1. What first inspired you to become a drummer?

I grew up surrounded by live music. In his younger years, my dad sang and performed in a numerous hotels with his band, playing golden oldies for the mostly-british tourists on their holidays in my home land, Malta. While still in the pram my mum used to take us to watch the show, and I still remember being attracted to the moving sticks hitting the drums... of course when the band had a break, it was my time to entertain the tourists, jumping around on stage!! (thankfully I never had any ambitions to stage-dive...ha!!!).

Growing up, both my sister and I took piano lessons, but at 13, I put my foot down and decided I HAD to have a kit... the rest was a pretty natural progression, my dad sat me down and showed me a few basic beats, and after a while, I eventually started taking lessons, but practicing wasn't really a chore... it was pure fun learning how to play songs and getting my basic technique down in the early days.

2. Anything that you’ve learnt along the way that’s really helped you as a drummer?

So much to mention!!!

Be professional, be organised, be prepared, take care of your networks and nurture your reputation (it's the only long-term way you're going to get gigs). Have good gear (and maintain it), be on time. Learn how to sing, always be humble and never think you're too good for the job. Be a supportive player and play with confidence on stage, it will inspire the band to be (and sound) confident. Listen to your elders and be an honest person. Tune your drums regularly!!!

3. Who have you and/or who are you playing with at the moment and what are the bands movements? Anything to plug?

As always, I'm juggling a number of projects in a variety of styles, "PLASTIQUE", the corporate show band I play in, keeps me busy, as does the "ROB LONGSTAFF BAND", an original funk/soul project i've been gigging/touring/recording with for the past 4 years. My softer, artsy-er side gets taken care with vocal jazz quartet "Sonny Gets Blue" formerly playing on friday nights at the Deco Bar at the Grand Hyatt. Added to these I work on and off on recording projects, and teach a couple of days a week.. makes for a very busy musical life!!

A particular mention goes to my original pop rock band "SKARLET BLUE", we have recently released our debut album "Headlights" and we'll be gigging around Melbourne promoting the album and our music. We've recently supported the chart-topping band "Evermore" and will be supporting the Australian acts "Diesel" and "Airbourne" in November and December. Make sure you check out our myspace at www.myspace.com/skarletblue for more details and for a taste of our music!!

I’d also like to plug my website, but I’m still working on it…

4. What gear are you using at present?

Don't you love gear?  You can never get enough!!! I'm a gear-freak, but I do try and control myself.....

Drums:

For the past 5 years i've been using a Sonor Delite kit in Natural bird's eye maple finish. Sizes are 20x17,14x5.5, 8x7, 10x9, 12x10,14x14,16x16.

I cannot praise these drums enough... from restaurant brush jazz to hammering rock they play brilliantly every time, and they take my abuse incredibly well. The hardware on the drums is durable, and I just love the quality they're built with. Tuning is precise and super fast... and that's what a great drum should be like. As for snare drums, i'm slowly building a collection to use both in different live situations or for different sounds in the studio, my favourite right now is a 1969 14x6.5" Ludwig Supraphonic that I've bought a few months ago.

Heads:

In the past 3-4years, i've been using Attack heads for toms... not only do I find them to have a great tuning range, but also a great "sound" range: meaning I don't need to change heads for different styles.... I just tune them up for more resonance and "singing drums" or down for punchy rock/ pop!!! The heads are thin enough to sing nicely but heavy enough to produce a great rock sound with a lot of attack. Also, possibly due to the fact that they are not glued to the hoops, I have noticed that it takes much longer for these heads to lose their initial resonance... great durability means fewer head changes! I use clear Medium-Thin Double-ply on toms, and Medium Double-ply on Floor toms for a little extra punch. Bottom heads are standard Sonor heads tuned higher than the batter heads.

Snare drum heads depend on the snare I'm using at the time, but the Bozzio Top/Bottom combination is a great package, although I do use Remo coated CS, Fibreskin and coated Pinstripes depending on the sound I'm going for... especially in the studio.

For Bass Drums, I haven't found anything better than the Evans EQ3, I love my bass drums punchy, but also with a lot of body and depth and I haven't found anything that comes close to the EQ3.... yet....

Cymbals:

Bosphorus all the way... I love these cymbals: The fact that a person actually crafted the instrument is irreplaceable to me. These cymbals have a "soul" that speaks to me in much deeper ways than any other cymbals, also the way these cymbals "shimmer" gives you a great feel when you hit them. Maybe I'm biased because i've used mine for so many years, but why change from a good thing? The only problem I have with my cymbals is that I constantly want more of them!!! my current setup is: Masters Series 13" Hi Hats, Turk Original 20"ride, Traditional 18"crash, 9" splash, 17" dark crash, 17"thin crash, Ferit series 10" and 11" splashes, 14" paper thin crash, Gold Series 18"Crash

Sticks:

Silverfox JX or MR sticks

Other:

DW 5000 pedals, Gibraltar Road Series Rack, DDrum Pro triggers and DDrum 4 Brain.    Roc-N-Soc Nitro Throne (never under-estimate the value of a good stool!) and Hardcase drum and hardware cases

5. What would be your dream gig?

My dream gig…Man that’s a tough one…I tend to play more than I dream…

Maybe playing the entire Dark Side of the Moon with the original Pink Floyd would be cool, maybe under the Eiffel Tower in Paris… to a storm of fans, although I would feel a bit bad about kicking Nick Mason out…

That’s kinda more of an “impossible” gig rather then a “dream” gig though…

So…my “maybe one day” dream gig would be to tour the world with a great pop artist, with a band full of monster muso’s. That would be a great experience! And I bet you’d be a chops machine when you got home from all that time on a bus… I mean… private jet…:P

6. Favourite drummers and/or bands and why?

Way too many favourites!

Must admit I do go back in time a bit for my listening... I just feel music was a bit more honest and less "manufactured" than nowadays.

Here's some of my favourites:

Steve Gadd - Simple, precise, groovy, straight to the point and incredibly tasteful.

Dave Weckl - Incredible flow, fluidity, agility, groove and musicality.

Steely Dan - I love their tunes, great melodies, interesting harmony... great choice of drummers.

The Police - Again love the songs, and Copeland's drumming was so groundbreaking!

David Garibaldi and Tower of Power - Great linear grooves and horns... funk yeah!!!

Other influences over the years are:

Pink Floyd, Dream Theater, Metallica, Chick Corea, Led Zeppelin, Miles Davis, Metallica, Nirvana, Sting, Pearl Jam, John Scofield, Terry Bozzio, Santana, Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Art Blakey, John Blackwell, Gregg Bissonette, Vinnie Colaiuta, and all the different pop music that I've played with numerous cover bands plus my teachers John Corniola, Tony Floyd and Robi Parolin.