Clem Burke, New York Rocker

Part 1 of my epic interview about NYC with the great late drummer.

In a brief tribute this past week to the great drummer/human being/scenester Clem Burke, whose passing at age 70 on April 6 has been mourned across the music media and hopefully beyond, I wrote that:

He was quick to give me an interview for my book All Hopped Up and Ready To Go: Music From the Streets of New York 1927-77, which I will see if I can dig out and republish. (His role in the NYC punk scene was pivotal, and as much to that point, he knew how to talk about it.)

So, I did dig the interview out, and you can now dig it too, because it really is a beauty and I include it below for full subscribers. Clem, much like Chris Stein up front of Blondie (who also gave me a great interview for the book), was always a fan, someone fascinated by rock ‘n’ roll history, fully cognizant of the way groups of people coalesce around each other and new music scenes get created and new music fashioned as a result. As such, he was both incredibly proud of his contributions to the New York City scene of the mid-1970s, and simultaneously amazed that he had become such a part of it as to do so.

“My take, being a drummer, was that I was always looking for my Bowie, my Jagger, and when I saw Debbie, I decided that that’s who she was – she was going to be that person for me.”

Clem, like many on the early 70’s NYC scene, looked up to Johnny Thunders as the cool kid in town. Many others all over the world would subsequently look up to Clem for the same reason. Not for nothing does he remember what he wore to his audition with Chris Stein and Debbie Harry, because you just know that he thought about those clothes and the statement they would make before he headed out the door that day.

Clem Burke, on target.

And while Clem looked up to Keith Moon for drumming inspiration, younger generations would likewise add Clem to their Top 5 list of fiercely furious but (in Burke’s case, at least) meticulously on-beat rock drummers. Clem could drum with the hardest of them – listen to “In The Sun” on Blondie’s eponymous debut album for an early example, or watch this footage of the group performing the hit “Dreaming” on Midnight Special, especially when the camera gives over to Clem for the finale and one is as much taken by the fact that he is sporting a perfectly tailored blue mod/new-wave suit and has not a (mo)hair out of place as by the fact that he is simultaneously pounding those drums like it’s the last thing he’ll ever do. (Props to

Jagged Time Lapse

for highlighting this performance.)

And yet many of Blondie’s biggest hits required a more restrained and complex approach, and in part two of this interview, Clem will elaborate upon “Heart of Glass” and others. Because, yes, running 6000 words in edited form, an incredibly detailed analysis of the 1970’s New York scene from someone who first observed it as a fan and then helped make it happen, this interview merits splitting over two parts.

As typically the case with my archived interview manuscripts, what follows is for paid-up subscribers. Just $6/£5 a month (or $60/£50 for the full year) not only gets you these interviews, but also access to all the full archives all of the time, my genuine appreciation for keeping me going here (I honestly would not/could not keep doing this without patrons), and also the Crossed Channels podcast. My co-host

Dan Epstein

and I did this episode last year, and of course, Clem got a major shout-out, as well he should…

And now, over to the man himself…