Apparently Simon Phillips once had an opportunity to join AC/DC but was ultimately declined by Angus and Malcolm Young. Despite a positive rehearsal with AC/DC in 1990, it was clear to both parties that Simon wasn’t the right fit. Speaking to Louder Sound recently, Philips pointed out the diversity at the core of his playing and explained how his style doesn’t quite fit in with AC/DC. He said:
“Not from a playing point of view – I grew up playing many different styles. To play rock’n’roll is second nature to me, but I need to play more improvised music; I’m not very good at playing the same thing every night. For example, I can play with The Who and enjoy it, but I can’t play with AC/DC and enjoy it. I’ve done both.”
Explaining his experience of playing with AC/DC in more detail, Simon shed light on why this collaboration never happened. He continued:
“I actually rehearsed with AC/DC in early 1990 for an album. Lovely guys, but it was very apparent that I was absolutely the wrong drummer for them. We had a great time together, but Angus and Malcolm and George said, ‘It’s not quite our thing.’ I said, ‘Yeah, I can see!’ With The Who there’s more improvisation – it’s more explosive.”
Bands Simon Phillips Has Worked With
Although Simon Phillips has been the drummer of The Who and Toto for over 20 years, he has collaborated with many different bands and artists throughout his career. He has worked with artists and bands such as Jeff Beck, Judas Priest, Tears for Fears, Joe Satriani, Bob Dylan and he has worked with many jazz musicians.
He recently talked about working with such a diverse range of bands as well. He said:
“At the end of the day I love playing different types of music and love being in a learning position as well. Whatever project you get involved with, if it’s interesting and rewarding like that, then you’re in the best situation.”
He told Rolling Stone in 2021 how he crossed paths with Judas Priest on their album ‘Sin After Sin, perhaps the heaviest band he worked with. And Phillips did it without knowing any of their music at all. Noting that this collaboration was thanks to Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover, Phillips said:
“The contractor who used to contract me for a lot of sessions recommended me to Roger. And Roger said, ‘I’d like to meet him.’I turn up at his house. He answers the door and looks at me like, ‘Yes?’ I go, ‘Oh, I’m Simon Phillips.’ He looks at me like, ‘Really? OK. Come in. Can I make you a milkshake? Anyway, we chatted for a bit and I felt always very uncomfortable in these situations. I was young, 19 years old. What do we talk about? Apparently, through I don’t remember this, but I saw Roger recently and he told me Jon Lord came around and we started playing. He said, ‘Wow.’ He couldn’t believe it since I was a young kid. I ended up on Roger’s album, Elements. And he called me for all his productions, one of which was Judas Priest.”
The Genre Simon Phillips Feels Closest To
In the first segment, Phillips we mentioned that rock music was his ‘second nature.’ You may be wondering, what is his first? Well, Simon gave us the answer in 2012 to BeWhere! He said:
“It is important to mention that I grew up playing Dixieland, as did most drummers in the early 60s in the UK, so it could be said that my roots are in jazz. The traditional swing beat (straight ahead – whatever you want to call it) is the first beat I learnt to play. I used to play along with records ranging from big band swing to pop so that was the start of being able to play a broad spectrum of musical styles.”
It wasn’t that surprising, but it’s important to learn about his roots before making his transition to so many more genres of music.
