Ringo Starr Taps Steven Tyler, Chad Smith and More to Drum for a Cause
Ringo Starr hops behind the kit in a new star-studded commercial for John Varvatos’ fall/winter line and the Beatles drummer’s Peace and Love Fund. In the clip, Starr recalls the origins of his love affair with the drums, tapping a handful of friends, like Aerosmith‘s Steven Tyler, Jimmy Kimmel and Will Ferr — sorry, the Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ Chad Smith — to have a go on the skins.
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Starr recounts being 13 years old and walking around Liverpool, staring at the drums in various music stores until his stepdad bought him his first kit for $20. “I just started hitting them; I had no lessons,” Starr adds as we watch Tyler and Kimmel whack blindly at a drum kit. “It was lucky that in those days, if you had the instrument, you were in the band. I loved the sound of them, the depth of them, what they give me — it’s just my instrument.”
The clip also features head-rattling cameos from Green Day‘s Tré Cool, Blondie‘s Clem Burke, former Guns N’ Roses drummer Matt Sorum, famed session musician Jim Keltner, Varvatos and even Jeremy Piven — who shows he ain’t too shabby at holding down the twos-and-fours himself.
You can learn more about Varvatos’ upcoming line, as well as Starr’s #PeaceRocks campaign over at the designer’s website. For every photo posted to Instagram with a peace sign and the aforementioned hashtag, Varvatos will donate $1 to the Ringo Starr Peace and Love Fund, which promotes meditation as a way to help heal stress and trauma.