Many a California boy has dreamt of disappearing into the wheels of a yellow Chevy van and creating heat on some fantasy coast.

It wasn’t until I heard Fu Manchu‘s explode-the-speakers-through-your-carpet-into-your-stepsister’s-bedroom-downstairs cover of Rush’s seminal “Working Man” that I understood: the prickly pines of Canadian rock, of course, could be the fragrant spikes inside the skateboard wheels of Fu Manchu’s dirty California psych-surf heaviness. Fu Manchu has gotten me through a many a dark and bright day inside the poisoned creeks of Venice, California. I’d never noticed Rush’s influence on them, but of course it all made sense – which is why I’m honored that Scott Reeder, the epic Fu drummer, has joined Power for a Modern Drummer / Air Drummer Watch Party for MusiCares.

You can also listen to this HotSticks.fm podcast with Scott Reeder on HotSticks.fm – please subscribe to the show, thanks!