Earlier this year I had the opportunity to interview comedian Jasper Carrot for my local entertainment magazine. As I was lead backstage to meet the man himself his tour manager said, “I’ve arranged for you to have a chat with the shows drummer first.” Great I thought, always glad to chat to a fellow drummer. As it turned out the show’s drummer was Japer’s old school pal and Rock ‘n Roll hall of fame inaugurated legend Bev Bevan.

With absolutely no questions prepared I just let Bev talk about his amazing career while I listened, completely star struck.

As a young lad, music was all really bland to Bev and it wasn’t until the explosion of Rock ‘n Roll onto the scene that he became captivated with the excitement of music. Elvis, Ray Charles, Chuck Berry, The Everly Brothers and Little Richard inspired the young Bev to start his musical career and leaving school with little in the way of qualifications, he joined a band as a drummer. Before long he was touring with The Diplomats and then became a member of The Move where he gained experience of touring and playing up to 10 x 45-minute spots a day!

The band was given some great advice from the late, great David Bowie… get the best people you can in the band, go to London, get yourself a good manager… and before long they did just that and found themselves with a Thursday night residency at The Marquee Club. “We had record companies queuing up to sign us at that point” says Bev. It was such an exciting time to have been a musician, there were literally hundreds of music venues in every city, every pub, dance hall, night club, cinema, they all had live music most nights of the week.

After The Move had enjoyed around 10 hits, Bev was approached by Jeff Lynne who invited him to join a new band, The ELO, which of course became the global success we all know. Bev recalls the American tour the band did in 1973, supporting the massive Deep Purple, playing the biggest venues in America! Bev was in high demand and the offers flooded in, including having been asked by David Coverdale to join Whitesnake, which he declined due to his commitment to ELO.

Bev went on to join Black Sabbath in 1983 during the Gillan era and drummed throughout the Born Again tour. Fast forward to the 1990s and Bev was back with ELO, touring the whole world. So which country stood out for Bev? “Argentina was an amazing place to tour, it’s a fantastically sophisticated country! Cape Town also sticks out as an amazing gig.”

So, back to our world, a bit of gear chat! I asked Bev about the gear he currently plays, so having had a Zildjian deal in the 1970s and then sponsorship from Premier whilst he was in Black Sabbath, he has been privileged to have owned a range of gorgeous kits and hardware. He mentions a custom kit made for him in 1997, superb Premier kits and not forgetting the beautiful Slingerland that waited for him on stage that night.

It was an absolute thrill to chat to Bev and here about his career in his own words.

Thanks a million Bev!