Forrest Robinson

V-Drumming with Utada

Forrest Robinson

Organic soul, futuristic pop, ballistic metal, hi-energy jazz, world beat — Forrest Robinson is a drummer who blooms where he’s planted. His musical expeditions have taken him around the planet with soul sensation India Arie. He’s thrown down megawatt stadium funk with TLC. He’s ignited the West Coast jazz scene with the David Garfield All-Stars. And now he’s positioned in the hi-tech cockpit as V-Drummer for Japanese superstar Utada Hikaru.

Forrest kindly carved time out of his busy schedule to pay a visit to Roland US, where we conducted this interview and filmed him in action behind a set of V-Drums (video links below in the “Forrest Fire” sidebar).

Here’s what Forrest had to say about his adventures on the bleeding edge of technology with Utada.

• • • • •

How did you get the gig with Utada?

This goes back to the summer of 2004. A friend of mine [Matt Rhode] had been playing keyboards with Utada for a year or so. Matt and I had met on a jazz gig years ago, but we really struck up a friendship over our mutual interest in electronica — bands like Future Sound of London, Photek, and Björk. Actually, my interest in Björk’s music was key to the whole Utada thing, because one of the terms Matt used to describe Utada’s music to me was “strange beats.”

Utada is obviously deep into the whole computer thing, but the blessing of the gig with her is, in a day and age where humans are being replaced by machines, I was given the opportunity to do the opposite — to take the place of the machine. That was the first thing that hit me about this gig, and it’s still the main thing that makes me extra thankful and appreciative of this opportunity.

What was it about your playing style that made Matt confident in recommending you for the gig?

Since the ’80s I’ve enjoyed emulating drum machine programs, loops, and breakbeats with my drum kit just for laughs — playing along with Run DMC, Kool Mo Dee records, Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam, NWA — so it’s interesting and somewhat ironic that something I used to do for amusement has now become a serious endeavor and an absolute blast to play live with Utada.

I must also add that I have been a part of a live drum & bass trio called Tria di Luna since 1995. At one point, we needed a keyboardist to fill in for us. Matt had just moved to Atlanta, so I wasted no time at all in recommending him for the job. This was the first project in which Matt and I performed together in a strictly improvisational jam format.

At the time you were contacted about this gig, had you heard of Utada Hikaru before?

No, not really. I’d heard a few things about “this artist from Japan who had been blowing up over there,” but leading up the gig — Utada doesn’t know this — I made it a point not research her. I didn’t go on the web, I wasn’t interested in how many albums she had sold. What I wanted to do was come into the situation completely open, focusing purely on the music and what I could bring to it.

In early 2005, you played your first show with Utada — an elaborate industry showcase in Manhattan. How did you prepare for that performance?

I didn’t have much time to prepare for the show once we officially were given the go-ahead. The good news is that when I heard the show/song files for the first time, I was excited. The music had a very Japanese pop overtone — it definitely wasn’t something that you’d expect to hear from an American pop artist. It was very different, unique; I thought it was great.

What was your approach to recreating the complex electronic parts from the album onstage?

In addition to mapping out the song arrangements — verse, chorus, bridge, etc. — I had to really focus on the rhythms. The way the beats were programmed, it became scientific in a way, but I thought it was charming. I really liked the work they had done.

At first I had to learn the whole record [Exodus] because the initial plan was to play a complete show. So I went ahead and learned every song as best I could. At the time, I didn’t have the V-Drums, and I had to basically fantasize a setup of where the sounds would be and how I’d play them. So from that I started to construct a drum setup according to the sounds.

Originally Matt told me that they were considering sequencing some of the drum parts for me to play along with. But I didn’t want any of the drum parts to be programmed; I wanted to play everything live. “I can do it. I welcome the challenge!” So when I got to New York, all of the samples from the record had been broken up into small fragments, but nothing had been looped or sequenced. That’s when my friend Tony Moon [drum tech/programmer] helped me map everything out using a V-Pro kit and SPD-S sample pad. “I need this sample here, I need this sample there,” etc. And it worked. It was such a blessing.

Robinson with UtadaWas the V-Drum kit pre-selected for you?

No. I already knew what I wanted to use because I had done my own research on Roland V-Drums. It was typical — I went to various music stores making the usual fantasy list. Every time I saw a V-Drum kit I would play on it if the store allowed it, just going through the various sounds and then comparing those sounds to the sounds of other electronic kits. I had begun playing various electronic kits at different churches as well, so I noticed that some of the [non-mesh head] trigger pads would send a painful shock to my hands, which made me very conscious of the feel. I feel safe with the mesh heads. I had been doing this sort of research for years, so I knew that there were other companies out there, but I was confident that Roland had everything I needed. It turned out to be exactly the right setup. It worked out perfectly.

So no drum sequencing was required onstage with Utada.

Not at all, to my fortune. I felt that the sequencing would have gotten in my way, because I didn’t learn Utada’s music with the expectation of having sequenced accompaniment. I knew that if only I had the right sounds, this thing could work! This was something that I enjoyed doing since I was a kid, and I wanted it done right for this. I mean, I played to a click, which was the most important instrument in the entire set.

It was an incredibly futuristic show with a synchronized video wall, and with certain auxiliary keyboard parts and abstract sounds sequenced. But as far as the drum parts, I played everything live from the V-Pro kit and SPD-S.

Onstage, how strictly did you follow the patterns and arrangements from the album?

I had to make it as close as possible, because I felt it was very important to the time structure of the song, and to make sure that no one was thrown off by any sort of free-form playing. But I have to say that when it got toward the end of some songs, like “You Make Me Want to Be a Man,” Utada wanted us to go ahead and loosen up and rock out a bit more.

Was the V-Pro used primarily for drumkit-type sounds?

Exodus

Utada (Album Cover)Check out Utada’s Exodus CD in stores and from online sources such as Apple’s iTunes Music Store. Don’t miss her chart-topping dance remixes as well.

No, the songs didn’t lend themselves to traditional sounds at all. It wasn’t an option, which I thought was great. Don’t get me wrong — God bless acoustic instruments — but on this gig, I wouldn’t have been able to do what was required of me without the V-Pro kit. I couldn’t have done it without it. In the past I always thought electronics were cool, but my attitude was always “I’m an acoustic drummer.” I still love acoustics, but now, thanks to this experience, I’m “all of the above.” I definitely came away from that first show in New York with a “pro electronic” attitude.

With Utada, you play very hi-tech, electronic sounds. Today at Roland, however, you played mostly acoustic-type sounds from the V-Pro kit [see videos above]. What are your thoughts on this aspect of the V-Drums?

I found myself feeling amazingly comfortable playing acoustic sounds on the V-Pro kit. I expected a little bit of latency, and I didn’t get any of that. Everything was right there. The kit is easy and comfortable to play. It’s great. The feeling I got when I struck the drums was that they were acoustic. That’s what it felt like to me. On the jazz kit, in particular — to be able to play something traditional like swing on that kit and have it sound and feel so convincing is very impressive.

If there’s a fault that I can find with the V-Drums, is that it can almost make you sound too good. Depending on the tension on the mesh heads, the kit can make you think that you have more chops than you really do [laughs]. Drummers can cheat pretty easily if they want to.

Parting thoughts?

Working with successful artists, celebrities — one thing I’ve learned is not to expect affirmation or respect from the artist or their management, because here in the States it’s not always popular. People forget where they come from. They sometimes don’t appreciate the hard work that we musicians put into trying to become good at what we do. It’s almost not their fault because many artists nowadays haven’t had to work for their success like many of us had to. I learned this from doing auditions for singers who didn’t write a stitch of their own music, while we musicians file in one by one basically to “monkey dance” for the artist and his or her entourage.

Not all true artists are this way. A true artist, to me, is someone who writes their own music and actually appreciates what we as musicians contribute to making the song whole. Many artists today, who are more like “stars,” have never written a song. Even if they did, it does not diminish the fact that it takes a lot of hard work and input from musicians to make a song whole, and with the music entertainment industry being as ravenous as it is today, these artists are very quick to claim all the glory for themselves, generally leaving the musicians and their creativity in the cold.

There are many artists, however, who write some of the most beautiful music in existence. They bless my soul. These are the people that keep me playing drums and writing music. These are the people I want to be surrounded by and to contribute my gifts to. These are true artists to me. There is no reason anyone who truly appreciates the enormity of a blessed, healing, Godly gift such as music should have such a hard time enjoying it or playing it. This is not about praise and adoration for the musician. This is merely about appreciating what we have to offer to the music.

I can spend this whole interview going on and on about Utada and her family, because she writes her own music; yet she appreciates what I have to offer to it, if that’s what she wants. Working with Utada has been the best. As far as being in the commercial music industry, she and her team are the best artists, the best people I’ve ever had the privilege of working with. They appreciate me as a musician and as a human being. I don’t feel like a Social Security number, and that’s a beautiful thing.

• • • • •

For info on Forrest’s touring and recording happenings, log onto his site at ForrestRobinson.com. And for up-to-the-minute info on Utada, visit her official English language site at Utada.com.

Utada Collage