When he started drumming at age eight, Gillies would write to bands requesting unused
sticks or even whole drum kits. Now Gillies, who bases his "tough but simple" style on
his own mentors - John Bonham, Tool's Danny Carey, and former Soundgarden skin master
Matt Cameron - is on the receiving end of those letters. Though he won't send out his
own sticks, which he describes as "thick, chunky" Vaters, customized so they don't taper
as much as the standard sticks, he is generous with jotting off advice to up and comers who write him.
"I usually tell them to play as many gigs as possible and if they're really, really keen,
go on talent quests and send their tapes to record companies,""Gillies says with his Australian brogue.
"Basically when I was 14, I didn't keep the best time in the world. Now I've been listening to a lot of
cool dance music - funky stuff like Crystal Method or Junkie XL, because they're all electronica, perfect time.
I think just listening to that kind of music makes me have much better time."
Just don't follow Gillies' admittedly poor practice routine. "Oh, I'm so terrible. I'm so bad,"
he confesses. "When we're on the road, the gigs are my practice. Before a gig I'll get a pair of
sticks 20 minutes before and I'll warm up my wrists. When I'm at home I'm even worse."
Well, for Gillies at least, it apparently works.
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