Interview Artimus Pyle - First part 17-01-2024

RTJ : You were born on July 15, 1948 in Louisville, Kentucky. Did you move around a lot growing up?

Artimus Pyle : Yes, my father was an architect and a builder. He built homes and he followed the builing broom nor so we went from Tennessee and Kentucky up to Ohio and Dad was building so and then we moved back to Tennessee... So we moved a lot and seeing my Dad was building a new house and we moved into it and it would be one of the model homes. Then he would build about three hundred more houses in that developpment subdivision and then we’d move on so we would be the only house in the place. I had no friends to play with. Then people will move in to the new homes and I’d make some friends and then I had to move on to the next building. So that was kind of wild, and a new school and different people… But I like traveling, you know, I like traveling, I obviously still do, I’m on the road all the time with my band, wore in different states in three months

RTJ : You were born with the travelin’ bone...
(Loughing)

Artimus Pyle : You got that right

RTJ : Do you come from a musical family?

Artimus Pyle : Well, my mother played trumpet but not professionally. My father, I remember when I was young, he led. The little town we lived in in Tennessee had a little orchestra and they result was a show with a magician doing tricks and my Dad led the band but he didn’t have any proper baton that he would lead the band with. So he used a giant knitting needle. He used a great big knitting needle and led the band. I remember the magician, I was only like five. The magician brought me up on stage and he made water come out of my elbow. Of course I’m a little kid and I made all kinds of a funny faces in the crowd loughing at me and I thought that was great. And when he made water come out of my elbow the crowd responded in claps. The whole room broke up into applause and I liked that. I thought “Wow, we’re up here, I’m acting like an fool and nobody’s left in clapping” and, so now that’s I still do. I get on stage to play drums and act like a fool and people lough and clap, so I love it.

RTJ : Did you start music directly by learning the drums?

Artimus Pyle : My first instrument was an accordeon but it was bigger than me. It was heavy and I did out the garage and I tried to play it but it was so heavy, it was awkward. But I’m a natural drummer. I rode a horse before I walked and so the galloping hooves of a horse, you know (he begins to beat his chest with his hands flat to imitate the sound of galloping), right ? That set up the rhythm under me and my grandfather had a roadbuilding company so I would run bulldozers starting at the age of about nine years old every summmer. I would go and ride bulldozers and made two dollars an hour and run bulldozers from my grandpa all different sizes, the little ones, the big ones, but you gave one of those big Caterpillar V8 engines, a Diesel V8 on DI, it puts on like that, this is what sound like is (he beats again on his chest). Those rhythms even driving down the road and your windshield whippers are doing that (he imitates with his hands the movement of the windshield wipers in front of him) I would write little symphonies in my mind, little musical things to the rhythm of the rain, whatever the windshield whippers were doing. So I’ve always felt the rhythm in everything. There is the rhythm even in the wind even though it is always different. I feel that and I love that. I feel like everybody’s a drummer. Everybody does this, you know (snapping fingers in time), everybody does this (clapping his hands in time), taps their feet, but if you do this every day for 74 years like I have cause when I was born the doctor, you know (mimicking the gesture of slapping the buttocks which allowed the lungs to expand), and I went « Two, three, four... ».
So, you know, all my children I start them off on drums because whatever instrument you play you have to learn time. So all of my kids start off on drums even my little granddaughters, the little ones. They are pretty good. We play music together, it’s pretty tribal but all of my children have branched stand to another instruments. My younger son River is 23. River, he’s just graduated for Apple Agence State University Hub in North Carolina. Sustainable environnement. That‘s what he got, his degree. He’s only about one hour away. And I live with one of my sons. We play music together all the time. I’m the drummer and my oldest son’s band is safety to. He wrote all his material and I’m the drummer in his band.

Two of my sons were living with me in Jerusalem in Israël. We lived in the Castle of King David and the Mount of Sion for three/four years. I’m a Gentile (a non-Jewish person, editor’s note) but we were studying Old Testament, Leviticus, Physics, and my children were getting an education that I couldn’t have bought in any University in the world. They were getting an education, learning a little French because you know Tel Aviv is just right there a short four hours from Paris to Tel Aviv. I’ve taken that trip getting back to America so they picked up some Russian, of course Arabic and Hebrew but that was something that I wanna just describe of coming a better human being. So they started writing music, Chris and Marshall, my sons, my two older sons, and they are incredible singers songwriters musicians. I’m amazed. I started drums but they play guitars and keys and everything, horns, but the songs they started writing were about living in Israel and Sion like one song my son Chris wrote. It takes a stronger man to love than to hate. It’s one of my favourite songs and I played the drums to it and it‘s ferocious : It takes a stronger man to love than to hate. So it’s all good you know.

RTJ : Very interesting. You really began drums at what age, you were 13, 14 ?

Artimus Pyle : My dad bought me my first set of drums around age of 11, set of Slingerlands, but I had just a little throw together kit and I used to when I was a baby I would sit up on my mom’s feet in the kitchen and take wooden spoons and play on the pots and pans. I’d make a little drum set getting different sounds when I was really very young. Then at eight or nine they bought me a set of bongo drums, little bongos. I see myself as a hippie in the 60’s wearing a béret in a French coffeehouse playing bongos and trying to be hip. I loved bongos but I played other people’s drums. At school there were drums available. But then, about eleven, my dad bought me my own set of red sparkle Slingerlands drums.
We played Paris, we played a place called the Salle Pleyel and it used to be a piano recital hall and we went in and play the Lynyrd Skynyrd music, man. I felt like « Sorry ! » but that was a great gig. I almost missed to make it almost because I was arrested number 18 Chapelle Street because my MCA representative, his name was Fabrice, and he brought me a Harley Davidson dirt bike and tied to a lamp post in front of the hotel Scribe (near the Opéra Garnier, in the 9th arrondissement, editor’s note) and he called me and said « Hey, there’s a Harley Davidson motorcycle with the keys there in front, I’ll meet you in the lobby. », and so he gave me this motorcycle and I didn’t think about the direction I should have weared a helmet and I looked around, right, and I saw people on Vespas, and Mopeds and small bikes, they weren’t wearing helmets but above a certain size of engine, you got to wear a helmet and I don’t know a thing about it. I got on my bike ‘cause I rid motorcycles my whole life. I drove allover Paris. I just followed my nose. I didn’t ness directions, I didn’t think, everyone’s what I can see is the Eiffel tower, I can tell the Champs Elysées, I went in that area, because I can see people. I just was in Heaven above. I run around for like three hours

RTJ : Without being arrested ? That’s a performance !

Artimus Pyle : For three hours I run, went to the « Arch de Triumph »... I had a great time. Finally, I’m sitting at a stop light, riding my motorcycle, Heaven above, got my long hair I looked like Rasputin, you know. with this long beard and I’m wearing a Marine com field jacket (Artimus was a sergeant in the Marines before becoming a musician, editor's note) and so the gendarmes sitting on the corner, don’t looking at me and they just walk over and the key to the motorcycle was in the headlight, it was one of those headlight with the key, you turn it on like that (making the gesture) and it would fire it up and the gendarme reached over, as the light was turning green, reached over and turned the key and took it out. And I was dead in the water, they had me. I couldn’t even get away, if I would wanna do, but I probably wouldn’t do that. So they had the key and they said « Where’s your helmet ? ». So they are up taking me to the « Chappelle Street » c-h-a-p-p-e-l-l-e and that’s my son’s middle name, it’s Chappell, c-h-a-p-p-e-l-l, no « e », and I know the street, number 18 « Chappelle » Street and they had me for hours, because I had no administration, no drivers licence man, no nothing, I had a ness book and that’s the hotel we run, Scribe, Scribe. Man, they had a lot of fun with me because I didn’t know any much French, not to converse and they didn’t know any english. The only thing they understood is that I was from « Louisville » (pronounced Lou-i-ville, in the French way) « Louisville », Kentucky. They make up saying « Louisville », Kentucky, and I was like « Yeah, that’s me ! » and « Salle Pleyel tonight » and they relate « Salle Pleyel maybe, maybe » and I was like I got « No men, we come all the way to Paris, I gotta play the show » but anyway I ended up chaining, taking the chain, and chain in around the door to get into the precinct. I put the chain around it because my motorcycle wouldn’t start. I was gonna take it back. That’s the only way I got to get home. They were like saying « No, you can’t do that », so I couldn’t get starded and my only word in French that I can think of was « Sabotage » and I kept pointing to the bike, pointing at them and saying « Sabotage » and they would say « No sabotage, no sabotage ». So I chained the bike to the door handle of the precinct and gave my ness book to a cab driver. I jumped to the cab and said « Take me there ! », Hotel Scribe, you know So I made it and I played the show that night but I called Fabrice and I said : « You know, that motorcycle you gave me, it’s chained at the frontdoor of the precinct number 18 « Chappelle » Street and he was like « What ? » and I said : « Sorry you didn’t tell me I needed helmet, asshole ! »

RTJ : Lynyrd's way of playing drums was a bit special during the period before the accident. Instigated by Ronnie, you worked a lot with Bob Burns to assimilate all the subtleties of this style, although you had previously worked with well-known southern groups. Can you tell our readers about the conditions of this learning?

Artimus Pyle : I love Bob. Bob was actually in my band that recorded this tribute album called Anthem which the world over, I’ve been doing interviews in Sidney Australia, Edinbourgh Scotland, everywhere. They all think it’s a beautiful tribute album to Ronnie and the band and the band includes Bob. Bob Burns, he played great on the first two Skynyrd albums. I was still a sergeant in the Marines and Bob just had some medical issues, you know yet some medical issues. So I thought Bob was always gonna come back to the band cause a lot of the southern bands had two drummers : Allman Brothers, Charlie Daniels...

RTJ : Outlaws...

Artimus Pyle : The Outlaws, yeah they used a couple of drummers at different times. I met Monte Yoho, he did it by himself for a while you know. Monte is a great friend. Monte was great, he’s a great drummer but I thought Bob’s gonna come back to the band cause I love playing double drums. It just allows you to do more, one drummer can play drums, the other guy can hit the tambourine. People don’t realize how important the tambourine is. It really models the songs, even like Beatles, the Beatles songs. The tambourine sometimes is as loud as the drum part and I think that Ringo Starr is an underrated drummer and I think that Bob as well, Bob Burns, and I was introduced Bob, I bring them out saying « Ladies and Gentlemen, the Ringo Starr of Southern Rock drummers ». Bob got a kick out of that and I’d always say « When you first fell in love with Lynyrd Skynyrd, the guy playing drums : Mister Bob Burns », you know that I bring them out, « the Ringo Starr of Southern Rock drummers ! ». I miss Bob and I miss terribly everybody, so I’m the last guy you know, it hurts but I’m on continuing to play until I can’t and this tribute album... He was very important for me.
When I came in for Bob Burns, it was important for me to play Bob’s parts and show respect to what Bob had play, put, but I’m a live drummer, so I wanted to put my fire. I’m a ferocious player and I wanted to put that down into it. And of course later on other songs that I wrote with the band « That smell », « Saturday night special », « What’s your name », « I know a little », all that stuff… « You got that right », I could put my touch on those from the get-go and not worry about stepping on Bob’s toes but I wanna do play Bob’s parts with respect and actually you see Bob with a little more ferocity. So that’s what I did. I did have respect for those songs, I did play it that way, and then my songs, so I hope I answered to your question, Yves.

(We then have a little private moment of digression to talk about our personal links with Bob, then we move on to Butch Trucks, and it's Artimus who starts talking music again).

Nobody in the world played like Butch Trucks. I loved Butch and we were playing on Getting together in Going Out and touring together as corner stone of Southern Rock : Butch Trucks, Paul Riddle, from Marshall Tucker, Jaimoe, and me and Bob, and Paul Riddle and doing the corner stones as the drummers of the Southern Rock, and then Butch of course, we lost Butch, not like we lost Bob, that was very sad about the way we lost Butch. Sad about the way we lost Bob too but I never had touched a computer in my life, I don’t do Facebook, I don’t do Twitter, or I don’t go on line. I’ve never downloaded anything on a computer, not once ever in my life, I’ve never downloaded anything on a computer, I’ve never sent or received an email. So Bob and I used to talk like 4 o’clock in the morning, he would call me up and that voice of his, there was nobody like him, and he go (imitant la voix rauque de Bob) « Artimus, this is Bob » and I go : « Bob, first of all, nobody else in this world calls me at 04 :30 in the morning and nobody sounds like you so I know it’s you ! ». But we had a great time, we were in a cruise together. It was a rock’n’roll cruise and I had productions stead up machine sets of drums side by side, I could’n swore I saw people crying in the crowd seing Bob and I playing together because we do like « Gimme three steps » and « Call me the breeze » and we played exactly the same. Why ? Because we learned from the same guy : Ronnie Van Zant and his band, and you know the music of Skynyrd, it wasn’t a jam band. That music was : every time it was played, it was played exactly the same way. Almost ! Pretty damn close, and so Bob and I would play these songs and we played it almost mirrors in the images of each other. I got a kick out of it ‘cause people were like « whow ! ». But Butch Trucks and Jaimoe… Butch had the rolling thunder, a rolling thunder style, I can mimetic a little bit, I can play like Butch play, I can mimetic a little bit but nobody plays like Butch, and then Jaimoe would kinda play off of. You know, Jaimoe and I are good friends and Jaimoe would play off of Butch, like a jazz approach, almost jazzish. Like, you know, all of my favourite drummers, I love Weather Report, you know the band Weather Report, and Peter Erskine and Omar Hakim, and all the great jazz drummers, Lenny White (the drummer of Return to Forever, Chick Corea's band, editor's note) was great, Billy Cobham (drummer for Miles Davis and then for the Mahavishnu Orchestra, editor's note), you know I love Billy Cobham, John Mc Laughlin and Mahavishnu Orchestra, those albums were… Miroslav Vitous (Weather Report bassist before Jaco Pastorius, editor's note), on bass, same Sklar (Leland Sklar, well-known studio bassist, editor's note), all those kind of cats, that’s what I like to listen to but nobody plays like Butch, and then Jaimoe plays off of him. And the last time I played with Butch, it was his other band, it was not the Allman Brothers, it was Butch Trucks, the logo was a choo choo train, a locomotive (Butch Trucks & The Freight Train Band, editor's note) and Butch’s son was playing with him and a girl named Heather Gillis and Butch had this other drummer with him, and I never crack on other musicians in everything but this guy was not up to Butch’s standards. This guy was not holding a good line with Butch and everything, so Butch called me up to jam, it was in Asheville, North Carolina and a place called The Ice’s Theater (probably The Ice House Theater, editor's note), they named it before Ice you know (he makes the gesture of cutting the throat) those guys I’m not taking that lightly but those guys were brutal and rude, but they named their theater Ice’s after the family and they spent like 30 000 $ on a beautiful… the coloured lights, (he searches briefly) neon, and so they didn’t have another thirty ground but change the name, so they left us. But it was a beautiful theater and Butch’s band was playing, I gotta up and play with Butch. He sang a song Dust my broom, popopopom popopopom (he hums the bass line) like an up-tempo blues and I kept a shuffle, I kept what Butch would normally play I wrote that shuffle man I can shuffle all day behind popopopom popopopom and Butch played off of me like Jaimoe played off of Butch and Butch sang the song, so Dust my broom, so it was so cool. I knew what was happening and ours videos put the job that and a lot of stills taken that night and there wasn’t that long since we lost Butch. You know how we lost Butch, right ? By his own hand.

RTJ - The rest of this first part of the interview only concerns the two of us and Butch's soul, but if you can be patient, you will soon have the other parts, which are also quite copious.

Y. Philippot-Degand