Time keeper... Ughh!

I tend to play drums as though I am applying bass notes more than being a time keeper,

I'm using this statement made by Asaph to setup a point of view of mine.

Now, Asaph, This statement of yours I am quoting I have taken out of context
and I fully understand that this is not what YOU are saying. It just happens to
be a trigger and catalyst for this particular point of view.

I play drums, I play rhythm and I play time... But I am NOT the band's time keeper.
Except for the "I play drums" part, the previous statement can be applied to ANY other
player in the band. It is EACH and EVERY player's (including but not exclusively the
drummer's) responsibility to control that element of the music within themselves and it's
just as much THEIR responsibility to hold us to correct time as they say it is for us as
drummers to hold them to it!

Like every other player, my job is to be an instrumental (no pun intended) factor in the
make-up of the music as a whole and not just to merely keep time for my peers so they
can do it.

Your thoughts.

Amen!

For years, since reading an interview in Modern Drummer, I quote Carl Allen and tell other musicians, I'm nobody's time keeping baby sitter. Everybody needs to know where 1 is.

I think Baker being my first major influence I have never seen it my position in the group to keep time. I'm a drumist. My position is to be percussive, rhythmical, and musical. I'm nobody's metronome. I want the time to be elastic. If you want a metronome, get a machine. I want to make music. Obviously time, good time, is a foundational element. But I want to explore just like any other musician.

Nothing against those who like simply keeping time. It just is not the philosophy of musical thinking I function well with.