| A New Drummer For Time To Breathe! |
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| Saturday, 02 January 2010 00:00 | ||||||||||
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Returning to the drums after a short break of 24(!) years, Graham had 'retired' from playing in 1985, but has previously played for the likes of Mick Karn (ex Japan) and Roger Hodgson (ex Supertramp.) Graham returned to the drums in March 2009 and had been "busy shaking off the rust" before answering our advert for auditions after the departure of John Sharpe last Summer. He however never left the music business and over the intervening years, had continued to work with some of the biggest names in the music business! Naturally there were numerous school bands before stepping out into the real world of touring with the likes of Don't Panic with John Molloy (Mainframe) and Chris Heilmann (Shark Island & Bernie Torme), while he also had a few lucky escapes, from almost becoming one of Adam's Ants to a school project that went on to become Wham! He returned to drumming in 1983 and there were some great sessions during this period, such as with the world renowned bassist Mick Karn (Japan) and a number of projects with Phil Hodge, the former Steve Hillage keyboard player. In 1985, he joined Pride Of Passion with Diz Minnitt (ex Marillion) on bass. After three short rehearsals, he was onstage at the legendary Marquee Club in London and a tour ahead. Sadly it all ended after 3 shows when ill health got the better of him. While taking an enforced three month break due to his health, the band wanted to move forward, so they parted company. This was followed by the stock career ending "impending marriage and family life" calling card being played.
Music never left him though and over a period of time, it rose back to the surface and took him into music travel where he went on to put together the extensive festival and touring travel arrangements for the likes of Peter Gabriel, George Michael, Alanis Morissette and Oasis. Travelling the globe with some of the best drummers in the world left Graham with no time (or desire!) to return to playing himself, but left him with some great road stories! Taylor Hawkins, then with Alanis Morissette and later of the Foo Fighters, tried hard to persuade Graham to pick his sticks up once again during many late night drinking sessions on the tour bus, but as Graham says now "How could I even come close to their abilities?" so he stayed in travel management, happy to watch from the side of the stage.
In 1998, he branched out on his own with Tour Travel International and over the next few years, he was solely behind the travel plans for James Brown, Bond, Deacon Blue, Fish, Art Garfunkel, the Goo Goo Dolls, George Michael, Geri Halliwell, Lisa Stansfield, Bonnie Tyler, Dionne Warwick and Peter Gabriel's WOMAD among many others. However, in 2000, he made a surprising impromptu return to drumming with an appearance on stage with Roger Hodgson (formally of Supertramp fame) at one of his London concerts in August of that year. He joined Roger for one track during a special show, but despite Roger's insistence that he should return to full time playing, his fledgling travel company required his full focus and would do so for many years to come. In 2002, Graham took on and successfully managed Swedish Rock group A.C.T for six years, before also moving on to help establish another specialist travel company, Driving Adventures. Time moved forward to 2009 and this saw Graham set up eDrum Attic, a specialist electronic drum store. The on-line shop rapidly took off and naturally, this brought about his own return to a drum kit.
To mark his return to playing, in July 2009, Graham took part in the 'Largest Full Drum Kit Ensemble' World Record attempt at the National Indoor Arena, Birmingham, England. The record stood at 533 drummers, set in America in 2006 and during the attempt he was joined by the likes of Gavin Harrison, Jojo Mayer, Jason Bittner and Don Powell. Those attending set a new record with 582 drummers and have so far raised between them, £60,000 and rising. In late September, he answered the Time To Breathe advert and following a meeting and an audition, we were delighted to welcome Graham on board to start the next chapter of his extensive musical heritage. We recruited Graham without any knowledge of his 'history' and both he and the rest of Time To Breathe are equally excited to see what the future now holds! You can find out more about Graham in his Time To Breathe profile or at his website: www.graham-collins.com
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Time To Breathe are delighted to announce details of the band's new drummer, Graham Collins.
