Carl Palmer Worries About Dying on Tour

Carl Palmer admitted to a nagging doubt as he continues to tour at the age of 76.

The Emerson, Lake and Palmer drummer said he’d made preparations for his passing, but worried about where his final moments might play out.

“I don’t want to die in some cheap hotel, you know?” Palmer told Music Radar in a recent interview. “And sometimes I don’t always stay in the best hotels. That’s all I’m worried about.”

He continued: “It’s fine as long as it’s a Hilton or a Four Seasons, but if it’s one of those dodgy hotels, don’t tell anyone. That’s all I’m saying.

“Because it will be on the the obituary, won’t it? ‘He was found in a cheap hotel that was about to close down, and he had a cheap rate on the room.’ You don’t need that.”

Palmer added: “My wife says to me now, ‘I might have to come out on tour with you more to make sure everything’s okay.’ You know, when you’re 76 you never know when something bad might happen.”

But he reported that he was ready for the eventual end: “I even know where I’m going to be buried. It’s not a graveyard. It’s a kind of nature reserve.”

Lentil And Fish Diet Doesn’t Bore Carl Palmer

In the same interview he dispelled a myth about his pre-gig routine. “Contrary to some rumours, I don’t go to sleep,” he explained. “I like to take the weight off my legs. If I can get my legs off the floor and lie on a sofa or whatever, that really helps me… I’m then really that much stronger when I go out on stage.”

Palmer also said he was careful with his diet, which mainly features lentils, beans and fish every other day. “I don’t eat three to four hours before I play,” he noted. “I sleep as much as possible, and I try to eat as well as I possibly can… It’s not boring because I’m so used to it now.”

His aim, he added, was to stay on the road as long as he possibly could. “I don’t want to give up because I love what I do,” he said. “I’ve been doing this now 60 years professionally, and I started playing drums when I was 11, so I’ve been playing 65 years.”