Categories: Exclusive Interviews

Craig Pilo Exclusive Interview :: Drummer for Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons

&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;The beats&comma; the rhythms behind great songs like &&num;8220&semi;Grease&comma;&&num;8221&semi; &&num;8220&semi;December 1963&comma;&&num;8221&semi; and &&num;8220&semi;Sherry&&num;8221&semi; from the legendary Frankie Valli in live concert today are all thanks to the one and only Craig Pilo&period;&nbsp&semi; We met up with Craig recently to find out more about this talented drummer&&num;8230&semi;&period;and we definitely learned more&period;&nbsp&semi; We have to place a warning on this interview&&num;8230&semi;read below&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>&ast;Warning&ast; the content here on forward may cause&comma; laughter&comma; may lead to rotfl type&comma; so be sure that the floor is clean and maybe even carpeted&period;&nbsp&semi; <&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Let&&num;8217&semi;s get to know the energetic drummer keeping the rhythms in tune for Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons&period; When was the first time you had a drumstick in your hands&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>When I was 6&comma; first grade&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Do you come from a musical family&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>My dad was a drummer&period; My mom always told me to stop&period; She&&num;8217&semi;d be like &&num;8216&semi;stop that&excl;&&num;8217&semi; I would be banging on everything&period; The drums used to be in the basement so I&&num;8217&semi;d go down there and I&&num;8217&semi;d sound terrible &ast;imitates himself going wild on the drums&ast; My mom would come down and flick the lights as my cue and I&&num;8217&semi;d ignore it&period; She&&num;8217&semi;d get mad at me&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Where are you from originally&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Connecticut&comma; right where you are&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>How would your friends describe your personality&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Hmm I&&num;8217&semi;m not sure&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Us&colon; How about class clown&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Craig&colon; Yeah&excl;&excl; Class clown&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>When did you start working with Frankie&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>I started with Frankie in October of 2005&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>How did you find out&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The drummer before me was getting married a year earlier and I subbed for him when he got married&period; Then later that year he left and they called me&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>So they knew you were the one&excl;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>I was the best drummer in that price range&period; hahaha<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Who else did you play with&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>AC &sol; DC&comma; Led Zepplin&comma; I played along with them on my Ipod&period; &ast;Laughs&ast; See so I played with them&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Were there any live bands that you played with&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Live bands opposed to dead ones&excl; haha Yeah there have been a few people I have played with&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Which is your favorite song to drum out to with Frankie&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Soundcheck&excl; haha That sound guy that you just met&comma; he&&num;8217&semi;ll tell me &&num;8216&semi;Hit the snare drum&&num;8217&semi;&comma; &&num;8216&semi;hit that first tom tom&&num;8217&semi; and I go wild&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>I know one of the biggest numbers is &&num;8220&semi;Oh What a Night&period;&&num;8221&semi; Do you like that one&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Yeah&excl;&excl; Yes I do&period; See she&&num;8217&semi;s &lpar;referring to us&rpar; baiting me saying&&num;8230&semi; &&num;8220&semi;December 63&comma; that&&num;8217&semi;s a good song&period;&period;like drumming to that one&quest;&quest;&&num;8221&semi; Love December 63&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Grease&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Oh man &&num;8220&semi;Grease&&num;8221&semi; is great&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>You wish you were one of the singers in front&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>That&&num;8217&semi;s the last thing I wish&period; I don&&num;8217&semi;t have that kind of voice&period; I prefer to be heard and not seen&period; I&&num;8217&semi;m perfect hiding behind the drums&period; I&&num;8217&semi;m very comfortable&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Ok tell me about some solo projects you have going on&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>I do have a solo project&period; I have my own CD&period; It sold 4 copies&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s really selling well&period; There are 5&comma;000 copies left and I got 5&comma;000 copies made so there are actually 4&comma;996 copies so it&&num;8217&semi;s a good time to buy it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Us&colon; So it&&num;8217&semi;s selling out fast&excl;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Craig&colon; It&&num;8217&semi;s selling quickly&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Us&colon; Where will you find it&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Craig&colon; Mostly in my closet&period; You&&num;8217&semi;ll find them in my closet&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Us&colon; So we have to send the buyers to your house&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Craig&colon; Yeah just send money and I&&num;8217&semi;ll mail you a CD&period; No it&&num;8217&semi;s on CDBaby and it&&num;8217&semi;s on ITunes&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s called &&num;8220&semi;Just Play&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Us&colon; What type of music&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Craig&colon; It&&num;8217&semi;s jazz fusion&comma; the 70&&num;8217&semi;s jazz fusion&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s been out for 2 years so I sold 2 copies in 2007 &comma; 2 copies in 2008 and I haven&&num;8217&semi;t sold any this year but it&&num;8217&semi;s only September&period; &ast;Laughs&ast; Usually they sell at Christmastime&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Us&colon; What about for Back to School&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Craig&colon; No it&&num;8217&semi;s not really a back to school CD&period; That 70&&num;8217&semi;s jazz fusion just doesn&&num;8217&semi;t get the &&num;8216&semi;back to school&&num;8217&semi; crowd&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>What type of music did you listen to growing up&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>I listened to everything&period; Big band mostly and of course Frankie Valli&period; No&comma; I didn&&num;8217&semi;t really know his songs growing up&comma; only about 2&period; When I heard the music they gave me I thought &&num;8220&semi;Oh that&&num;8217&semi;s Frankie Valli&&num;8221&semi; and &&num;8220&semi;that&&num;8217&semi;s Frankie Valli&comma; wow&period;&&num;8221&semi; Then I ended up knowing 20 songs&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Which drummers out there do you like&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Well I think I&&num;8217&semi;m the greatest really&&num;8230&semi;that&&num;8217&semi;s a lie&period; A lot of guys I went to school with were really great drummers actually&period; I went to the University of North Texas&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>With music on the internet&comma; youtube&comma; and the like&comma; what do you think of this new form of musical expression&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>I like it&period; I think it&&num;8217&semi;s great&period; I think there are some really interesting things on youtube&period; I mean I&&num;8217&semi;m not a junkie but I like to watch the videos on there&comma; mostly jazz drummers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Do you watch the videos of yourself&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>There are only a couple of videos of myself on there&period; I&&num;8217&semi;m on a site called starsteachmusic&period;com though because I&&num;8217&semi;m a big star&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Do you watch the videos of the live concert on there&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Sometimes but I like reading the comments&period; They&&num;8217&semi;re really funny&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Did you guys tape Oprah&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>No&period; Frankie decided not to do it&period; I&&num;8217&semi;m not sure if his schedule got busy or what but it&&num;8217&semi;s not happening&period; It was supposed to be taped two days ago&period; I&&num;8217&semi;m actually composing music for TV&comma; drama shows&period; When I&&num;8217&semi;m not with Frankie&comma; I play a lot of tv shows&comma; but I&&num;8217&semi;m just the drummer&period; Now I&&num;8217&semi;m starting to write the music myself&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>What about those four CD&&num;8217&semi;s that you sold&quest;<&sol;strong><br>&NewLine;Well yeah I sold them each for &dollar;15&&num;8230&semi;no &dollar;14 but it cost me &dollar;4 to mail them out&period; &ast;Laughs&ast; So I&&num;8217&semi;ve made &dollar;40 selling CD&&num;8217&semi;s so it&&num;8217&semi;s really going well&period; That&&num;8217&semi;s &dollar;20 a year from CD sales&period; I&&num;8217&semi;m hoping the music for TV will go really well&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>How about American Idol&comma; what do you think&quest;<&sol;strong><br>&NewLine;I don&&num;8217&semi;t think I&&num;8217&semi;d be a very good contestant because I can&&num;8217&semi;t really sing that well&period; I know I look good and all&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>What about the beginning auditions&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The people that don&&num;8217&semi;t make it&quest; Yeah&excl; I can do that&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>What about Dancing with the Stars&quest;<&sol;strong><br>&NewLine;I&&num;8217&semi;m a pretty crazy dancer I&&num;8217&semi;d have to say&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>I think a lot of people might be jealous of your dancing&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Oh I know a lot of people would be&period; I can understand where I&&num;8217&semi;d be intimidating&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>You must get mobbed at the airport&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Oh the airport&&num;8230&semi;yes&period; I can usually be found in line for pizza&period; Ask anybody&comma; that&&num;8217&semi;s what they&&num;8217&semi;ll tell you&period; That&&num;8217&semi;s my spot&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>What topping do you get on your pizza&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>This is important&period; Whatever&&num;8217&semi;s on sale&period; The cheapest slice they have&period; If it&&num;8217&semi;s &dollar;3&comma; that&&num;8217&semi;s the slice I&&num;8217&semi;m getting&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>What if it&&num;8217&semi;s &dollar;4&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>I&&num;8217&semi;m out&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>What is your favorite place to play&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>I like playing here at the Mohegan Sun&period; I&&num;8217&semi;ll have some friends from high school come out and they make me feel very unaccomplished&period; There&&num;8217&semi;s a girl my age &lpar;and I won&&num;8217&semi;t tell you what age that is&rpar; There&&num;8217&semi;s a girl my age who has a 17 year old daughter&period; I&&num;8217&semi;m happy that I actually have a girlfriend now&period; So I&&num;8217&semi;m thrilled that I&&num;8217&semi;ve been dating the same girl for 6 months&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-text-align-center"><strong>Craig in Video&excl;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<iframe width&equals;"560" height&equals;"315" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;youtube&period;com&sol;embed&sol;WHbhp8r97-0&quest;si&equals;fP0yFeYKe-&lowbar;qjQxG" title&equals;"YouTube video player" frameborder&equals;"0" allow&equals;"accelerometer&semi; autoplay&semi; clipboard-write&semi; encrypted-media&semi; gyroscope&semi; picture-in-picture&semi; web-share" allowfullscreen><&sol;iframe>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;schema&period;org&sol;Person" itemscope itemprop&equals;"author"><div class&equals;"saboxplugin-tab"><div class&equals;"saboxplugin-gravatar"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;wud&period;tpx&period;mybluehost&period;me&sol;website&lowbar;9bd75fcc&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;08&sol;FTV-Favicon1&period;png" width&equals;"100" height&equals;"100" alt&equals;"Feeling the Vibe" itemprop&equals;"image"><&sol;div><div class&equals;"saboxplugin-authorname"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;feelingthevibe&period;com&sol;author&sol;feelingthevibe&sol;" class&equals;"vcard author" rel&equals;"author"><span class&equals;"fn">Feeling the Vibe<&sol;span><&sol;a><&sol;div><div class&equals;"saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop&equals;"description"><p>Editor of Feeling the Vibe Magazine&period;  We have all the scoop on the latest celeb news&comma; makeup tutorials&comma; and so much more&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div><&sol;div><div class&equals;"clearfix"><&sol;div><&sol;div><&sol;div>

Tags: Mohegan Sun

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