From the time I started playing solo drums, doing clinics and stuff, you know I think one of the largest selling clinics I ever did was in Chicago.

The way we teach is a very linear kind of way.

I'm not going to limit myself in ways to compose or how I should record. You just do what you can with what you've got at the moment.

I married my Japanese wife Mayumi who I'm so happy with, she's been so supportive. I live part time in Japan at her house, so I've been always very influenced by Japan. Since I guess the 70's or so. I've come to appreciate so much of their culture.

I'm very grateful to be where I'm at and be able to play. That's really the bottom line for me. Survival and being able to play.

I had been composing just for myself, and people would say I played so orchestrally, and wondered if I thought about having someone write a piece for me for an orchestra. And I thought, I don't want someone else to write that. You know I finally had made an overhead chart of my drums and what pitches the cymbals and toms were tuned to, and what have you. And I started to compose just with what I had for my solo drumming.

I don't think I really started to seriously compose until around that time when I was 40.