I’ll put this out there first and foremost.  I am a huge fan of rock and roll music. I grew up on the first British Invasion, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, and Led Zeppelin, just to name a few. Then I transitioned into the second British Invasion when I was a little older.  Bands like Genesis,  Duran Duran, The Police,  and U2 became my favorite before changing into a metal head and eventually a huge fan of grunge rock, etc. You know what I mean. One of the staples of a good rock band is a great drummer. The percussion was like magic combined with a bass guitar and a kick ass vocal. “Count Me In” is the documentary about drummers and how they made this one of the best aspects of music through the generations.

Most documentaries focus on three things. The first is talking heads. They get people to talk about the subject of the film or about something pertaining to the subject. This film is no different than many before it. It has a lot of drummers talking about their craft and who influenced them to become the famous drummers that they are today. Men and women such as Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters) RIP He passed away a couple of years ago after recording his scenes for this film. Stephen Perkins (Jane’s Addiction, Porto For Pyros) Nicko McBrain (Iron Maiden) Samantha Maloney (Hole, Eagles of Death Metal) a 6 month stint with Motley Crew, Emily Dolan Davies (The Darkness, Bryan Henry) Roger Taylor (Queen) Stephen Copeland (The Police) Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers) Cindy Blackman Santana (Lenny Kravitz, Santana) Jim Keltner (Eric Clapton,  The Traveling Wilburys) Abe Laboriel Jr. (Paul McCartney, Sting) Clem Burke (Eurythmics, Blondie) Nick Mason (Pink Floyd) Bob Henrit (The Kinks) Ben Thatcher (Royal Blood) Ian Paige  (Deep Purple) Nick “Topper” Headon (The Clash) Jess Bowen (The Summer Set) Rat Scabies (The Damned) Andy Grey (The Human League) These are just some of the great drummers that have played that loud Instrument over the years. I was a fan of most of them.

The second aspect of documentaries is that they use archival footage of the person, place thing, or group that they are documenting. This documentary has quite a bit of concert footage of people who inspired the men and women who are talking about the film. Such as Jean Cruppa, an old-time jazz drummer in a big band, Joe Morello, Ringo Starr (The Beatles) inspiring, Charlie Watts (The Rolling Stones),  Kieth Moon (The Who) Elvin Jones, Buddy Rich, Max Roach, Ginger Baker, John Bonham (Led Zeppelin). Anybody who is anybody is inspired by somebody else or something that made them want to do said thing. The archival footage of these people playing is enough to inspire anybody to play the drums. Some of the moments were iconic.

The third thing is a framing sequence where one or more of the people in the film are followed around doing something or other. This one mainly follows two people Stephen Perkins (Jane’s Addiction,  Porno For Pyros) and Jess Bowen (The Summer Set) as they play a set at various locations such as The Mount Wilson Observatory and sound studio. Also, Jess is followed around looking for a special kit for this performance with other more notable drummers. The framing sequence was good, but it felt a little out of place in the context of the rest of the film. I did learn a little bit about drum kits, though during these scenes.

An added aspect of this documentary was that it had chapters that described some of the feelings these men and women had while reaching and eventually capturing the dream of becoming a rock and roll drummer. The chapters had some interesting titles to them. Chapters 1 “I need to play 2” “America Loved it” 3: Louder, 4: “Your a Fucking Drummer Dude” 5: Jazz, 6: Im doing it,7:We didn’t really have a choice,  8: who are you, deuling drims playing the song classic The Who song, 9: rise of the machines, 10: The Dream, 11:do it because you fucking love it. I loved the very descriptive nature of most of the titles. You can tell these are from the minds of hard rockers. Some of them I agree with quite well.

One of the parts about documentaries is that they can teach the viewer about the topic or person or persons they are documenting. That was the case here as well. I learned quite a bit about the history of the instrument and how it was used by all of these people successfully. Even how the instrument itself was modernized and made better or worse all depends on who you talk to. I didn’t have a musical bone in my body, but I was transfixed by having all these talking heads explained their process and why they love doing what they do.

“Count Me In” , named for how the drummer counts the rest of the band members into a song, was an eye-opening experience for me. I learned so much about this great instrument,  the drums, and how it inspired so many men and women to be drummers. Most are still currently active, making music and touring with their bands today. Their stories were very interesting, and all of the aspects of the film were exceptionally done by director Mark Lo. The framing sequence didn’t quite work for me, but that’s a minor quibble. I learned so much about something I knew so little about. All I know is I live a good drum solo and that constant combination of procession sounds during so many of my favorite rock songs. If anybody is  interested in drumming, then this is the film for you.

4 stars

Dan Skip Allen