Max Weinberg
Max Weinberg (born April 13, 1951) is an American drummer and television personality, most widely known as the longtime drummer for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and as the bandleader for Conan O'Brien on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. He is the father of former Slipknot drummer Jay Weinberg.
Max Weinberg
Mighty Max
April 13, 1951
Newark, New Jersey, U.S.
- Musician
- bandleader
- session musician
Drums
1964–present
Weinberg grew up in suburban New Jersey and began drumming at an early age. He attended college planning to be a lawyer but got his big break in music in 1974 when he won an audition to become the drummer for Springsteen. Weinberg became a mainstay of Springsteen's long concert performances. Springsteen dissolved the band in 1989, and Weinberg spent several years considering a law career and trying the business end of the music industry before deciding he wanted to continue with drumming.
In 1993, Weinberg got the role as bandleader of The Max Weinberg 7 for Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Weinberg's drums-driven jump blues sound and his role as a comic foil prospered along with the show, giving him a second career. In 1999, Springsteen re-formed the E Street Band for a series of tours and albums; Weinberg worked out an arrangement that allowed him to play with both O'Brien and Springsteen. In 2009, Weinberg moved to the short-lived Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien as leader of Max Weinberg and The Tonight Show Band. Upon that program's conclusion, Weinberg was not invited to follow O'Brien to the new Conan show. Weinberg continued playing with Springsteen, and in 2014 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the E Street Band.
Early life[edit]
Weinberg was born on April 13, 1951, to a Jewish family in Newark, New Jersey,[1][2] to parents Bertram Weinberg, an attorney, and Ruth Weinberg,[3] a high school physical education teacher.[4] He has three sisters, Patty, Nancy and Abby. He grew up in Newark as well as in the neighboring suburban towns of South Orange and Maplewood.[5]
The young Max was exposed to music early on, attending Broadway shows weekly from the age of two and liking the big sound put forth by the pit orchestras.[6] He then liked the rhythms of country and western music.[6] He knew he wanted to be a drummer from the age of five, when he saw Elvis Presley and his drummer, D. J. Fontana, appear on The Milton Berle Show in April 1956.[6][7] Decades later, Weinberg said, "I think anybody who wanted to develop a life in rock 'n' roll music had a moment. That was my moment,"[6] and Fontana became a major influence on him.[7] Weinberg received a child's conga drum from his father after he watched a TV show featuring bandleader Xavier Cugat. In a 2020 article in The Wall Street Journal, Weinberg described the drum as having a "... a real calfskin head and a white strap. I played it all over the house."[8]
Weinberg has also acknowledged The Ventures as a major influence on him in a TV interview in 1988 to celebrate that band's 30th anniversary and he actually sat in on drums during the performances.[9]
Weinberg started playing at the age of six.[4] His first public appearance came at the age of seven when he sat in on a bar mitzvah band playing "When the Saints Go Marching In".[3][4][8] The bandleader, Herbie Zane, was the leading act for bar mitzvahs and weddings in the area; he was impressed with young Weinberg and brought him along on other engagements as a kind of novelty act.[4][6] Weinberg thus became a local child star, drumming in a three-piece mohair suit.[10] He gained an appreciation for showmanship and was a fan of Liberace and Sammy Davis, Jr.[10][11] He grew to idolize drummer Buddy Rich[10] and become a fan of Gene Krupa[12] and saw drummer Ed Shaughnessy of Doc Severinsen's band on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson as having an ideal job[13][14] as well as admiring the level of playing and serious sartorial style of the Tonight Show musicians.[15] Weinberg stayed with Zane until junior high school and learned rhythms such as cha-chas, merengues, polkas, and the hora and playing everything from Dixieland jazz to Acker Bilk's "Stranger on the Shore".[6]
Weinberg attended Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel, a Reform Judaism congregation in South Orange, where he was inspired by a local rabbi and had what he later described as "a wonderful Jewish background."[3] He would later say that the Jewish concept of seder, meaning order, became key to his vision of how a good drummer serves his band's music.[7] Witnessing his father lose two summer camps in The Poconos impressed upon him the fragility of economic success and led to a strong work ethic.[10] His father's financial setbacks also provided a reason for Weinberg to find steady work as a drummer, while still in his teens and attending high school, to help his family pay bills.[8]
When the British Invasion hit in 1964, the Beatles and their drummer, Ringo Starr, became a huge influence on Weinberg.[1][3][6] He began playing in local New Jersey rock bands, playing the music of The Rolling Stones, Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, and The Young Rascals.[1] While a member of The Epsilons, he played at the 1964 New York World's Fair.[1] He attended Columbia High School in Maplewood;[16] there he knew Leigh Howard Stevens, who would become a famous percussionist in his own right.[17] Weinberg graduated from Columbia High in 1969.[16] Another band he was in, Blackstone, recorded an eponymous album for Epic Records in 1970.[1]
Weinberg first attended Adelphi University, and later Seton Hall University, majoring in film studies.[18] His general goal was to become a lawyer,[19] but he was still most viscerally interested in a music career and kept his drum set in his car in case any chances to play arose.[18] He performed at weddings, bar mitzvahs, and bars,[4] then landed a job in the pit band for the Broadway musical Godspell.[1][10]
Breakup and career choices[edit]
The news left him "a zombie for about six months".[50] Even before the breakup, he had returned to school at Seton Hall University in early 1989.[19] The band breakup occurred during his second semester at Seton Hall, on his way to completing the remaining 21 credits needed to obtain his bachelor's degree in communications.[19][55] He graduated from there later in 1989.[54] He then briefly attended Yeshiva University's Cardozo School of Law,[56] but withdrew after six weeks.[10] Weinberg asked Ringo Starr for advice on how to go on when the band that had made your life had broken up.[57] Weinberg and Springsteen remained on friendly terms during this period.[19][52]
In 1990, Weinberg began offering motivational seminars oriented towards corporations to augment his one-person college show business.[54] He received the HERO Award from Big Brothers Big Sisters of America in October 1990 for his work for that organization.[54] The Big Beat was republished in 1991.
Weinberg thought his career as a musician was over and considered himself retired as a drummer.[58] He went into the music business instead, joining a distribution company as a business partner. He worked as an executive for the Music Master label.[4] He formed his own record company, Hard Ticket Entertainment,[52] in 1990.[54] In 1991, they issued an album that he produced by a group he formed, Killer Joe, called Scene of the Crime.[52] He had sought out this career path because "I didn't want to continually be competing with 'Mighty Max',"[50] but he found business life unfulfilling. Because of that, and for personal reasons as well, he needed to return to performing. Weinberg later reflected, "I felt at times, after the E Street Band broke up, so anonymous it was painful."[58]
He looked through the Yellow Pages for jobs and played at bar mitzvahs for $125;[10] he later said "[I] was glad to do it."[23] Weinberg became the live drummer for 10,000 Maniacs in 1992 after their drummer Jerry Augustyniak was injured five days before a five-week tour.[58] He went after that assignment once he heard it was open and later said, "I lived on a bus and had a roommate. Not exactly like the E Street Band, but I loved it. It reminded me that I am a drummer and I'm good. I was put here to play the drums. To turn my back on that ability was wrong."[23] He played at the January 1993 inauguration of Bill Clinton.[50] Weinberg auditioned in 1993 to be the principal drummer on the Broadway show The Who's Tommy, but was selected instead as the second substitute.[10] Despite the very low pay, Weinberg was nevertheless happy: "I'd buried drumming so far into my psyche. I felt I'd resurrected it."[50] Of Springsteen's work, Weinberg felt "that I would never get to play these songs again."[59]
Departure from O'Brien and start of own bands[edit]
In February 2010, Weinberg underwent a twelve-hour open heart valve repair surgery to correct a condition he had known about and had been monitoring since the mid-1980s.[6][89] His recovery took place over three to five months, and Weinberg kept news about the operation private until an interview eight months later.[6][89]
In April 2010, O'Brien began his The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour. While the rest of the group was part of the tour under the moniker The Legally Prohibited Band, Weinberg was not[90][91] (except for a brief appearance at one show).[92] Instead, he assembled and staged appearances by the Max Weinberg Big Band, a fifteen-piece ensemble with twelve horns that mostly plays the music of Frank Sinatra, Buddy Rich, Count Basie, and Maynard Ferguson.[12] Weinberg's interest in the genre dated back to his childhood and the artists he had seen on televised variety shows.[6]
It was initially unknown whether Weinberg would be part of O'Brien's new late night show on TBS cable that began in November 2010,[93] as no specifics had been worked out for that show while O'Brien focused on his tour.[94] In June 2010, the Max Weinberg Big Band Tour began with a show in Red Bank, New Jersey's Count Basie Theater.[12] Weinberg said that he was booking appearances by his big band through 2011 and that with regard to O'Brien, "I literally have not thought about it. There have been no discussions. It's kind of an open question."[12]
In September 2010, it was announced Weinberg would not be part of the show, now named Conan; Jimmy Vivino took over leadership of that band, with Wormworth replacing Weinberg full-time on drums.[95][96][97] The split was stated as being mutual, with O'Brien saying, "Max has been a huge part of my life for the past 17 years and he is an incredible bandleader and musician," and Weinberg thanking his band and saying, "17 years – a lifetime on TV ... my association with Conan, his staff, and crew has been a deeply rewarding experience for me."[97] Weinberg subsequently acknowledged that "we both wanted to go in different directions,"[6] but both looked forward to Weinberg occasionally stopping by to sit in on the new show.[97] Weinberg said his health was better than ever but that the "life-changing experience emotionally and spiritually" of the surgery, a desire to remain in New Jersey with his family, and an interest in exploring new musical directions had all played a role in his departure from O'Brien.[6][89]
Another health scare happened in June 2011 when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.[30] He had surgery for it the following month with a favorable outcome, but did not reveal publicly the news of this health situation for another six years.[30]
In 2013, Weinberg again found himself in a real estate dispute, threatening legal action against Monmouth County in connection with its attempt to repair damage to the Henry Hudson Trail in Atlantic Highlands following damage caused by Superstorm Sandy. Weinberg claimed that the work done in creating that portion of the trail, augmented by Sandy, had caused significant damage to two properties he and his wife owned there.[98] The issue was still ongoing in 2014.[99]
Weinberg played on only a couple of tracks on Springsteen's March 2012 album Wrecking Ball, but resumed his normal role with the E Street Band on the subsequent 2012–2013 Wrecking Ball Tour, this time augmented by percussionist Everett Bradley, as well as on its 2014 continuation, the High Hopes Tour. In 2014, Weinberg was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the E Street Band.[100] He said of the honor, "when you have that trophy in your hands, I've never experienced anything like that. ... You're walking around with this big heavy symbolic recognition of the work you've done."[100] Meanwhile, he continued to play in a jazz idiom on his own, now with the Max Weinberg Quintet.[99] In late October 2014, Weinberg sat in for a surprise guest appearance on Conan.[101] In early 2015, Weinberg received the Humanitarian of the Year Award from Temple Rodeph Torah in Marlboro, New Jersey, in recognition of his volunteering in association with multiple local groups; he said he was humbled to be accepting an award that focused on tikkun olam.[102]
Weinberg once again hit the road with Springsteen and the E Street Band for The River Tour 2016 in January 2016, which in its various phases lasted until February 2017. He appreciated the shows on the first leg of the tour, where they played the entire 20-song The River album in sequence, because "when you play something night after night you really get to dig into the material, just as an instrumentalist."[30] He attributed his ability to keep playing during some of the longest shows in E Street Band history to his keeping in top physical condition, including exercise by swimming, and to his love of playing with Springsteen.[30]
Once the tour was over, Weinberg said he would continue to appear with his various own bands, including doing weddings and bar and bat mitzvahs just as he had earlier in his career.[30] He also liked to watch his son Jay play with Slipknot, although he conceded he did so from a safe zone where he would not get knocked down by the audience.[30]
On December 14, 2021, Max Weinberg indicated that he felt a tour with Springsteen and the E Street Band was very likely in 2022 saying “Until the bus pulls up at my house, figuratively speaking, I’m not quite sure but I’m pretty convinced ... (that) myself, my colleagues and the people who are interested are going to be very pleasantly surprised in 2022. I don’t make plans for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band but I feel very good about the next 18, 24 months."[103]
Equipment[edit]
For many years, Weinberg's gear included Slingerland Drums, Ludwig, Pearl Drums and Zildjian cymbals;[26] he subsequently switched to DW Drums,[14] but continues to use Zildjian cymbals. He also uses Remo heads and, previously having used Regal Tip drumsticks and brushes, he now uses Vater drumsticks, notably the 5A Nude wood tip model and Wire Tap brushes.[104][105][106] His setup has always been simple, mostly consisting of a snare drum, mounted tom, bass drum and floor tom, while his usual cymbal setup consists of two crash cymbals, a ride cymbal and a pair of hi-hats, with an occasional third crash: "I've got four drums. Anything more is redundant. Besides, I tend to trip over things."[26]
Personal life[edit]
As of July 2020, Weinberg and his wife Becky live in Delray Beach, Florida.[8] Among his valued possessions is the conga drum given to him by his father in 1957.[8] During a 2020 Wall Street Journal interview, when asked why he still looks forward to touring with Springsteen, Weinberg said, "A chance to prove I still have it. Playing with Bruce and the E Street Band is the height of what I do."[8]
Weinberg did and does have strong New Jersey and East Coast ties. He lives on the New Jersey shore with his wife and children.[14][60] He and his family are fans of the New Jersey Devils, and played ice hockey on the 2-acre (0.81 ha) pond in front of their house.[23] They were season ticket holders for the Devils until the children became too old and busy to attend games.[14] Their son Jay had, without much instruction from his father but using Max's old gear, become a drummer for local punk rock and metal bands.[107][79] Their daughter Ali became an assistant to NBC News reporter Chuck Todd[14] and began appearing on their MSNBC.com blog "First Read".[108] As of 2023, Ali is now a foreign affairs producer at the PBS NewsHour.[109] Weinberg played drums on the first album recorded by his sister Nancy Winston, a professional pianist and singer in New York City, known for her regular appearances at Cafe Pierre.[110][111][112]