I was recently interviewed about the late, great drummer Keith Le Blanc for radio in the UK. For those who don't know, Keith Le Blanc was a drummer, programmer and producer who started out as the house drummer at Sugarhill Records in New York in the early 1980s along with Skip McDonald, Doug Wimbish and Edward Fletcher (Duke Bootee). You will have heard his work on Grandmaster Flash's The Message as well as a whole lot of other tracks from the label, including Funky 4 Plus 1, Kool Moe Dee and more. 

From there he moved to Tommy Boy and released the seminal Malcolm X - No Sell Out. He was a serious pioneer in the world of sampling, making it a key part of his style, incorporating tech into his analogue drum set up. He went to become the most in demand programmer of the DMX drum machine, building his own triggers to he could control them via his analogue kit. His list of credits is top level, including Annie Lennox, Seal, Nine Inch Nails, REM and Tina Turner to name a few. You get the idea...

I had the good fortune of being his tech for Tackhead's last tour in the US and UK and am honoured to have counted him as a friend. Learning about the business first hand from such a pro was amazing. He was a very cool cat indeed. He will be very much missed.

You can hear the interview, pus some of Keith's music (and some of mine) on Colin Spencer's Colin's Cuts show.

https://www.mixcloud.com/ColinSpencer/colin-spencer-128-6-8pm-sat-9nov24-colinscuts-matt-smyth-talks-keith-leblanc-klbdrum/