Skin Full December 1992/January 1993

Virgil Donati - POWER DRUMMER

Virgil Donati has been at the forefront of Australian drumming for some years now. The respect for his playing ability is very evident at any of his well attended clinics where the audience is a mixture of young hopefulls and established pros too. A clinic will take the audience through demonstrations of his amazing technique and some of the more complex rhythms and odd time signatures at which he excels. Explanations follow each section so there is always a chance that if you practice 25 hours a day for the next 47 years you too may be able to....!

The other audience he attracts are the fans of Southern Sons, the very popular Melbourne band he is part pf. I was amazed at a recent concert to hear young girls screaming for a drum solo!
Apart from Virgils rock gigs, clinics and masterclasses, Virgil is also in demand for other work. he toured with “Jesus Christ Superstar” recently, a job calling for great concentration as well as the ususal qualities. “A real thinking gig” was how he desribed it. It was during a stint at the Sydney Entertainment Centre with that show that I managed to grab a few spare minutes with him for an interview.

INFLUENCES
The early influences were somewhat influenced by hos (musician) fathers choice of records. Big Bands featuring Buddy Rich and Louie Bellson were playing a lot of the time and a young Virgil Donati was trying to emulate the solos of Buddy Rich.

The first rock drummer to make an impression was Ian Paice, so the big band records took a rest while Deep Purple came to the front along with other big name groups of that time, Yes and Emerson Lake and Palmer. The fusion era came next with names like Lenny White and of course Billy Cobham with the Mahavishnu Orchestra.

Virgil’s philosophy seems to be to learn as much about as many different styles as possible and that way make his own style able to cope with virtually any playing circumstance he is confronted with. It sounds easy if you talk about it but of course in reality it takes an incredible amount of hard work to get even half way to this level of playing.

Playing and practicing drums became a way of life; get up in the morning, practice, have a quick lunch break, practice, evening meal, go to the gig, sleep, get up, practice...
This type of routine became the norm for long periods and even now stayin on the “cutting edge” of the instrument requires many hours of work being put in every day.

Having reached the level of playing he’s now at there could be a chance of not finding gigs which can extend or interest him. However, Virgil still manages to find challenges in making even a straight ahead rock gig more interesting or innovative. He enjoys being part of the creative process with Southern Sons which involves all facets of how the band works including some of the writing.

TEACHING
Group or Master Classes (restricted to 10 people) are proving very popular when ever the opportunity arises all around the country. A six week course at Drumtek in Melbourne worked very well as did the course at Billy Hydes in Sydney. ( I heard a young drummer who had been to the Sydney course talking about how long it took his arms to recover after a Donati style endurance ans speed workout.)

Virgil Donati is happy for the present time being a rock and sometimes jazz player. His aim as well as continuing to be recognised in Australia, is to establish himself as a name playing overseas. His new video “Power Drumming” could help in that regard as he has just signed a deal for DCI to distribute for him.