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Drummer Tommy Clufetos has a rock and roll resume that would make any musician proud. In the past, Tommy has performed with Alice Cooper, Ted Nugent, and is currently touring with Shock Rock Horror King Rob Zombie.
Inspired by his Dad, who is also a drummer, Tommy knew at a very early age, that his goal was to become a professional touring musician. Tommy Clufetos, who hails from Detroit City, the Rock n’ Roll Capital of the World, landed a gig touring with Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels upon graduating High School. Since those early days in music, Tommy has gone on to perform with some of the top names in the music business today.
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Tommy Clufetos has a drumming style that is diverse, and unique. His dedication to his craft has made him one of the most sought after drummers in music today. In concert, Tommy performs with a fury and passion.
Currently,, Tommy Clufetos is pounding out some of the heaviest rhythms with Shock Rock King Rob Zombie. Rob Zombie is currently gearing up for their American Witch Tour, which is slated to begin June 30 in El Paso, Texas. Beginning August 25 Rob will head out on a co-headlining tour with Boston rockers Godsmack.
In this Exclusive interview for GlamMetal.Com TM, drummer extraordinaire Tommy Clufetos discusses the upcoming Rob Zombie Tour, "Educated Horses", life on the road, and what is Rob Zombie, Ted Nugent, and Alice Cooper have taught him as a musician. www.tommyclufetos.com www.myspace.com/tommyclufetos www.robzombie.com
Stay tuned to GlamMetal.Com TM for Rob Zombie updates and upcoming interviews. .
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Hello Tommy, How are ya doing? It is go great to be talking to you. I recently had the opportunity to see you perform with Rob Zombie on the first leg of the tour in Worcester. Let me tell ya, you guys were amazing.
I remember that show.
First of all, let me congratulate you on your gig with Rob Zombie. I hear you are getting ready to embark on the ‘American Witch’ tour, which is slated to begin June 30, also on the bill will be Anthrax. Are you excited?
Yes we are. It starts in El Paso. It is going to be so hot.
Now you are playing larger venues this time around. How exciting? Will the stage show be larger?
Ya know what? I don't know what it is going to entail. We go to every show like it is going to be a big show. Whether it is the Palladium, or Madison Square Garden. They are all the biggest shows of our lives. At least that is how I approach it. I know the other guys too. I know they are bumping up the rooms just because Zombie is in so much demand. It is a great thing ya know?
How have you been enjoying the tour? What has the highlight been?
I live for this. I devour this. I devour what I do. I love it so much. When I am not doing it, there is nothing else in my life. My whole day is dedicated to the show, from the time I wake up to the time I go to bed. Everything that I revolves around that. So I just live for it. I take total advantage of every moment and try to soak it in and enjoy it.
Now the new Rob Zombie album, ‘Educated Horses’ is phenomenal. How do you like performing the new songs live?
The new songs are killer and people love them. The record is stretched out in a different area that Rob has done before. Heaver, lighter, it is great that people dig it. It still has the Zombie thing, he has his own style. Nowadays, there are so many of those Horror Rock bands, which Rob was so monumental in creating and influencing some of those bands. He stepped away from that on this last record, to show it is just about the music. I think that came across on the record and I was proud to be a part of it.
Tell me about your performance on ‘Educated Horses.’
The record was done, even before I joined the band. Some of the tracks were being done with Josh Freese, and Tommy Lee, and Wes Bolin. Rob decided to put together a new band, we did the Ozzfest. We got along so good, he has us come in the studio, and it just evolved from there. I ended up playing on half of the tracks on it, and Tommy Lee played on one, and Josh Freese played on a couple. I am honored to be in the same category as those guys who are unbelievable players, and rockers and jammers in their own right. So after we did the Ozzfest, I came in and did my thing. We tweaked some stuff I am on six or seven songs. So it is killer.
How did you end up getting the gig with Rob Zombie? How did you meet Rob?
I actually never met Rob, before I got the gig. I was playing with Alice Cooper to make a long story short. We were playing here in LA, at the Greek Theater. Blasko came out to see a show. We had talked at the end, and we made friends and he said if you are ever looking for a gig, and I mentioned if you ever need a drummer give me a shout. Eventually that happened. Zombie went on Blasko's word, you kind of have to hire this guy, he is the guy. When I showed up the first day of rehearsal, we rocked it like it was showtime!
That is awesome. You clicked right away with Rob. Actually, I got to see you perform at Ozzfest last year and you guys rocked the house.
Well, we know no other way. I don't have highlights. Ever night is a highlight. I never had not a highlight. Ever gig is a highlight to me. I don't care where I am playing. People ask me all the time, what is your favorite song to play, they are all of my favorite That is how I operate. I live in the moment, every gig is the greatest gig in my life. That is how I approach it. Whether I was a young gig playing the clubs in Detroit, or whether I am playing sold out arenas with Rob Zombie. It is the same thing. It is the same approach.
How do you find the audiences differ from performing with Alice Cooper, Ted Nugent and now you are playing with Rob Zombie?
There are whole lot more bloody kids coming out of the mosh pits. The energy has always been there,because I have been so fortunate to play with amazing artist. I mean Ted Nugent and Alice Cooper, you can't get much more legendary and innovative than those guys. The audience with Rob, it is amazing how young it is. These kids 13 and 14, they are all young. The only difference is the age. The people are always into the shows, because the artists are such great entertainers. These kids are so young, it is unbelievable. You go the mosh pits and all the kind of stuff.
Would you attribute Rob's young audience to the myspace craze?
I don't know about that? I think of course that has something to do with it. I think there is not a lot of rock shows now. Some of the rock bands of today are the same old bullshit. Rob relates to the kids, he has this youthful energy, it is so much power going on. It still has the entertainment. I t is the perfect mix of the rock factor of back in the day. Rob Zombie was a part of that. There are not a lot of bands doing that now. Anybody you see doing that, whether it is the Velvet Revolvers, or whoever is doing this flourishing, because there is a lack of rock music. That is what kids what. Kids want energy and fun and that is what the Zombie show is.
I noticed that Rob is putting the fun back into concerts again. He gets the audience involved.
We have such a great time. You can't believe we are laughing or joking, whether it is on the bus, in the dressing room, it is just like kids playing in the garage. Rob only wants to do it if it fun. That is why he put this band together again and went out on the road. If he didn't have fun at Ozzfest, maybe we wouldn't have gone on tour again. But he such a riot. That translates to the audience, I think. Whether it is young kids or old farts. They sense something in that energy and fun vibe. If you are having fun, people are going to have fun. That is what we do.
So it is going to be great to see Rob on tour with Anthrax starting June 30, and then you are going out on the road with Godsmack on August 25. The shows are going to be amazing for sure.
Godsmack! We are going to give them a smack. (laughter) It is going to be unbelievable. Godsmack is such a killer band, and Shannon Larkin is such a killer drummer, I can't wait to see him play. We are going to put out all the stops. It is going to be an unbelievable over the top insane rock show. So come on out.
Yes, I am looking forward to your show at the Tweeter Center on September 7. Actually, I got to see you perform with Ted Nugent in 2002 at the Tweeter Center in Boston My good friend Barry Sparks was also in the band.
Tell Barry, I said Hello.
I will. How did you get the gig with Ted Nugent?
I was just a young kid in Detroit, playing with Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, at the time. My good friend Alto Reed, who is the sax player in Bob Seger's Band called me to play on some sessions and ted Nugent was going to be recording a couple of songs to this movie soundtrack. My friend Al goes,"Do you want to and play drums on a song with Ted Nugent?" I said of course I do, c'mon he is legendary in Detroit. I am a Detroit boy, he is a Detroit boy. So it was over the top. We jammed together, we had such a great time. We just made up this music on the spot and recorded it ten minutes later, and it came out great and that night he called me to go on tour. I was with Ted for 3 and 1/2 years and it was the most unbelievable learning fun, educational experiences I have of my life. He is such a master of music, and business, being an all around professional. I learned so much from him.
I noticed too that Ted is very patriotic. America and his support of the troops, was such a great theme, the night that I saw you perform at The Tweeter Center. After the show, I saw a lot of military people in the audience.
They love Ted. He makes it well known, as more artists should. He goes over to Iraq. He does benefits for them. He sends them stuff. He writes letters to them. He just doesn't bring them up at the the concert. Ted is a whole different ballgame. He is the real deal. He just doesn't wear an American flag and shirt on stage, and say God Bless The Troops. He goes full out and goes way beyond any other artist, when it comes to giving back to those heroes, who have helped us. Of course they always come up, they love Uncle Ted. He loves the troops, he thanks them every night.
Now you got to perform on the ‘Cravemen’ album. Was it exciting to record with Ted Nugent?
I did, I played all over that thing.
Now you are from Detroit, the Rock and roll capital of the world!
You got that Goddamn right! (Laughter)
Is is true your first gig right out of High School was with Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels?
Yeah, right out of High School. I started playing, when I was a young kid, eleven years old with my Dad's group. We would back all these oldie acts, whether it would be Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, everyone in that genre. I started doing that when I was eleven, playing clubs five nights a week. So up until that point, I had been doing that like a maniac, ya know getting home at 4 A.M. in the morning, and going to school at six, and doing the whole thing. I was a veteran, by the time I was in Mitch Ryder.
I can hear a lot of diversity in your style of playing. What kind of music do you like to listen too, when you are not performing?
I am in to everything. I love old Rock and Roll, roots music, blues and country. Right now I am downloading old Jerry Lee Lewis songs into my compute as we speak. Old music like Hank Williams, I just like good sounds. There is two kinds of music to me, good and bad. I like the good stuff. It all influences me, and comes into my playing, so I try to be well rounded player that can play all types of sounds. I play all these hard rock gigs, but you bet my ass, you watch me in five or ten years, I will be moving on to different genres. I will be playing with the different artists, the Sheryl Crows, Sting, that is what I want to do. I just don't want to be a hard rock guy. That is where my influences are going to come out down the line.
What do you enjoy most about being on the road? You do it like 24/7.
I am a firm believer, if you want to play music, you have got to love every aspect of it. I love every aspect of what I do. The things that people complain about, I live for. The long bus rides, the sound checks, the shitty hotels, the van the trailers. I love the road and hanging at gig after gig. Every little piece of it, and meeting the fans, getting on the tour bus. I live for it, and I yearn for it. There is not another place, I want to be. So I don't have a complaint in the world. It just encompasses my life. I devour it, like I said earlier with my heart and soul. There is no favorite to me. You either love every aspect, or it is not for you. If you don't like traveling, if you don't like being away, it is gonna get ya, the longer you do it. It is going to devour you, and you are going to end up giving up. I love every piece of Rock and Roll, and music, and traveling and playing gigs, and all of that kind of stuff.
It seems like Rock in general is going back to artists like Ted, Rob Zombie, and Alice Cooper and the 80's. Fans are listening to these acts. Do you think it was easier for these artists to develop more of a following back then? How has the music scene changed?
It was definitely more back in those guys days, maybe easier, that is the wrong word to say, I know nothing about record companies back then, I never dealt with them. From what I am told, you could develop a career back then. You would get three or four albums to get a following going. and get your fame and your feet wet. But now it is like bands really don't really have a chance, if they don't blow up after their first record. It is done. You gotta be hot from the Get co! Drummers come up to me all the time, and ask what do I do to make it? There is not one thing, you have to be prepared, when the opportunity arrives, whatever that means. Whenever I got an opportunity to play with somebody, or jam with somebody, I always made the most of it. I made sure I knew the sound and did my homework. It kicked ass. Ii kicked every body's ass, because that was the only way I was going to further myself. Nobody was going to help me out. That is how I dealt with my career so far. it really wasn't like hanging out, trying to plan this move or that. The only planning I did was onstage and hoping for the best. I think with bands today, that is the only thing you can do. Go up there and demolish the living shit out of everybody, and hope for the best. If you are the best, you are going to rise to the top. There is always going to be music, and Rock and Roll. If you are that good people are going to need ya. That is the only thing, I can say. I don't know, if it is better or worse, I think the business aspect has always not been kosher. That is Rock and Roll, take it or leave it.
Is there anything else that you would like to say to the many Rob Zombie fans here at GlamMetal.com TM?
You are going to have your skull bashed in. We are going to come out there and sweat our asses off for you people. You better go crazy.
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