How’s this for a wall of sound? Get Matt Chamberlain, Sheila E., Josh Freese, Danny Carey, Jason Bonham, Pharrell Williams, John “JR” Robinson, Satnam Ramgotra, Toss Panos, Jim Keltner, Vinnie Colaiuta, Bernie Dresel, Curt Bisquera, Trevor Lawrence, Jr., and Ryeland Allison in a room, and have them drum simultaneously.
Conceding that all of the percussion in the 1994 movie was actually played by him on synthesizers in his studio, Zimmer decided that this year’s would be done by real percussionists. So he assembled a “drum kit circle” including the renowned Sheila E and his longtime drummer, Satnam Ramgotra.
“I had this insane track which was really fast and it was 22 minutes long and I didn’t tell him,” Zimmer says. “He was doing really amazingly well but I was actually thinking, ‘He’s gonna die. He’s gonna run out of air, he’s gonna die.’ That was the worst thing I ever made you do right?”
“No,” Ramgotra replies to assorted laughter.
Photo by Sacha Lecca for Rolling Stone
Zimmer himself is front and center, but I would also like to take a moment to talk about the guy doing the drum solo at around 7:40. He is either doing God's work, or is God.