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Gary Husband is a British drummer and keyboardist. He has appeared on several of Allan's albums: IOU, Metal Fatigue, Atavachron, Sand, Secrets, Wardenclyffe Tower, and Hard Hat Area, as well as the live album Then!. Allan appeared on Gary's "Dirty And Beautiful" albums. Additionally, Gary has recorded the solo album, "[[The Things I See - Interpretations of the Music of Allan Holdsworth]]", featuring himself on piano.
Gary Husband is a British drummer and keyboardist. He has appeared on several of Allan's albums: IOU, Metal Fatigue, Atavachron, Sand, Secrets, Wardenclyffe Tower, and Hard Hat Area, as well as the live album Then!. Allan appeared on Gary's "Dirty And Beautiful" albums. Additionally, Gary has recorded the solo album, "[[The Things I See - Interpretations of the Music of Allan Holdsworth]]", featuring himself on piano.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6UoYEuPxqQ
"Sounding Off" Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6UoYEuPxqQ
 
See also [[Gary Husband on Allan Holdsworth]]


=Quotes by Allan on Gary=
=Quotes by Allan on Gary=
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- I could never work as a studio musician. Such side projects have come about because I know these guys, and sometimes I have played on records as a thank you for helping me out. This is how it was with Gorky Park, they lent me the equipment to mix None Too Soon. As for Level 42, I filled a temporary vacuum. (Drummer) '''Gary''' '''Husband''' played with them, and when their guitarist died, I participated in a tour and a recording. I was definitely not the right man in the right place, but I cannot say I regret anything. Generally, it would have been more fun if one could have influenced the music to a greater extent, but I do that with my own compositions.
- I could never work as a studio musician. Such side projects have come about because I know these guys, and sometimes I have played on records as a thank you for helping me out. This is how it was with Gorky Park, they lent me the equipment to mix None Too Soon. As for Level 42, I filled a temporary vacuum. (Drummer) '''Gary''' '''Husband''' played with them, and when their guitarist died, I participated in a tour and a recording. I was definitely not the right man in the right place, but I cannot say I regret anything. Generally, it would have been more fun if one could have influenced the music to a greater extent, but I do that with my own compositions.
==[[A Different View (Modern Drummer 1996)]]==
RF: Through your solo years you've used a variety of different drummers for their individual nuances. Can you expound on some of the choices you've made?
AH: I've always felt that the drummer makes the band—and I like to play with people who I feel will enjoy working with me. Obviously I look for people who are gifted musicians. When I started my own band, I started working with Gary Husband. I'd heard about him when I first moved to London. People were saying, "There's this nineteen-year-old guy who is monstrous." Gary's a phenomenal drummer-and a great keyboard player, too. We really hit it off and I've always liked working with him.
RF: What does he bring to your music?
AH: He plays different from anybody else I've ever played with. Actually, most of the guys I've played with have something that makes them unique, which is what I like. I don't like to play with drummers who play like somebody else. A lot of guys make that mistake. They'll think, "He plays with Gary Husband, so when Gary is not around he'll look for someone like that." But I don't. I just look for some other drummer with a musical personality that is distinctly theirs.
If I had stayed in England, I would most likely have ended up playing with Gary all the time. When you have a musical partner—someone who is able to hear what you hear and understand things with out having to speak about them—why look for someone else? Everything I tried to do on guitar, Gary instinctively understood. It was very organic to work with him. I only started working with other drummers in my own band after I made a decision to move to the States, which was around 1981.
RF: Do tracks come to mind that might have been particularly influenced by a drummer?
AH: Everything those guys do influences me. Seventy-five percent of what I play is a response to what someone else is playing. And because of the way the music is presented in the first place, it's not that different with each guy. Of course what comes out is somewhat different with each person, but the result is usually ninety-nine percent what I expected it to be. But sometimes the track turns out so good I go, "Whoa." Gary was particularly good at that. For certain songs he would come up with unique drum patterns that I didn't dictate to him—like when I wrote the tune "Non Brewed Condiment" for Atavachron. The beat Gary came up with on that one is really a great thing. He did the same thing with the title track of that album. He always used to say to me, "Man, I'm afraid of the day when you get me to play on something where I won't be able to think of a new thing." So far he hasn't had that problem.
RF: What comes to mind when I say Gary Husband?
AH: A lot of fun. The guy is like a natural-born comedian, and his playing is absolutely beautiful. As far as the closeness to the way things are heard in my head, he is the closest. Sometimes it's like we're one guy. When I play with him, I get lost in it. This is a difficult thing to talk about because I'm not really comparing anybody. You could never do that; all these guys are absolutely unbelievable.
RF: Do you have a preference in sizes of drums?
AH: I tend to like real small kits, but it's different for different drummers because of the way they play. You can't really give everybody the kit of your dreams. Gary Husband has been my longest-standing relationship with a musician, and he's always played the music the closest to the way I hear it in my head. Ironically, when I first met Gary, he had a really small kit. Then I said, "Hey, man, you'd sound really great if you got lots of drums." So he did—and then he found it hard to put them away. So it was my fault! However, we did a tour in England a little while ago where he played a real small kit, and I loved it. I thought he sounded absolutely spectacular on it because he's not the kind of guy who needs a lot of drums: He's a very creative musician, and small drums seem to articulate such creativity. You can hear everything; nothing gets in the way of anything else. Also, usually when there's a smaller kit involved, the cymbals tend to be reduced from bicycle wheels to a reasonable size. I tease Gary about that. We had a cab driver in England one time who got out to put the cymbals in the back, and even he said, "Geez, look at the size of those."


==[[The Outter Limits: Allan Holdsworth's Out of Bounds Existence (guitar.com 1999)]]==
==[[The Outter Limits: Allan Holdsworth's Out of Bounds Existence (guitar.com 1999)]]==
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"The interpretation of my original music can be played in so many different ways, almost like different kinds of styles," he remarks. "And as I began playing with Gary Novak and Dave Carpenter a couple of years ago, I could hear that the interpretation of it was pushing into a different direction. And it sounded really kind of natural. So I basically wrote the material that was on this record with that in mind, because I knew that Gary Novak’s interpretation is a different kind of thing from the way that '''Gary''' '''Husband'''’s interpretation of it would be. He plays with a lot of energy but he can also play pretty soft, and I was enjoying that. [Novak] has a pretty amazing way of just making it feel good. It feels better than it does with other guys even though you can’t really put your finger on it."
"The interpretation of my original music can be played in so many different ways, almost like different kinds of styles," he remarks. "And as I began playing with Gary Novak and Dave Carpenter a couple of years ago, I could hear that the interpretation of it was pushing into a different direction. And it sounded really kind of natural. So I basically wrote the material that was on this record with that in mind, because I knew that Gary Novak’s interpretation is a different kind of thing from the way that '''Gary''' '''Husband'''’s interpretation of it would be. He plays with a lot of energy but he can also play pretty soft, and I was enjoying that. [Novak] has a pretty amazing way of just making it feel good. It feels better than it does with other guys even though you can’t really put your finger on it."
[[Gary Husband on Allan Holdworth]]
http://www.abstractlogix.com/a-force-majeure-gary-husband-interview/
Having this conversation about Steve reminds me of going way back into the early 80’s when I was working with Allan Holdsworth and he was doing a lot of his own publicity and promo. Now, anyone who knows '''Allan''' knows how funny this prospect is! I would be sitting in a room with him and he’d be talking to promoters of gigs on the phone here in England saying, “We’d like to get a gig, we are a three piece and I’m '''Allan''' '''Holdsworth''' and I’ve done this with Bruford, Tony Williams... They would ask what kind of music he’s doing now and he would say, “Oh, it’s '''Allan''' '''Holdsworth''' music!  or It’s improvisational music! – just a beautiful answer, correct of course, but it meant absolutely nothing to them and he didn’t really choose to want to expand in any more detail, and why should he have had to!! There is one unique individual, he is amazing and with this man I pretty much formed my drumming vocabulary as well as in more general ways of development, and I owe a big debt to ‘Uncle Allan’ for sure! He’s like a brother, yes.. and back in those days he was just about the only one who let me really loose, playing the way I really felt to play.
L: Allan had already achieved quite a career establishing himself contributing to bands like Soft Machine, Tony Williams, before launching out on to his solo career in the late 70’s and 80’s. However, you were very young when you began playing with Allan on albums like I.O.U.
GH: Yes, I was all of 19. In fact.. well I can hear I’m also still working through my influences on that album; Cobham, Tony Williams, Stewart Copeland, DeJohnette and Narada and these people.. but I was very there for the music too, because I really felt it and loved it, and I was really loving forming and finding myself through it, trying to make it live in a vibrant way. I was like a puppy dog, always very happy to go ahead and work with any twists and turns Allan was contemplating in terms of the music, I was just overjoyed to be involved in it all and I’m very proud of all those old records despite their considerable faults! From when we took the band to America, we were almost able to keep working non-stop, certainly in those first few years! Aaah, different times.
We all went to the States at the same time to take I.O.U. there, only he just never came back. This was for the best for him back then, there’s no doubt there.
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/gary-husband-there-were-these-three-yorkshiremen-gary-husband-by-ian-patterson.php?id=31854&pg=5
AAJ: I hear this from a lot of musicians, that they feel that the music comes through them, as though they are some kind of portal. Let's talk about Allan Holdsworth. He's undoubtedly one of the most influential guitarists ever—I mean everyone talks about I.O.U. In what way has he inspired your music-making?
GH: He's been such a predominant figure in my own development for sure, as he actually was the first one to hire me and let me really play and not try and change it all. Back in the old days, I was a little bit on the intense side for most people's tastes as a drummer. I was always into something with a lot of reach and fire, and he was the first one who said, "Bring it on, go for it." And he really loves that from a drummer—a very improvisational input and participation.
He doesn't like rigidity, and in that respect I felt I'd found a place where I could reach a lot with someone. I wonder sometimes if it isn't very close to what Elvin felt like with John Coltrane, or Tony Williams with Miles.
At that time it was perfect for me—a very big stepping stone insofar as how my development was about to take shape. And there is no question that a lot of significant movement was arising as a direct result of the musical relationship with Allan. I also always felt very naturally his (quite uncommon) way and just understood it immediately. That's another thing. Very much as if we were brothers or something. Peculiar.
https://peters-principles.com/2018/05/14/10-questions-with-gary-husband/
You have said Allan Holdsworth once told you to “be yourself “. In retrospect, did absorbing that truly allow you to express yourself, or could it have subconsciously made you strive to be different from your peers?
Allan really was the first one to come along and not put any pressure on me whatsoever to try and sound like somebody else. And this was so momentous a happening at that time. I was playing with a much more “American drummer” exuberance back in London in my teenage years. I hope I still do! But I was definitely forming in a way that wasn’t the norm by any means in 1978, and certainly wasn’t to everyone’s taste! And I could so bring to light the way I was forming with somebody such as Allan. The fact that it happened, and that we met when we did, was absolutely miraculous timing. But in another way, I kind of feel it was meant to be. That’s why I feel so blessed.
https://www.hit-channel.com/gary-husband-solojohn-mclaughlinallan-holdsworthbilly-cobham/2643
Do you think your career would be different if you hadn’t met Allan Holdsworth at so young age?
Oh, sure. Because this forged in such a big way the way I play today. A most significant wealth of development stemmed from the early years with him since he was really the first one who let me be free. Before I met Allan, I was playing in a number of different bands. In one I would be asked to try and sound like Steve Gadd, in another like Elvin Jones. Even though the music was jazz, musical, fusion, they still wanted me to be in a certain way, and quite rigid with it, but Allan was the first one who said to me “Listen, just play how you want to play and bring to the music what you feel”. He was the first one that asked me not only to play the drums – he asked me for my imagination too. So, yes, he was especially important to me.
Do you remember that night at Roxy in L.A when Eddie Van Halen and Jeff Berlin joined you and Allan Holdsworth on stage?
Yes, I do (laughs). These were wild times. This is 1982 you’re talking about . We were just very happy because when we started that band in 1979 here, it was very difficult for anything happens for us.  It was such difficult to get work. Because Allan had played in America with Soft Machine, U.K and Tony Williams, I lot of people knew that he was doing something new and it was very easy for us to go there and work, which at the time was an incredibly exciting thing for all of us. Especially for me. But, here Allan was in that country doing his own band, a lot of people were coming out and showing their appreciation. One of them, a big fan, was Eddie Van Halen, who loved Allan’s playing. At the time, I think we were trying to get a new record contract, so Eddie helped Allan out by giving him visibility and playing live with him onstage, which was great. I don’t remember actually which songs we played, but I remember the feeling, it was very nice.
Check out https://talking2musicians.com/2013/11/12/gary-husband-interview-notes/
https://web.archive.org/web/20110106205908/https://www.oregonmusicnews.com/blog/2010/12/03/gary-husband-drummer-and-keyboardist-for-john-mclaughlin-the-essential-interview/
How did you meet Allan Holdsworth and get an invitation to join his band IOU?  What was it like for you as a drummer to record on a barge?  How did you work together with Paul Carmichael to flesh out the rhythmic ideas for Allan’s pieces?
I met Allan by chance while working at Ronnie Scott’s club with Barbara Thompson’s Paraphernalia group.  It was around ’78.  I’d actually been fired, and was playing my last gigs with her.  Allan at that point was working on a three-piece band idea with drummer Jon Hiseman, (Barbara’s husband) together with Jack Bruce.  One evening, Allan and Jack both came into the club, and I met them both.  Allan was saying how much he had enjoyed my playing and asked if I’d be into the idea of having a jam with him.  We did that and were immediately most comfortable together; it just clicked.  Anyway, the story goes that Jon replaced me in Barbara’s band, and I took up with Allan!  We just swapped places!  It was a great thing to happen for me around then. It represented me starting to find my own voice with the drums, since Allan was really the first one to set me really free and play how I wanted to play in his music.  And I was extremely comfortable in his music – always have been.  So there it is; that was the beginning.


[[Category:Musicians]]
[[Category:Musicians]]
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