I went to see Ben Folds at the Hammersmith last night. Although I had never heard any of his work, a friend had a spare ticket, so I took it off his hands. Folds plays piano, with a Fender bassist and a drummer as his only accompaniment. We had a good position very near the front and I had a great view of the drummer (a Brit., whose name I didn't get - Jamieson?) and I watched him almost exclusively for the full 100-minute set, which was excellent. The kit was conventional, one kick, one snare, two toms, hi-hat and three cymbals - ride, crash and china, I'm guessing. The kit was superbly mic-ed and very loud. The kick drum was shifting air in my chest cavity and actually moving the flab on my arms about! There were no drum solos, but the guy just, well... played! The rhythm was faultless and the accenting - emphasising the different parts of the song, underscoring the lyrics - was mindblowing. My normal approach to drum programming was shattered, just by watching a real drummer. How? Well, I finally realised how wrong the concept of the drum 'machine' is. No longer will I start with a ticking metronomic CHH and a kick on the 1 and then embellish it. I think I'll try a guide vocal and some chord changes to a click, which will then be deleted. Drums will then be treated as another melody instrument, rather than a rhythmic framework. May not work, of course,but could be fun. Is this how you guys work and am I simply stating the obvious? Views?