Steve Morse is a walking guitar-sound encyclopedia before he even opens his mouth. He's garnered a thriving following and countless awards for his solo work, records with Kansas and Deep Purple, and for founding one of the seminal kitchen-sink fusion outfits, the Dixie Dregs, in the early '70s.

Now he's decided to unleash, in a more literal sense, all of the guitar influences that shaped his unique voice. On Major Impacts (Magna Carta), Steve dolls out 11 original compositions eerily reminiscent of the guitar stylings of John McLaughlin, Page, Clapton, Hendrix, Beck, Alex Lifeson, George Harrison, The Allman Brothers, The Byrds, Yes, and Kansas.

Throughout the album, one is alerted to Morse's more reverent nature, the instrumentals stay very faithful to the styles they emulate. But then looking at the body of original material from the Dregs/Steve Morse Band-era, it's plain to see that the drum chair could only be filled by very capable people-- like Rod Morgenstien, and later on Van Romaine. With all the talking that his hands are used to doing, we were lucky to catch some time with Steve to hear him really speak about Rod, Van, and what he's looking for when it comes to pounding the skins.

DRUMStuff.com: Do you write a lot of stuff on keyboard, or mostly on guitar?

Steve Morse: Oh yeah, I do a lot of stuff on keyboard. In fact I try to split it up about 50/50, especially when I'm doing an album project. I'll also try to write tunes on different types of guitars, like acoustic nylon strings. That helps me get a different perspective.

DRUMStuff.com: Do you play drums at all?

SM: My older brother Dave was a drummer, and he was my whole world. From like '66 until '72, we just improvised and jammed, that was all we did. We didn't usually have a bass player or anybody to play with. I mean, we were in bands, but the bands would come and go, and we'd just play all the time. He was my musician-type partner. He plays harpsichord, classical guitar and drums-- he's in Mississippi now.

DRUMStuff.com: And then you hooked up with Rod at the University of Miami...

SM: ...in '74.

DRUMStuff.com: What was it about Rod that first impressed you?

SM: He could play keyboards, and that's what he was doing in theory class-- I actually didn't know he could play drums, I just thought he was a really good musician. They'd give him problems like, can you solo over this kind of change, and he could do it with a melodic approach and an interesting rhythmic twist. And I just happened to hear, I think it was from Hiram Bullock, who also played in our little ensemble before it became the Dregs, that said I had to hear Rod play drums.

I remember Rod being into Jethro Tull, Gentle Giant and stuff like that. Which was way different from most of the drummers that I knew there, most people were into bebop and literally hated what we were doing.

And anything I could think of to throw at Rod, "Can you do this thing with the kick drum, or with a cymbal?" He was like, "Yeah." He intuitively came up with a great part, a beautiful part. And if you just say, "I like what you're doing, but can you just change this or that," to fit your own taste, he could do it effortlessly. Rod's not normal. [laughs]

DRUMStuff.com: In the University of Miami years, who was important to you at the time, rhythmically?

SM: Chick Corea. Everybody was into Latin, so I thought that was really cool. And I loved the way Pat Metheny's group played Latin. Danny Gottlieb was in a lot of my improv classes in school. So when he started playing with Pat, they really made the Latin stuff palatable and melodic too me. Because a lot of the stuff that was out was so intense and weird-sounding, I think young people have a harder time sometimes bridging the gap musically, once they've formed this, "Here's what I'm into." I was breaking out of my "Here's what I'm into, heavy rock" thing when this came together.

Jazz was a tough stretch for me, the traditional bebop. Because when the drummers would just try, seemingly try to lose everybody, I had a really hard time appreciating that. But then I played with guys like Narda Michael Walden at school, and he plays time like Rod does. It was very rhythmic and in time, playing double bass, but at the same adding kicks and little surprises with his hands. And I really loved that approach. Very powerful. There was a lot of influence from players like that. The ones who could make it interesting, as well as technically surprising, were my favorites.

DRUMStuff.com: Do you think differently if you're writing something for Rod, versus for Van Romaine?

SM: Yeah, Van is more...I want to make sure Van is in on the rhythmic feel if at all possible. When we get together to do something new, if he's just doing something like jamming by himself or warming up, sometimes I'll write something off of that to fit him. I like it best when I write something that's related to something that he naturally does.

Rod sees things as a musician, really. He sees them as a composer. I see him nod knowingly as I'm working on a section. If I say, "Do a counterpoint thing," he understands exactly what I'm trying to do. And in the process of me showing to other people their lines, he'll take that into his head too and learn what everyone's doing, so he can experiment with different drum parts. So Rod is really sitting up on a high hill, noticing everything.

What's cool about Van, is he's such a hard-working guy, now he's started working out on guitar and bass himself too. So now I see him approaching things from a songwriter's point of view as well.

DRUMStuff.com: I don't know as much about Van, what is his background?

SM: [Bassist] Dave LaRue went to Berklee, and I can't remember if Van went to Berklee or not. He's from the New Jersey area, and Dave and Van were in various progressive rock bands together. When I got Dave to work with me in the trio, the first Dregs reunion around '88, he recommended Van to me. I remember the first afternoon with Dave and Van-- in one afternoon, we could have just gone and played a gig. He prepared so well. He had a great sense of humor, intelligent, chops.

DRUMStuff.com: What did you ask him to do?

SM: To learn stuff off the records, basically, and see how we played together. It took a little while to get comfortable with jamming, but it did happen. It was really cool.

DRUMStuff.com: Van, to me, seems a little bit more bottom-conscious in his approach.

SM: Yeah, Van is a powerhouse. He and Dave have an instant repoire. I'll explain things in musical terms, and Dave will paraphrase it using one-third the amount of words, and Van instantly nods and they just have it perfect. [laughs] I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong!

DRUMStuff.com: When he's not playing with you, who does he perform with?

SM: Oh he's always working. He's a very modest man, too. Doesn't tout himself ever. I remember a long time ago hearing him talk to Dave, just laughing about a session he'd been hired to go do, a bunch of drum beats. And they sampled one of the drum beats and it became the rhythm track to a rap tune called, "O.P.P."

DRUMStuff.com: The Naughty by Nature track?

SM: Yeah. [laughs]

DRUMStuff.com: I didn't know that!

SM: He lives in Manhattan, so he's doing studio work all the time. I don't know all the stuff he gets to do. He's the musical director of a band in Germany, with the lead singer Nena, who did the song "99 Luftbaloons." And they love him. He's just honest, hardworking, talented guy, really easy to work with.

DRUMStuff.com: I was wondering, the gear maverick that you are with guitars, do you like the drummers to experiment with their gear as well?

SM: Van has been the most progressive guy I've ever known. And we play plenty of shows where he's used electronic and triggered drums, even when it comes to loops to solo against and things like that. He's got a really good idea of how to use electronic drums, and trigger from acoustic drums.

DRUMStuff.com: And when Rod wanted to bring stuff in, that was cool?

SM: Oh yeah. Way back, Rod had the Simmons drums when they first came out, which we used to record with and everything. We were trying real hard to use them, but it was like, "Well okay, that's that sound. Anything else?" [laughs] A sampled thing, if it doesn't have subtleties, my brain doesn't like to hear the exact same sound over and over again, especially when you're recording.

DRUMStuff.com: Shifting to a couple of other projects, what was it like hooking up with Kansas and Phil Ehart?

SM: We were friends. The band moved to Atlanta, where the Dregs were based, and I remember going to see them as a fan. So when they were talking about getting back together a while back, I told them I thought it would be great, "and if you need any help, let me know." Before I knew it...

Phil, whether he admits it or not, was the band leader. His role was more than just the drummer. And as the drummer, he would stay back and let other people throw in most of the ideas. But when he did say something about a tune, it was always a good idea to listen. Because not only did he carry a lot of weight, but he was very often right about things.

DRUMStuff.com: Speaking of Chad, there's got to be some good stories about growing up with a foot in the Zappa family.

SM: I remember when I was about eight years old going to a Zappa rehearsal. I think it was after the first tour that Chad did, with Ike Willis and Scott Thunes. Chad told the rest of the guys in the band that I was a drummer too. So during their break, they persuaded me to sit down and play a song with them.

DRUMStuff.com: What is his playing like?

SM: Like Van, he's very strong on snare techniques. You could tell that's where he did a lot of his practice. He's a good strong rock drummer, who gives some interesting surprises.

DRUMStuff.com: And you're also working with Ian Paice and Deep Purple.

SM: We actually come up with a lot of the song ideas together. He'll start playing a beat, and he's thinking about it-- he'll try to act like he's casual, but he's definitely thinking about what he's doing. And I've been programmed my whole life to do this, when a drummer starts playing, I start coming up with musical parts, rhythm parts that youcould base a solo on as opposed to just solos. That came from jamming with my brother.

And Ian knows he can get me started on anything, and I'll come up with a song idea. And the band may not use it, but a song idea will come out of it. So every day at rehearsal he does something, and he's always thinking very musically. Just like Ringo, he reminds me of Ringo with a lot more chops. And that's not to put Ringo down.

DRUMStuff.com: Who else have you gotten a chance to play with that was memorable?

SM: I remember jamming once with Will Lee and Anton Fig at this guitar store that was having a festival. I really enjoyed that. I love playing with studio drummers, because they think naturally in terms of phrases, and they're self-editing, and they're listening for any hint of a phrase or suggestion to go along with. Of course, Anton is super tight and everything, but I like these little subtle things that show that he's multitasking and tuning into me. Even when I'm doing rhythm things, if I put in just a tiny little change the second time around, he picks up on it right away. I love that.

I've also played with Chad Wackerman. His technique and ability to play for the song at the same time is amazing. A lot of times when I do a jam session with a known drummer, I'm with 20 other musicians, and it's not a real interactive thing. Where the best thing to do as a guitarist, is not to play, you know?

One thing that was memorable, I did five shows with Lynryd Skynrd in '89, which playing with them was like sitting in this gigantic, sturdy easy chair. They kind of throw you in it and say, "There! Now can you play?" Okay, yeah. The feel was so large and steady. And I remember thinking if you can't play with these guys, you can't play! It was so easy.