by Danielle SariyanGeorge Thorogood and The

Destroyers have been rockin’ and rollin’for 43 years running. With theirunmistakable blues-rock sound,irreverent high-energy stage act, andconsistent nonstop tour schedule, TheDestroyers have amassed a tremendousfollowing of die-hard fans who flock yearafter year to sold-out venues to watchthe band boogie down over and overagain.This September the band—George

Thorogood (vocals), Jeff Simon (drums),Bill Blough (bass guitar), Jim Suhler(rhythm guitar) and Buddy Leach(saxophone)—kick off the second legof their Badder Than Ever Tour. Duringa very short break in the band’s 32-cityU.S. and Canada tour I caught up withJeff Simon to discuss his favorite onstage moments, his memories of growingup with the man he calls GT, and hisexperience “keeping time” for TheDestroyers.Rock and roll is your full-time job.You have played drums for GeorgeThorogood and The Destroyers forover four decades. To what do youcredit your continued success?I can’t explain how we’ve been able

to do it for so long. We’re just reallyfortunate. In 1973 your van and your drum skillshelped birth one of the mostlegendary bands in music history.What was it like to grow up, work,and travel the world with your friendGeorge Thorogood?

George is three years older than me,so we didn’t really go to school together.My older brother is four years older. Hewent to school with George. We all grewup together. I’ve known him since I wasnine years old. When we were kidswe played baseball all day and thendissect Rolling Stones’ records at night.My brother would buy the records. He

had a job. He was a big influence onme. He would be the first kid on the blockwith the records. George spent a lot oftime at our house and we would justtalk about music. “Why did he do this?”“Why did he have a cymbal crash here?”It was a music education for me. That’swhat we did when we were kids. George had a charisma. Even when

we were kids I could see there wassomething special about him. Somethinggood was going to happen with him. Itwas my brother’s idea to get a drum kit.We got a drum kit and taught ourselveshow to play along with the records. My

parents had the patience for that. If mykids were playing drums in the nextroom I don’t know how much patienceI would have, but they never saidanything. My brother was in a coupleof bands and they would always practicein the basement. There wereneighborhood kids coming in and therewas always music and loud stuff going

on. My folks never said anything. Theyalways encouraged it. I think that’sunique!The Destroyers have performed over8,000 live shows and toured withsome of the biggest names in theindustry from Muddy Waters toHowlin’ Wolf, and the Rolling Stones.Do any experiences stand out as oneof those, “I can’t believe this is freakin’happening!” moments? George and I moved to Boston in ’74

or ’75 and we worked mostly in NewEngland. That’s where we opened forHowlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Hound

Dog Taylor and the HouseRockers, anda few others. We spent a lot of time withHound Dog Taylor. They kind of adoptedus. We learned a lot about life from thoseguys. That’s really special to me. Openingfor the Rolling Stones and the magnitudeof those shows, playing for 100,000people sometimes, that’s a uniquesituation! And then we’re playing with

Charlie Watts. That was my guy. Thatwas my hero. That’s who I patterned mywhole drumming approach after. Wegot to meet the guys and I was kind ofapprehensive because what if he’s ajerk? But man he was really nice to me.I spent as much time with him as Ipossibly could, which wasn’t a lot, butany chance I could I would just showup and be there. I’ll tell you about the way we got into

that. George went to our booking agentand said, “The Rolling Stones are startingtheir tour in Philadelphia. If you don’tget us on one of the shows, you’re fired.”

He was half joking. Bill Graham was thepromoter and he said, “We’ll put you onthe first couple of shows and see howit goes.” We did the first show and it wentso well he said, “You can do the wholetour.” The 50/50 Tour [all 50 states in 50consecutive days] was already bookedwhen we did this Stones’ show, so wecouldn’t. We were like, “We have thisthing booked. We can’t do it.” One ofthe shows on the 50/50 Tour… we playedwith them in New Orleans. We endedup doing 16 shows with them in Americain 1981 and nine shows with them inEurope in 1982. That was really special. After the first show in Philadelphia

the piano player, Ian Stewart, cameto me, sat down and said, “Those ChuckBerry songs you’re playing… what keysare those in?” I told him and he goes,“Well do you think I might have a play?”I said, “Ian, are you kidding me? You’reone of our heroes!” Every show afterthat he played with us and then whenwe recorded Bad To The Bone, Ian cameand played on it and then did the tourin Canada with us. We got to know Iana little bit. That was nice. Then on oneof the breaks in Rotterdam we bookeda gig for ourselves and took Ian andBobby Keys who played sax from theStones’ camp to play with us. We werein the second or third set of the nightand Mick shows up and sings a coupleof Chuck Berry songs. It was over afterthat. You can’t follow that. Recording, performing anddistributing music has completelyevolved in the last forty years. It is

buzz

GEORGE THOROGOOD AND THE DESTROYERS WILL PLAY THE MAYO PERFORMING ARTS CENTER IN MORRISTOWN, NJ ON SEPT. 28 AND THE PARAMOUNT IN HUNTINGTON, NY ON SEPT. 29.FOR MORE INFORMATION, GO TO GEORGETHOROGOOD.COM.

“WE HAVE A FAIRLY HIGH-ENERGY ACT SO WE GET ALOT OF ENERGY FROM THE CROWD. THAT HASN’T

CHANGED. WE STILL GET GREAT ENERGY. I’M LOOKINGOVER MY SHOULDER WAITING FOR SOMEBODY TO

CATCH US GETTING AWAY WITH WHAT WE’RE DOING.THE PEOPLE THAT LIKE OUR MUSIC ARE STILL

SHOWING UP. IT AMAZES ME TO THIS DAY.”

JEFF SIMON

PHOTO BY REBECCA BLISSETT

K E E P S

GEORGE THOROGOODAND THE DESTROYERS

M A R C H I N G T O T H E B E A T O F T H E I R O W N D R U M

16 ARTS WEEKLY SEPTEMBER 28, 2016 www.theaquarian.com

easier than ever for people to share and accessdifferent kinds of music, but there is still somuch technology cannot replace. What is yourtake on that? There’s good and bad or positive and negative

to both. How it affected us personally? Our recordssold in a steady stream all along the way. We neverreally had a hit record or sold millions and millionsof records all at once. We had a steady stream andpretty decent sales. When digital sharing camein that income went away because everybody isjust taking it, taking it, taking it. That’s the directeffect I have witnessed. But being able to sharemusic with people and the way things are set upnow with Spotify and Pandora, even though they’renot paying people fairly, it’s a way to find new music.I’ve gone on there and I’m like, “Wow. Where didthat song come from?” There’s so much moreavailable now. All the stuff from the '40s, the '50sand even the '30s is available again. You wouldn’thave been able to access it or find it, but now allthat stuff is available. I think that’s a positive. That’swhat I do. I spend a lot of time trying to find oldrecordings I haven’t heard. A whole world openedup by digitizing stuff. You guys have been relentlessly touring BadderThan Ever and consistently playing to

sold-out venues. How does itfeel to know fans are just aspassionate about your musicas they were 40 years ago?Our crowds are getting older

as we’re getting older! We see younger kids atthe shows still. I think some of our gang is bringingtheir kids and I think some of the kids are doingwhat we were just talking about: finding stuff. Goodor bad, love it or hate it, classic rock radio… we gotour foot in the door there and it has kept us goingfor a long time. We have a fairly high-energy act sowe get a lot of energy from the crowd. That hasn’tchanged. We still get great energy. I’m looking overmy shoulder waiting for somebody to catch usgetting away with what we’re doing. The peoplethat like our music are still showing up. It amazesme to this day. There are countless photos of the band withfans on your social media sites. It’s incredibleto see how appreciative The Destroyers are ofthe people that come out to the shows and

continue to buy the music. If nobody shows up then no body is going to hire

you. They’re responsible. It’s a team. Teamwork.The team. Speaking of your team, with songs like “Bad ToThe Bone” and “Move It On Over,” The Destroyershave made an entire career out of serving up aplayful, tongue-in-cheek badass attitude. Whoin the band is actually the biggest rebel?It’s like being an actor in a movie. That character

doesn’t necessarily mean that’s the way you areas a person. But let’s see, a rebel? Do we have arebel in our troops?I have a feeling it might be you!Me?! No. No. No. It’s funny because I don’t mind

being able to just walk around without anybodyhaving any idea who I am or what I do. GT is thefront guy. He is the voice and he is good at it. Godbless him. It’s a whole different thing. I would hateto disappoint you, but we’re pretty regular guys.If you’re looking for wild rock and roll stories anddrugs and sex and all that, that doesn’t really applyto us.Your Simon Says videos on YouTube arehilarious, especially the “Late Night Bling” one.Where did you come up with that idea and how

do you decide whatyou’re going to donext?

We’ve got a prettygood brain trust workingwith us. We’re alwaysthrowing out differentideas and trying differentthings. Our managerAdam Conde has somereally good ideas. ShawnBerman, who is ourmonitor engineer on theroad and engineered ourlast two records, doesall that video, editing,and recording work. He’sjust brilliant at that. Thespecific idea is probablyAdam’s, but I’m notpositive.

The Destroyers are touring more than everbefore. Do you guys have plans of slowing downor can we continue rocking with you for a longtime to come?I haven’t heard anybody mention the R word in

a while. We’re still really having a lot of fun playing.I’m probably having more fun playing than I everhave. There’s baggage that goes along with anyoccupation. When people ask me, “Are you goingto retire?” I say, “Nah. The baggage gets a littleheavier, but I can still lift it.” I can’t imagine what Iwould retire to. I don’t know if joy is the right word,but the feeling you get playing music… as long aspeople will show up and allow me to participateand experience that I can’t imagine ever wantingto retire.

PHOTO BY REBECCA BLISSETT

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