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Hal Blaine
Hal Blaine
Hal Blaine, LA, circa 1970
photo courtesy of Hal Blaine.
Hal Blaine, 2004
(L-R) Drummer Chad Smith and Hal Blaine, Palm Desert, CA 2004
Why did you end up as a drummer?
I started with some doweling from an old rocking chair that I used for drumsticks when I was eight years old. I always knew I would be a drummer. When I was 13 we moved to California and I started my own little band. We got our first jobs playing for five bucks a night and a free chicken dinner.
Did you have any formal training?
In 1949 I moved to Chicago and attended the Roy Knapp School of Percussion. It was Gene Krupa’s alma mater, Louis Bellson’s—a lot of great drummers went there. While studying, I worked at nightclubs backing strippers from eight at night to four in the morning. It was strictly sight reading and a great training ground.