Honoring The Past And Building The Future

Mike Vanderhule of Y&T

Cris Cohen: When you join an existing band, how do you honor what came before -- in terms of the drummers who sat in that throne before -- but also make space to express yourself and show what you have to offer?

Mike Vanderhule of Y&T: Good question. First thing I do is learn everything the way it was done originally, so I can sound like the record first and foremost. And then as you get to know them, they'll let you know where you have freedom to play other parts. As a kid coming up, any band I was into, you go to a concert and you want to hear songs played the way we knew it. So those are the key parts, the sound you want it to have. But we have a lot of places where we stretch out and I can't help but sound like myself.