If I was him, I would had gone to therapy to forget that mess of drumming in Sultans.
Sure I agree - hi guys.
Some people are pointing out that Mark completely called the shots 100%, then you and another are making out it was my idea to play Sultans that way. Nope.
The person who started the thread took the most extreme negative view, but I'm glad to see most others pointed out Pick had a similar experience, Manu turned down the tour and so did Porcaro actually.
It wasn't exactly that I didn't like Dire Straits. Their albums weren't in my CD player at the time. Mainly I had heard how difficult Mark was to work with. I had just done McCartney for three years. I knew how to work at the highest level, with extremely talented artists. When someone doesn't smile at you for a two hour show, for 350 shows and never once pats you on the back for a job well done in 1.5 years -that IS someone who is difficult to work with.
We rehearsed for a couple of months.
When we set up on the actual touring stage for the first time my drums were placed at the back right, high above Mark and John. When we started playing Mark said he couldn't feel the drums. He instructed me to play on my own, kept saying play louder in his mic until I was playing as hard as I could. At that point he said great, keep it like that.
So for most of a two hour show I was aways playing as loud as I could. Which IMO didn't suit the music and yes, ruined songs with a light feel like Sultans of Swing.
It's funny because last year Pick did a bunch of interviews and said exactly the same thing happened to him in the early 80's. One of the main reasons he left DS. He was constantly being told to play louder until he felt he was just bashing the drums the entire show. I never knew that until I watched his recent interviews.
Back to the '92 tour, of course as a professional I tried to play my absolute best all the time, and play the music in a way that honoured the people who had paid a lot of money to come see the show. If you are ing t d something for over a year, you might as well do it to the best of your ability, take some pride in it.
Ed Bicknel has said publicly it was the most gruelling godawful depressing tour Dire Straits ever did. I don't think Mark wanted to do the tour from the start. His head was already in that Nashville space. I think he did the tour to promote the album, give John, Guy and Alan a good send off (and pay day), but once he realised the enormity of what he'd signed up to, over a year on the road, he just became an unhappy camper, miserable and borderline angry the whole time.
