What's up everybody — Beau here.
Episode 42 is Michael Miley of Rival Sons, back on the show for the second time. If you've been listening for a while, you know the first one ran long and he never put the practice pad down. This one was the same. The man is enthusiastic, present, and takes the craft of drumming and songwriting as seriously as anyone I've talked to. The full episode is up now on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and as always, you get it here first.
Watch the full interview with Michael Miley from Rival Sons here: https://youtu.be/qxHy-4LwunE?si=jo-PnHfUEtlbLIfC
Rival Sons are heading out on the Domestic Bliss Tour, 24 U.S. dates starting October 30th in Boise and wrapping November 29th in Fort Wayne. Before that happens, I want to dig into the part of our conversation I keep thinking about: what it actually means to serve the song.
Miley holds a university music degree and still takes lessons. He studied with Dave Elitch and still checks in with him about once a year. His reasoning is simple. Around 2013 or 2014, around the time of Great Western Valkyrie, he says an article called him a modern-day John Bonham. Bonham is the closest thing he has to a godfather, and he points out that Zeppelin I and II were both recorded by the time Bonham was 20, so instead of coasting on the line, he decided he needed to back it up. He told me he's still pushing, still working to make his double strokes match his single strokes at 200 BPM.
What Elitch gave him wasn't more chops. It was posture. Miley had shin splints and sore shoulders after years of 150 to 200 dates a year, and he traced a lot of it to bad technique. His heel now sits about a half centimeter off the floor, his legs stay relaxed, and he says the power comes from being loose, not tense. He talks about it with his own students too. The first thing he sees from younger players is everybody trying to play too fast, too soon. His advice is to start with singles, doubles and paradiddles, imitate the players you love, and get to a real song as fast as you can. Same idea applies to a guitar player or a singer, honestly. Learn the plain version first.
Miley is a four-piece kit guy. Rival Sons started in a van, so a small kit was a logistics decision, but he's made peace with it. The jazz drummers he loves played kick, snare, rack and floor, and he points out that early Bonham and the first Who record were four-piece setups too. On recent tours he's added concert toms and an electronic pad for a couple of songs, but only where the song called for it. He told me that when it comes to Rival Sons, he's playing "meat and potatoes."
I have always felt the same way. My favorite drummers aren't the ones filling every bar. Overplaying has its place when it's done tastefully, but it depends on what the song needs. Miley puts it simply: give me only what I need. Bonham doesn't always fill. Sometimes he's playing a groove straight through. The question is whether you're building an energy for the song or showing off for yourself.
