‘I’m excited to be alive’: King’s X drummer Jerry Gaskill roars back after last year’s health scare

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As a new King’s X tour heads toward Texas, Jerry Gaskill continues to make a full recovery from last year’s horrifying health scare. He’s even readying a solo studio effort.

“Very excited about that,” Gaskill says in the attached video. “I just did the drums recently at Michael Wagner’s studio in Nashville. Very excited about that. I’m just very excited about everything. I’m excited to be alive.”

Gaskill, a King’s X co-founder, suffered a heart attack in February 2012, as the band was preparing for a new tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of its self-titled Atlantic Records debut. King’s X then released a 1991 concert download, with all proceeds going to offset Gaskill’s medical expenses. By the fall, however, Gaskill had rebounded and King’s X was making plans to begin performing again.

In the new video, made for Paiste, Gaskill also talks about his current drum kit assembly, a simple and focused set up that he says replicates the one used by two of his musical heroes: “I’ve always been a fan of (the Beatles’) Ringo (Starr) and (Led Zeppelin’s) John Bonham,” Gaskill says. “And they both used that exact kit.”

The initial decision to downsize, however, had less to do with those legendary drummers than it did with trying to move on after a burglary. “I had my drums stored somewhere,” Gaskill adds, “and someone broke in a stole all but this set up. From that moment on, I said: I’m just going to go back to that — and that’s going to be my kit from now on. That’s how I evolved into this set up, and I absolutely love it.”

Besides drumming, Gaskill has also been a key part of the three-part King’s X vocals, and has taken over at the mic for three songs. A 1989 studio effort was also based in part on a storyline that Gaskill created. His first solo album, Come Somewhere, arrived back in 2004.

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