who plays drums on "break in the road"?

akoako https://soundcloud.com/a-ko 3,419 Posts
edited June 2011 in Strut Central
i was posting a video of this track on my wall and there seems to be comments all over the place claiming that james black plays on the track and not zigaboo like i always assumed. is there an interview or something somewhere causing this? definitely sounds like zigaboo's kit for sure, sounds like the meters all around, and its produced and written by allen toussaint...a lot of the hi-hat stuff sounds more like zigaboo than james black, but honestly i cant be 100% who plays on it.

does anybody know for sure whos playing? this has me kinda stumped.

  Comments


  • strataspherestratasphere Blastin' the Nasty 1,035 Posts
    It's Zigaboo. The Meters were the backing band.

  • akoako https://soundcloud.com/a-ko 3,419 Posts
    thats what i thought since day one but there must be somebody out there claiming its james black, since damn near every video comment thread says "ITS ACTUALLY JAMES BLACK" now. whats the deal? not that it couldnt be, that just doesnt make a whole lot of sense to me.


  • stratasphere said:
    It's Zigaboo. The Meters were the backing band.

  • high_chigh_c 1,384 Posts
    funky16corners said:
    stratasphere said:
    It's Zigaboo. The Meters were the backing band.

    I've always assumed it was zigaboo but listening again I can here why some would think James Black. It does have that frantic, fill-happy feel to it which isn't very characteristic of zigaboo.

  • The_Hook_UpThe_Hook_Up 8,182 Posts
    perhaps its the result of some NOLA music folklore we are unaware about. To me, its sounds like Zigaboo's snare...one of the most original, unique drum sounds ever IMO. So, maybe, the meters were all set up and ready to go, but Zigaboo was nowhere to be found. The producer was gettin anxious, not wanting to have to pay for more studio time than he has to (perhaps this where the "guitar feedback! Fuck it, use the take, i dont wanna recut it" situation came from) Zigaboo aint answering the phone, no one knows where he is...so they call James Black, out fo ideas where Zig is. He comes in and cuts it on Zigaboo's kit. Could be the reason it has a Zigaboo sound but could also be the reason it is played in a fill-happy atypical Zigaboo way.

  • pcmrpcmr 5,591 Posts
    good to have you back around these parts ako...

  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    Nobody is supposed to know this but it is really Bernard Purdy.

  • holmesholmes 3,532 Posts
    LaserWolf said:
    Nobody is supposed to know this but it is really Bernard Purdy.
    with Carol Kaye on bass.....

  • akoako https://soundcloud.com/a-ko 3,419 Posts
    HAhaha...exactly

  • strataspherestratasphere Blastin' the Nasty 1,035 Posts
    If you listen to Here Comes The Meter Man and There's A Break In The Road right after, that should remove any doubt.
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