tally sampling all these sounds, it's great. For a drummer to be able to play in real time and store this information in the drum machine, is great, but it needs to be expanded. When they get to disc storage, it will even be easier. I want to do it for re cording possibilities. Live, there is a lot to do also. When you're working with a ma chine, you've got to play with the machine, so it's going to involve playing with a click track, live, but I love doing that. I've been doing that for a long time anyway, since I started playing with the metronome years ago and doing the Utopia albums when we used a drum machine. I'd play along and practice playing solos with these things, so it's not foreign to me. It's something that I think is valuable for new players to learn how to do.

RF: How is it being part of a band that seems pretty democratic?

WW: It's always been sort of Todd Rund gren and Utopia, but we've tried to be as democratic about the situation as humanly possible. Todd was a successful solo artist before the band formed, but the rest of us weren't. So the band, through the last seven years, has become Utopia. But through it all, we had to deal with a lot of people saying "We want to hear Todd as a solo artist." Even the record company, Bearsville, was interested in Todd only as a solo artist and not that crazy about the band. But Todd always had a strong alle giance to the band and believed in the band. When you deal with yourself, you set up all your own goals and parameters, and you create your own environment. When you're in a band situation, you have to exchange with other people and that au tomatically puts you in another position. Specifically in Todd's case, on his solo rec ords, he plays almost everything himself, so when he is in the band situation, he not 9nly has the benefit of the expertise of other members in the band, but also of -other minds and other feelings to react with. That in itself is a benefit of playing in a band. Plus, in this band, he doesn't sing all the time, because we all sing lead vocals and backgrounds. We all take different so los and share the spotlight in different peri ods of the show and on the records. So the pressure isn't on him all the time to be the main focus.

RF: You've done some sessions. What do you perceive as being the difference be tween that and being a member of a band? WW: The big difference between being a studio player and a band member is that, after seven years, everybody kind of has a trust for everyone else, in that we have the freedom to play the parts we want to play. If somebody is not crazy about a part, that person will say, "Try doing this," or "I -~don't like this." Your idea is like your baby, and when somebody is commenting -about your baby, it's natural to have a strong reaction to it. You can express that feeling in any situation, but it always feels

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more severe in the studio situation where an artist is making a solo record and a pro ducer is trying to produce the song as best as possible. The producer has hired these musicians, wants to hear this and has got to get this thing to happen. The whole thing is based around money, finances, deadline and budget. At the same time, the producer is saying, "Listen, we've got to cut these tracks as fast as possible because we have a budget to stick to. I want to get great takes. Just be relaxed, and be crea tive. Ready? Go." It gets to be a very un creative situation. Utopia has its own stu dio, so we can sit in there for three hours and not figure out something. After being in a band for so long, I've been involved in the production aspects of all the Utopia

records, and I have a lot to say about what happens on the record. Studio musicians can't do that, but I find that I can't keep quiet. I don't mouth off, but I'll approach playing the drums like a producer. I can bring the same experiences to the song as a producer. I think that's the big difference between a studio player and a person who has been a member of a band and a pro ducer. When I first started playing ses sions,I would just wait for the producer to tell me what to do. I thought my function as drummer was to be able to play any style of music well, so if somebody asked me to do something, I could do it. That was my challenge. But now, I'm more concerned with what's right for the music and creat ing the best part. Instead of the producer saying, "I'd like to hear this or this," I'd like to be able to sit down and play some thing that is creative and right for the tune. The producer may say, "Do this," and I'll say, "Yeah, I can do that, but you should think about this because this will have a great effect." I can bring a lot more to the session than just playing the licks other people want to hear. That has its place too. I think when you're a studio player, that's your job. You're there to provide a service for those people. They want to hear what makes them happy. If what makes them happy is what you dQ on your own, then that's fantastic. You have to find the bal ance in between all that.

Then it gets to this whole other level which is the psychological trip that is played. Fverybody is a professional, but beyond the professional, personalities start to enter into the situation. I think it's important for young, aspiring drummers to realize that there is a lot to consider. As piring drummers worry about their fills and their time. They become so preoccu pied with asking themselves questions about their performance, but a lot of times they're doing what they should be doing. There might be other musicians, though, who are doing what they shouldn't be do ing and those people use other people as psychological whipping boards for their frustrations. They can all be very profes sional people. It happens at every level, but the inexperienced people automatically think, "What have I done wrong? What's the matter with me?" I found out through the years that there's a lot more going on in these incredibly complicated human be ings than just what meets the eye in terms of the music. I think it's important to real ize that you should always be aware of how well you do with your craft ,-but at the same time be aware that you're not always at fault for things that go on.

RF: You almost have to be as much of a psychologist as you do a musician.

WW: Absolutely. I remember playing at a club when I was younger with two guys who were much older than me. They were pretty good players and would always say, "Watch the time." They were so into that

JUNE1984