- Artist: Sting
- Song: Seven Days
- Album: Ten Summoner’s Tales
- Drummer: Vinnie Colaiuta
- Meter: 5 Five
A beautiful groove by Sting in five. Many live videos on youtube, just search Sting, Seven Days, Live.
Modern Drummer ~ October, 1993 interview:
Robyn Flans: Let’s talk about “Seven Days.” It’s in five, but the listener isn’t really struck by that. Was it intentional to mask it a little?
Yes and no. It wasn’t so much to disguise it for the sake of disguising it. I phrased it by playing over the bar line, so the hi-hat pattern resolves every two bars. That smooths it out and gives it a regularity that 4/4 has. There’s a brush overdub in the middle of one of the verses of the song, too. I overdubbed it to make it chug a little more and differently.
With all you have recorded, which songs are most representative of you?
(Song One is “City Nights” off of Allan Holdsworth’s Secrets)
Song number two:
“Seven Days” from Sting’s Ten Summoner’s Tales, 5/4 time. It represents a commutative painting of me now. In that situation I just reacted and pretty much did what I thought was appropriate at the time. I like the attitude, the character, and the mood of the song. I feel what everybody contributed to the song is very valid for it, and that the balance between the amount of structure and improvisation in my playing is good. And dynamically, we were very synergistic as a group. Also, it was indicative of the amount of time we spent together as a unit. That added another ingredient to that recipe, which can only come with time. You can’t rush the years. If somebody wanted me to play like I was ten years younger, I would say, “Go find somebody ten years younger.” I didn’t have ten years ago what I have now.
Vinnie Colaiuta explains Sting’s Seven Days:
Drumeo teaches the groove: