Nous vous confions hier que Abe Laboriel, qui a été le batteur durant les 50 shows du Driving USA de Paul, se voyait consacré dans le numéro de Janvier 2003 du magazine « Modern Drummer » une interview. Nous vous livrons ci-après la transcription de cette dernière.
MD: What do you consider your first break?
Abe: The Steve Vai gig. It wasn?t the greatest experience, but it was the break. It was one of the first things I really did on my own, strictly on my own merit, and I can pretty much trace everything I?ve done back to that gig. Steve Vai led to Seal, which led to every producer in town seeing me play. From there I started doing lots of recording, eventually winding up with k.d. lang, doing her tours for a while. I got the gig with Sting because he saw me play with her. And the producer who hired me for Paul?s record was the head of A&R at k.d.?s label. We hadn?t worked together, but we met, so he said, « I really thought you were a nice guy. Do you feel like making a record with Paul McCartney?
MD: Personality is a major piece of a successful career.
Abe: Absolutely. Attitude is ninety percent of it.
MD: Where do you think your inner glow comes from?
Abe: Definitely from my family and being loved.
MD: For all those parents of musicians out there, what was the best thing your parents ever did for you?
Abe: They gave me really great guidance, but allowed me to still be a goof-off and an individual. They helped me have confidence in being myself, not worrying what everybody else might think. All that matters is what you feel about yourself. Watching my father and the joy he has was always encouraging. To see somebody who was fully in love with what he does and fully in love with every moment was a great example and something to strive for. What I love about music, and specifically playing live, is you get to see that instant reaction of somebody getting to let go of their day and feel uplifted.
MD: Speaking of playing live, tell us about the Sting experience.
Abe: k.d. had opened up about ten shows on Sting?s last tour. We got to hang out with the guys in his band. Manu Katché was Sting?s drummer at the time, and he?s an amazing guy and an amazing drummer. But there were definitely moments where it looked like he was almost disinterested in the gig. He didn?t look like he was passionate about the music he was playing, which is too bad. But you never know what?s going on in someone?s life.
Anyway, Kipper, the synth/keyboard player and producer of the last k.d. record, was producing trumpet player, Chris Botti, so they called me to play on half of his record–Vinnie [Colaiuta] played on the other half. And we got on great. I guess Sting heard the record and they told him we had fun in the studio, so when Manu decided to leave the gig, I was the guy Sting thought of.
I had just finished recording Paul?s record when Sting called, and didn?t really know when the record was going to be out and if there was going to be a tour or not. But I knew the Sting tour would only be two or three months. As it turned out, I was able to do the tour. I did the Concert For New York with Sting and Paul, and then the Sting tour started the following Monday. I went from the biggest experience of my life to the next biggest experience of my life.
