Pixies’ David Lovering Names 10 Albums That Influenced His Drumming

Consequence’s Drum Week continues with an exclusive Crate Digging list of 10 albums that influenced legendary Pixies drummer David Lovering. Check out our list of the 100 Best Drummers of All Time and enter our Drum Week Giveaway, then stay tuned for additional lists, artist-driven content, and more as we celebrate the visceral instruments that give us all the beat.

David Lovering has been the one and only drummer of alt-rock heroes Pixies since their 1986 formation in Boston. His playing can be heard on all of the band’s albums, including all-time classics like Surfer Rosa and Doolittle.

With Pixies set to release their latest LP, The Night the Zombies Came, on October 25th, and in celebration of Consequence‘s “Drum Week,” Lovering checked in with us to offer up an exclusive list of 10 albums that influenced his drumming.

Lovering first remembers picking up the drums back in elementary school in Massachusetts. “In second grade in the town I lived in, the public school offered recorder, drums, and violin,” recalls the drummer. “Those are the three things you could pick. And, I picked drums. I don’t know why I picked drums … but I’ve played drums ever since second grade.”

Most of the albums Lovering picked for this list were released in the mid-to-late ’70s, during his formative years in high school. Among his selections are a few of his own hometown heroes, namely legendary acts The Cars, Boston, and Aerosmith.

Pixies will support Pearl Jam in Australia and New Zealand this November, before embarking on their own headlining UK/European tour in the spring, with tickets available here.

Pre-order Pixies’ new album The Night the Zombies Came at this location, and see David Lovering’s list of 10 albums that influenced his drumming below.

The Cars – The Cars (David Robinson)

The Cars — that is probably my favorite group of all time. Steely Dan used to hold that place, but The Cars took them over. When that album came out, I was in high school. It must have been ’78. It was a huge album to me. It’s an awesome album, every song just pop perfection. Everything about the instrumentation just blew me away. But being from Boston, knowing this was a Boston band, as well, it gave me hope when I was younger playing drums, thinking, “Oh, maybe I can make it. Maybe I can get into a band someday.”

The strength of the album, the songs and the musicianship of it, especially with David Robinson playing those songs … gave me insight and direction on playing [the drums]. David Robinson was so apropos. I can’t think of another drummer who could play on that particular album. Just learning how to play them made these songs so special to me when I was at that age. I had a drum set in my room and my neighbors didn’t like it, but I got to play to all these albums, especially trying to learn all these songs by heart. And to this day, I can air drum to any of these albums. But yeah, The Cars were a huge, huge impact on me. And to this day, my favorite band.