When you’re one of Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Drummers of All Time” and you’ve played for a wow-factor list of other artists, you are the drummer for Blondie, an ideal subject for an upcoming documentary on Sky. Also affectionately known as the Doctor of Rock, and as the hardest-working drummer in the business, Clem Burke takes none of it for granted.

He understands that Blondie’s selling of more than 45 million albums is no accident. Burke has been a part of the legend since 1975, someone who’s been referred to more than once as the “backbone” of the band’s sound. His peers revere his creativity, stamina and raw talent well honed through the decades, and showing no signs of abating.

Let’s fast-forward to July 27 and July 28, at ’80s Weekend #6 at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, before the band heads to other locations nationwide. Their Microsoft Theater gig includes a bill with Adam Ant, Marc Almond of Soft Cell, Thomas Dolby and Berlin. Then down San Diego way, they play the comfy KAABOO festival in Del Mar, California, on September 14.

If your soul needs to hear them play “Heart of Glass,” “Call Me,” “The Tide Is High,” “One Way or Another” and “Rapture,” plus more, those two venues may be just your SoCal ticket. Come on out.

You’ll see Clem with band mates Debbie Harry, Chris Stein, Leigh Foxx, Tommy Kessler and Matt Katz-Bohen. Don’t miss my interview with Chris here on Parade.com. For now, please enjoy this up-to-date conversation with Clem.

All those accolades about you: What think ye?

I go by what people tell me and soak it all in, appreciating everything that’s gone on in my career and life. I definitely don’t take it for granted.

What does “being in a band” mean to you?

It’s about camaraderie, family, dysfunction, sisterhood, brotherhood—a microcosm of life. It’s the interchange of nonverbal expression. Music is a big communicator.

Some people have sometimes thought you, the band, were from somewhere else. What about that?

We are a very unique American band, but very international. We opened the Gucci Museum, played at corporate Deutsche Bank, for example. I was born in New Jersey.

You are so associated with New York City.

Living there, you’d hear and see things before the general public did. All art comes from somewhere else, and we had the ability to move music forward.

You have played with so many famous artists: the Ramones, Bob Dylan, Eurythmics, Joan Jett…and you’ve noted a lot of influences to your drumming.

I got into Ringo, Keith Moon, Hal Blaine from The Wrecking Crew, Earl Palmer and Buddy Rich. In any art, it’s important to take what came before, feel it, be inspired by it and make it your own. A lot of times, people don’t have that foundation, and they begin without learning.

I attribute a lot to my partners in Blondie, like Chris, who was into rock music early on, but then began experimenting with different types of music. They had their ears to the ground and we all tried to be open-minded. “Heart of Glass” was like an assimilation of Donna Summer and The Bee Gees. We never thought of it as a commercial song, but more experimental.

And you’ve made your mark in the medical literature. That is just so unusual and interesting: The Clem Burke Drumming Project with the University of Chichester and University of Gloucestershire, U.K. You received an honorary doctorate of music!

It makes an analogy between sports and drumming. It puts a positive spin about drumming and the benefits of being healthy. I’d be 500 pounds if I didn’t work out. [The site also says the project was created to research into the amount of energy professional drummers exert while playing a song, set, or concert.]

Tell us about your documentary: “My View,” on Sky. It looks really fun. Here’s the trailer.

Sky Arts commissioned the project, with a great producer and director, and followed me on and off for a year, with me working with various people—like Blondie at Hyde Park last June 2017, with Phil Collins. The crew spent a day or two at the university, and came to Los Angeles and New York to film.

What do you think is the legacy of Blondie?

Well, not to get too self-righteous, but Blondie, along with a handful of other bands in the mid-’70s, changed music for the better. And about “Rapture,” it is not a rap song, but a song with rap in it. Rap was a beat. We created a song with a strong melody that incorporated rap. We were always combining genres, which is a big legacy of the Blondie sound.

How did the band gel, do you think, to remain as solid as you still are?

First, people sometimes make an analogy between Debbie and other blonds [in music]. She is so much more than that, a great songwriter and lyricist. You can compare her to Jim Morrison and David Bowie. She was very influenced by Nina Simone, and by Morrison, along with Donna Summer and Ellie Greenwich. A lot of different influences within Blondie make up the Blondie sound, like Chris and R & B, and me, with rock ‘n’ roll roots. Blondie really became a smorgasbord.

Blondie's "Doctor of Rock" is Clem Burke, legendary drummer, (COLIN McMAHON)

Look back at your music some more, will you? Thoughts?

Pollinator was named one of the 20 Best Pop Albums of 2017 by Rolling Stone. That material stands up to any of Blondie’s greatest hits—the previous two albums, maybe not as much. It’s interesting to be doing the ’80s concerts, because we really are from the ’70s. We do festivals, and we play with artists like Van Morrison and Kelly Clarkson—heritage and then contemporary. That’s another part of the whole sort of legacy of Blondie, those different genres.

And yet you keep touring and the fans demand it. Nice for you and us.

Well, this is really a kind of non-tour, with those U.S. dates until the end of September, at some choice venues. We’re working on a new record, Debbie’s doing her autobiography, we’ve got my documentary, and Chris has another book of photography. The foundation we’ve laid together has enabled the band to do many other things.

Mind Your Body with Stephanie Stephens features celebrities and high achievers age 45+ who share their latest projects, healthy living secrets and more.