THE CARL PALMER BAND - 2011 Pictures At An Exhibition Tour

Carl Frederick Kendall Palmer (born 20 March 1950, Handsworth, Birmingham, England) is an English drummer and percussionist. He is credited as one of the most respected rock drummers to emerge from the 1960s.[1] In addition, Palmer is a veteran of a number of famous English bands, including The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Atomic Rooster, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and Asia.

 Best known as the “Palmer” in Emerson Lake and Palmer and as the drummer for Asia, Carl Palmer is still one of the most awesome drummers in rock and roll or any other music form. And if it were even possible, he seems to get better and more awesome as time goes by.       Last month he treated the U.S. with a five-week tour, coast to coast, with his new three-piece band – The Carl Palmer Band, which included a stop over in Santa Ana, CA, at the Galaxy Theatre. This incredibly talented trio was everything fans hoped for and more.

      This being the first time that the band has toured the U.S. there was anticipation in the audience and curiosity about what Palmer would be like without ELP or Asia and what the new band is all about. So, with Palmer center stage, Paul Bielatowicz on guitar and Stuart Clayton on bass, the band rounded up a powerful set of classic ELP instrumentals, a difficult task at best. (How could a three piece without a keyboardist accomplish it?) 

      “… it is a case of not only duplicating it, but trying to improve on it,” said Palmer. Bielatowicz and Clayton accepted the difficult challenge of the music meeting it head-on. In Palmer’s words it is “not the easiest type of music to play but if that’s what you enjoy then it’s one of the most rewarding forms of music.”

      The main challenge of this gig was to take songs with predominately orchestral keyboard parts and replace them with the guitar.  But according to Palmer both Bielatowicz and Clayton enjoy playing the music and are able to blend in to a very tight fit. Talking about the switch from keyboards to guitar, Palmer said, “The keyboards obviously are a lot more orchestral sounding. But on the other hand the guitar has a bit more of a rock element, with more excitement, dare I say.”  

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