DRUM! Magazine – Issue 14-1, Pg. 33

As tough as it is to admit, every now and then a guitarist actually has a good idea for a drum part. Take Jim Matheos of Fates Warning, for example. It was his idea that led to the wicked kick-and-snare fill Mark Zonder throws down on the track “Another Perfect Day,” from their newest album, FWX. “In actuality, it was Jim’s idea,” Zonder explains. “Let’s face it, as a drummer you’d say, ‘Every song I’m going to play a four-bar intro,’ but that isn’t going to fly. That was his idea to have this kind of intro. I wanted to keep it short and sweet and sort of punch into the song. It grabs you.”

Although Zonder admits that the fill isn’t going to amaze anyone, he and Matheos played around with different versions until they found the right one. Some sounded similar but weren’t quite perfect, and some just didn’t work at all. In a similar version, Zonder doubled his snare hits by crashing his China cymbal, but it ended up sounding a bit too messy. They were looking for dryness and they finally landed in the Mojave Desert with this fill. “It’s very cool sonically to have something very dry with the snare and the kick, and then having the cymbals crash and the band come in.”

It may sound as if Zonder uses his double pedal, but don’t let the quick feet fool you – he plays the bass drum with one foot. “It’s all single kick. If I play double kick, you’ll hear it.” He is also playing quarternotes with his left foot on the hats, but you can’t hear them on the track. Simple and tasteful, this is another perfect fill for “Another Perfect Day.”