to explain that a click track is just a guide. Sometimes, you might feel you’re falling behind, sometimes you fell you’re getting a little ahead. It’s just a guide, you don’t- sit- there- and- play- on- the- beat. So we finally talked him into trying it. Daugherty was saying, “Please, let’s try it.” ****, after that, they wanted to do every record with a click track.
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YouWinIPost
15 Feb 2003
Wow, this kind of shocks me. Hal sounds a little bit arrogant and talks as though he's trying to take credit away from the things Karen did. In the very beginning (before Close To You), Karen *was* the drummer for the tracks, and Hal did not play drums for nearly all the Carpenters records. He did the vast majority, yes, but if you look at the credits for drumming on songs like Only Yesterday and Those Good Old Dreams, the listed drummer is *not* Hal Blaine. I don't like what he had to say about Richard, either. Whether it's all true or not, I don't know or really care. His tone comes through as harsh and degrading.
JohnnyAngel
16 Feb 2003
I just have finished to read this article. It sound to me as Mr Blaine is trying to get a place in Carpenters' history that he doesn't have, because, first,he didn't played the drums in the almost 99% of the Carpenters records, he played the drums "AS A STUDIO MUSICIAN HIRED FOR THAT JOB" in several songs of the Jack Daugherty productions made for the Carpenters which resumes the Albums "Close To You, Carpenters, and A song 4 U" in "Ticket to ride" Karen played the drums in all songs of the album (this fact brings down Mr. Blaine affirmation of the 99%) In Now & Then Karen played the drums in all tracks except Jambalaya in which Mr. Blaine played the drums and stop counting. For this I really have serious doubts about all that he explains in this article. Second, I don´t believe that "lip synched" thing that he talks about, I mean I was not born yesterday, I'm sure that she lip synched in TV but I think that she lip-synched herself. By the way, the TV specials begin in 1976, in that time, Mr. Blaine was no longer the studio drummer.
And Third, I think that Richard was an exceptional musician, producer and arranger, who knew exactly how to do with Karen´s voice and the orchestrations of the Carpenters' songs. I really don't think that Mr. "nobody" Blaine was the person behind the unique Carpenters' sound, and it's "VERY LOW" to use intimate facts of Karen's family only to convince people that he was the "glitter" of the Carpenters which is obviously absurd!.
So, Mr. Blaine: GET A LIFE, man, because in 30 something years of career, you never glow on your own, always across other artists. You are nothing but an unknown studio musician who had the luck to work with two of most remarkable artist on the history of music.
And Third, I think that Richard was an exceptional musician, producer and arranger, who knew exactly how to do with Karen´s voice and the orchestrations of the Carpenters' songs. I really don't think that Mr. "nobody" Blaine was the person behind the unique Carpenters' sound, and it's "VERY LOW" to use intimate facts of Karen's family only to convince people that he was the "glitter" of the Carpenters which is obviously absurd!.
So, Mr. Blaine: GET A LIFE, man, because in 30 something years of career, you never glow on your own, always across other artists. You are nothing but an unknown studio musician who had the luck to work with two of most remarkable artist on the history of music.
A. Rod
17 Feb 2003
Yeah! I agree with all of you that Mr. Blaine is a fake! He really tries to make himself look SO good in front of everyone! And he acts like Karen doesnt have any talent! MAN, THAT MR. BLAINE IS A CHEAP! 
He makes me so mad!
He makes me so mad!
A. Rod
18 Feb 2003
dizzyfingers, on Feb 18 2003, 05:25 PM, said:
Sometimes I wonder if Mr. Blaine ever asked her out, and she said, No, and now he's all mad. You gotta wonder.
HAHA! Thats an interesting theory you got there Dizzy! haha, But you never know! Right? hahaha
Nessa
18 Feb 2003
dizzyfingers, on Feb 18 2003, 05:25 PM, said:
Sometimes I wonder if Mr. Blaine ever asked her out, and she said, No, and now he's all mad. You gotta wonder.
We all know that Karen was a great drummer, as well as a great singer.
So, Mr. Blaine can talk That does not mean that we got to listen. I don't care what he has to say now.
We all know that Karen was a great drummer, as well as a great singer.
So, Mr. Blaine can talk That does not mean that we got to listen. I don't care what he has to say now.
