Clem Burke, known mostly for his decades long tenure in Blondie has passed away. He wasn’t on my Mount Rushmore of favorite drummers, but I have always had a deep admiration for his playing and when I listen to Blondie records now, I can see I’ve unconsciously stolen from him in many ways over the years. I’ve always loved Blondie’s attitude, fearlessness and constant genre pushing and evolving, the way a band like say The Clash did by integrating elements of hip hop, reggae and straight-up pop. Like Topper Headon of The Clash, those ever shifting, but solid and driving beats, memorable melodic drum fills and hot grooves were courtesy of the drummer, in Blondie’s case, Clem.
He wasn't just Blondie's drummer though. He played with the Ramones, The Romantics and even sat in with legends like Pete Townshend (which probably blew his mind) Bob Dylan and Iggy Pop. He wasn’t picky and was playing with smaller bands while still touring the world with Blondie. He's a lifer that never seemed to tire of his job. He loved to drum and his stage presence doesn’t lie.
The one thing he and I had in common is Keith Moon. Whether it is the fashion choices (target shirts) or drum brand (Premier) or plain ol’ goofing off, making faces and stick twirling, Clem was a true student of Moon, and according to Fred Armison, carried a mini shrine of Keith in his dressing rooms on tour. I haven’t done that, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t watch clips or listen to Who records before most shows to get hyped…
I have had a handful of encounters with Clem in the last 10 or so years. He was a 50 year acquaintance with my friend and musical mentor Andy Paley, who just recently passed away from cancer as well as a neighbor of another friend, Tom. In the few brief conversations we had, we did talk about Keith and how important he was to both of us. He had seen me play with Andy as well as Tom Kenny & The Hi-Seas and was very complimentary and that meant a lot to me. Even in non music situations, he was a gentleman, like when I randomly saw him at the Burbank Airport. He was always gracious and the fact that he would even remember me kind of blew my mind. His soft spoken demeanor off stage was far different from the goofy showman on stage, a bit like me?
I was once called to be a replacement for him for a cover band he plays in with a friend of mine. Needless to say, the show never happened because since he was the draw, there’d be a lot of disappointed people seeing me behind the kit and not Clem. Regardless, the fact that I was thought of as a viable replacement to fucking CLEM BURKE was some nice validation and a reminder that whatever it is I am doing leads to interesting things. It made sense to me though, as they played a lot of Who songs!
Lastly, I wanna tell a cute brief story and call it a day. I want to thank Heather for the reminder of this gig. Please read her tribute to Clem here.
I was performing at a very small bar in Pasadena with Tom Kenny & The Hi-Seas a few years back and Clem happened to be in town and was asked and wanted to sit in on a song with the band. So, Tom, Andy, Clem and myself went outside to discuss what song he’d do and Andy chose the Chuck Berry song “You Never Can Tell”
Andy asks Clem in his hurried and assured way, “You know the song, right?” Clem nods gently and says “Yea, I do. Sure.” He looks at me and nods.
With that quick response, we all started to walk back into the bar to get ready for the second set, in which Clem would play the third or fourth song. As Andy and Tom start to walk ahead, Clem grabs my shoulder and asks, “So how does that one go again?” I cracked up and reminded him what the feel was, but I forgot to remind him of our tempo…
He got up, played the song and even though the tempo was a little off, ok a lot off, it was still fun. The really funny thing was that he played the drums so hard, as if he was playing at the Hollywood Bowl, “BOOM BOOM BAP!” much louder than any drummer had probably ever played in that tiny bar, including myself and Mark, the other drummer of the Hi Seas. Everyone in the band looked back at him with dumbfounded amusement but they all managed to trudge through with smiles on their faces knowing that they were playing with one of the great rock and roll drummers of our time.
(photo by
)It didn't matter if the tempo was off or he played too loud, he and through osmosis, the band, was having fun. Really, when you're playing music live, that's what it should be all about and I think that’s what Clem did so well. That sense of fun and love for music gave him longevity and drive and it’s why he could and would play with everyone, anyway anyhow anywhere he chose.
RIP Clem.
Beautiful, man. I read an interview with him a while back where he talked about playing with Pete; apparently he went into the sessions staunchly resolved to NOT pull out any Moon-isms — though since they were for a couple of tracks that wound up on the dreary White City, I kind of wish he'd have livened things up by doing so!
Great tribute to Clem
(whom I didn’t know personally but will miss). Especially like that you two were both inspired by Moonie, whom I consider “family.” (Friend of my late husband’s.) Thanks.