I have been thinking a lot about my longtime pal, childhood drum hero, and one of the most avid users of my drums for the last 15 years: The Legendary Andy Parker of UFO. Elizabeth recently picked up the new Martin Popoff book: UFO-A Visual Biography, and of course I was thrilled that some of the images contained Andy with my drums. This would be the second book on UFO from Martin Popoff that contained images of him with my drums.
Andy has used my drums as his main on all tours, the last four studio records from UFO, and The Best Of A Decade release. His main in recent years has been his 1.5 Steel–8 x 14 in the US, but prior to that it was a 1.5 Steel–6.5 x 14 for many years. That drum was one of the first produced in that size. For his European rig, his main has always been his 1.5 Steel–5.5 x 14. He also used his 1.5 Steel–6.5 x 15 in Gloss White on a segment of their European tour, and there are some excellent clips from the UK with him and that drum.
It would be difficult to list all of the great times over the years with Andy and the band, and Elizabeth and I are so hoping to see them again. We scheduled a trip to Greece in the Fall of 2022 to attend what would have been their final show in Athens. Due to Phil's health at the time, the final run of shows was canceled. We had an absolutely wonderful time still in Greece, and we talked about how we are hoping, like fans around the world are, that they will continue and finish sometime soon.
Andy and I have always stayed in close touch, and I spoke to him recently. No news yet from the UFO camp. But…You never know. Let’s just hope the world gets to see a string of shows from one of the most influential Rock bands of all time…UFO.
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