Liberty DeVitto

Let me just name a couple.

Carmen Rojas, who is David Bowie's bassist, and Scott Page, the saxophonist for Pink Floyd and Supertramp, and Tony Franklin, who played with the firm, and Liberty DeVito, who played drums for Billy Joel.

I mean, and the list goes on.

Bernard Purdy, probably one of the most famous drummers of the 20th century.

This is Glass Houses, a Billy Joel podcast.

Hey, this is Liberty DeVito.

This is John Jackson, director of the Billy Joel Archive.

This is Russell Jabbers.

I played with Ferron a few months back.

I just did some shows with Liberty DeVito, the drummer for Billy Joel.

And of course, I played with Gad, with Antonio...

Keith Carr.

We began a correspondence that eventually led me to write his biography, which I was thrilled to do, but my one condition was was it'd be a solid history of rock and roll as well since the 1960s.

During the writing of that book, Mark gave me access to an astounding array of rockers whom I got to interview, including the late Chuck Negron, Billy Joel, Alice Cooper, Liberty DeVito, Glenn Hughes, Ian Pace, and so many more.

And that book helped me set the stage for our 2010 movie, Rockin' the Wall, which I hired Mark to write much of the music for.

I wish Mark, Vinnie, and Carmine continued good success in their touring.

[glass shatters] This is Glass Houses, a Billy Joel podcast.

Hey, this is Liberty DeVitto.

This is Jon Jackson, director of the Billy Joel Archive.

This is Russell Jabbers.

Mm-hmm.

Pay attention to the drum work by Liberty DeVitto.

Joel imagined the song with a reggae style drum beat, but DeVitto insisted on a delayed backbeat technique.

So I guess delayed backbeat is when the drums sound good and make you dance.

Thank you to whoever the fuck that drummer was that, that invented good beat for Only the Good Die Young.

That was great.

Liberty DeVitto, thank you.

That awesome name.

And then one of the things I had to kind of straighten out was the angle of my snare drum, because I get so much hate from the trolls online.

They're like, oh, my God, that looks like, well, it's like, well, I got it from Liberty DeVito.

I got it from Tony Thompson.

I got it from Kenny Aronoff.

The recording sessions at A&R Studios in New York in 1978 lit a completely different fuse.

Actually, producer Phil Ramone told drummer Liberty DeVitto to play a straight four on the floor beat, just clean and disciplined, not to mess with it.

DeVitto, of course a hard-hitting rock drummer with zero interest in coloring inside the lines, he refused it on the spot.

He said, "I ain't playing that disco bullshit." In response, Phil Ramone stormed into the live room and unloaded.