Hendrix drummer Mitch Mitchell stoked for new Experience
By Jed Gottlieb
Monday, October 13, 2008 -
BostonHerald.com

It’s hard to be the greatest guitarist in history of the universe with a dud drummer.

Maybe impossible. Luckily, we never need to find out thanks to Mitch Mitchell.

Jimi Hendrix’s Scottie Pippen, his Ed McMahon, his Ron Weasley, was Mitchell, the drummer in the Jimi Hendrix Experience and the guy behind the kit at Woodstock, Monterey and the Isle of Wight.

Almost 40 years after Hendrix’s death, Mitchell, 61, is preparing for the Experience Hendrix tour, which stops at the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom on Wednesday, Providence Performing Arts Center on Friday and the Orpheum on Saturday. Mitchell and fellow Hendrix cohort, bassist Billy Cox, will team with axemen Buddy Guy, Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Eric Johnson and Aerosmith’s Brad Whitford - because it takes at least five guys to come close to Hendrix. Mitchell took a break from packing to tell us why he’s still playing Jimi classics.

Herald: At your age, what gets you flying across the Atlantic to play with these guys?

Mitchell: One word, three letters. F-U-N. And also, let’s put it this way: I didn’t play with Billy Cox for many years, so playing with him is like putting on your favorite pair of sneakers or your favorite slippers. It feels so comfortable. I’m also one of those really lucky people that still loves playing drums. If it gets to be work, I won’t do it.

You didn’t work a ton with Billy back in the day. How do you work as a rhythm section?

I have to correct you on that. Billy and I worked with and without Jimi quite a lot in the studio in ’68 or maybe ’69. We got to know each other and worked together without Jimi later. We quite get on with each other’s playing.

How’d you meet Jimi and how’d you know you wanted to play with him? Better yet, how’d he know he wanted to play with you?

(Laughs) Well, that’s a question for Jimi. But I was working with a band in the UK, doing mostly r&b covers. That band got disbanded on a Monday and on Tuesday I got a call from (Hendrix manager) Chas Chandler asking if I’d fancy playing with this guitarist he’d brought over from America. We met in this sleazy little club, and (Jimi) was this guy in a Burberry raincoat. We did some Chuck Berry and took it from there. I suppose it worked.

On these tours, you’ve shared the stage with both legends such as Buddy Guy, the Doors’ Robby Krieger and Rolling Stones’ veteran Mick Taylor and young guys such as Lang, Shepherd and pedal-steel innovator Robert Randolph. How does your playing fit with all these different guitarists on this tour?

It’s a cliche, but these shows keep you on the balls of your feet. I think it’s really healthy for my playing. It’s challenging. Last year I got up and sat in with Buddy Guy. It wasn’t planned or anything. But it felt OK. (Laughs). After all, they didn’t complain. Then there’s someone like Eric Johnson. I met him in Los Angeles 25 years ago but I haven’t really played with him, so there’s always new players to connect with.

Is there anyone that gives off the same spark as Hendrix?

No. I’ve got to keep it quite straightforward on that. I’ll never go looking for that, because it doesn’t exist. It’s like trying to compare John Coltrane to Wayne Shorter. You can’t. I’ll never go along with a straight Jimi tribute thing because it doesn’t exist and it never will. People have different interpretations of the songs and that’s good, but it’s not the same. People need to remember Jimi didn’t go up to 11 on the amp all the time, he kept the undertones. People forget that.

Experience Hendrix, Saturday at the Orpheum. Tickets: $39.50-$55; 617-482-0651.



Almost 40 years after Hendrix’s death, Mitchell, 61, is preparing for the Experience Hendrix tour, which stops at the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom on Wednesday, Providence Performing Arts Center on Friday and the Orpheum on Saturday