Drummer Talk » Artists

Setting up Nicko McBrain’s Kit

Drummer Talk — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 13:23:52 +0000

Artist Works Drum Academy

Drummer Talk — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 19:28:24 +0000

Poison drummer says, “learn to sing!”

Drummer Talk — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 13:00:39 +0000

In a recent interview with 8 Count News, Rikki Rockett, drummer for hair metal royalty, Poison, talks about his drum building company, and offers simple advice to up and coming drummers.

Rockett Drum Works is not just his own business; it’s his own personal passion. Rikki said, “I have always been around the best builders in the world and always wonder why so many rules, what can I do different to making custom sets.”

After chatting with Rikki Rockett you walk away knowing that the man behind the drum kit is a force that will drive anything he is behind to success. For all inspiring drummers Rikki had these three word’s, “Learn to sing!!!”

New Radiohead Track, “Staircase”

Drummer Talk — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 18:26:02 +0000

Radiohead just released King of Limbs back in February, but they’re not content to sit back. They’ve just posted a new vido of their new track, “Staircase.” I’m pumped!

Neil Peart on Letterman

Drummer Talk — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 15:09:05 +0000

We spoke earlier this week about Dave Letterman featuring drum solos all week long, well here is the finale with Neil Peart. Enjoy!

Jay Lane returns to Primus

Drummer Talk — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 17:53:08 +0000

Primus has a new studio album coming out soon and it features early drummer, Jay Lane, in the line up. Primus recently sat down with Rolling Stone and talked about the new record and the return of Lane.

… the notion of Jay Lane coming in and playing with us again [was a welcome idea] – someone I’ve collaborated with over the past 20 years on Sausage, Frog Brigade and whatnot. And he was in Primus – he quit the band one month before we made our first record, so the early material, like Frizzle Fry, is very reflective of his style. And him coming back has just breathed life back into the project. We did some touring, and we decided, “Let’s go make a record,” because we were creating things on the road.

Read the whole interview …

Roots’ next record will be an orchestral concept album

Drummer Talk — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 13:00:35 +0000

It’s an odd turn, but if there’s a band that can pull it off, it’s The Roots. In a recent Billboard interview, drummer and bandleader, ?uestlove, discussed how the band’s next record will be a full-length, orchestral concept album.

“It’s going to be heavy on sort of orchestral chamber music with harder beats in it”

Black Thought added that conceptually, the album will stem from the “same idea” as “How I Got Over,” but “kind of flipped. Instead of from dark to light, it’s an album that goes from light to dark,” he explained.

Eric Singer of KISS talks new album

Drummer Talk — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 13:00:38 +0000

In a recent Q&A with KISS Army Autralia, current KISS drummer, Eric Singer, discusses what it’s like to be drumming for KISS and what’s in store for a new KISS album.

Q: From the outside looking in it seems as though the band is quite early in the stages of preparing the follow up album. In going about the preparation of the album is there a focus on creating an album that follows in the vein of Sonic Boom or is it more of a case of seeing where the band ends up once tracks are ‘in the can’?

A: We are already knee deep into the new record as I write this… All’s I can say is you will all be very pleased. The material is stronger and more riff oriented and very hard/heavier style.Everyone that has heard material so far is raving about the stuff and we are too

Q: Has your involvement on the new album been any different to Sonic Boom, or earlier KISS albums?

A:As a band we are more comfortable and have more time together under our belts now that really shows in our writing, performances etc… We work out all the material together in rehearsals as a band before we go into the studio. It really makes for better vibes and performance overall.

Read the full Q&A here …

Here is an older interview with Singer discussing Sonic Boom.

Freese cancels dates with A Perfect Circle to stick with Weezer

Drummer Talk — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 13:00:32 +0000

Drummer Josh Freese had signed on to do a 6-week stint with alt metal act, A Perfect Circle, but unfortunatly had to back out due to previous commitments with Weezer.

“I’m sad to report that I will be sitting out the A Perfect Circle tour this summer. Maybe the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make professionally and it hasn’t been easy on me. I’ve been looking forward to APC reforming for years now and the timing just couldn’t have been worse. I’d already committed the time to Weezer and I am a man of my word. As much as I hate to have to miss the APC tour there wasn’t a whole lot I could do about it.

I’ve missed other tours with other bands over the years but this one has been the toughest pill to swallow.”

So if you got your APC tix hoping to see Freese, maybe you could Stub Hub them?

Read the full article …

Lombardo talks upcoming Slayer album

Drummer Talk — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 13:00:05 +0000

In a recent interview with Geeks of Doom, drummer Dave Lombardo talks about a possible upcoming new album for metal band, Slayer.

“Although there’s nothing written but there is definitely plans. Of course. We have to! Why not?! [laughs] I’m not retiring and I don’t think Kerry’s retiring either so… Charlie Watts [Rolling Stones drummer] is somebody I look up to and for someone to be on those drums for as long as he’s been up there then I’m on my way! I’m right behind him, man! [laughs] I’m one of those guys. I like longevity and a true musician never abandons his art.”

While somewhat vague, this gives hope to all you Slayer fans out there!

Read the full interview here …

Note: there is some language in the interview.

Jojo Mayer like you’ve never seen him

Drummer Talk — Mon, 30 May 2011 13:00:52 +0000

Sometimes it can be difficult to picture our drumming heros playing outside of their “comfort zone,” so to speak, so it’s refreshing when they step out of themselves and let loose a bit. We’re so used to Jojo Mayer being eternally precise and accurate, but in this video he’s slappin’ them skins Bonham style!

NOTE: Please watch this for the drumming only because, dear Lord, the vocalist is awful.

Fab 5 Freddy and his jazz legend influence

Drummer Talk — Fri, 27 May 2011 13:00:32 +0000

We’ve always known that hip-hop owes a lot to jazz in terms of style and feel, but to hear a rap artist directly discuss his jazz influence is a great thing! Jazz Times just posted a great interview with Fab 5 Freddy where the rapper talks about Max Roach’s influence on his music.

One day Max came to visit my dad and asked what I’m into and my dad said ‘oh, he’s into some rapping thing.’ This was before [hip hop] blew up, this was the early 80s when we were having street block parties and what not [in Brooklyn]. I was already making my moves on the arts scene and I was never trying to be a rapper but I had a few rhymes that I could get on the mic at a block party and do my thing. There was a DJ across the street who had built a nice system in his crib so I would go over there and rap a little bit. So my dad was aware of this, unbeknownst to me; my father was never into much contemporary music—with the exception of James Brown.

So one day I came home and my father said Max had been there and “I told him you’ve been doing this rap thing with your man across the street…” Right away I get kind of nervous because I never at that point considered anything music with the developing rap scene. I knew we weren’t playing instruments, we were making sounds and we were energetic and I knew this was a new thing that I dived into full speed ahead, but I didn’t consider it music—as in musicians. My father said ‘Max wants to check it out’, so I said OK. So we arranged a time a week or two later and he came through, on my block on Hancock Street between Lewis and Sumner [Brooklyn]—which is now Marcus Garvey Blvd… which is very appropriate.

Read the full interview …

Here’s Freddy talking about Max Roach. NOTE: There’s a little bit of language in this video, so may not be 100% clean.

The Beatles were lucky to have Ringo

Drummer Talk — Thu, 26 May 2011 14:07:20 +0000

Ringo recently spoke about some candid feelings regarding his place in the Beatles’ legacy

“Within Liverpool, I was a lot more well know than them. Rory and the Hurricanes were big shots in the city. We had the suits. That was our claim to fame. The Beatles were lucky to get me. It wasn’t just that I was a big shot; I was a cool drummer.”

Pink Floyd reunion … on accident?

Drummer Talk — Tue, 24 May 2011 13:00:29 +0000

Back in March we reported that Nick Mason of Pink Floyd would fancy a PF reunion. Well, as it turns out, a spontaneous Floyd reunion (of sorts) took place May 20!

Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason says the onstage reunion of the three surviving members had never been confirmed to him – so it was a surprise when he arrived to see Roger Waters’ The Wall show to find Dave Gilmour also present.

The trio delighted fans when the unannounced gathering took place in London this week. Gilmour played guitar during Comfortably Numb and all three jammed on Outside the Wall.

Read the full story …

Behind the scenes with Derrick McKenzie

Drummer Talk — Wed, 18 May 2011 13:00:58 +0000

Cool Sabian video from Jamiroquai’ Derrick McKenzie.

Megadeth in the Studio!

Drummer Talk — Mon, 16 May 2011 12:01:34 +0000

This is for all you Megadeth fans out there!

What was it like to audition for Dream Theater?

Drummer Talk — Tue, 10 May 2011 01:01:26 +0000

As you know, we’ve been closely following the saga surrounding the drum seat for Dream Theater, and we now know that Mike Mangini landed the spot, but he was one of seven guys to audition. Just what was it like to audition for the prog powerhouse? Swedish drummer, Peter Wildoer, recently spoke with Blabbermouth.net and shared some thoughts.

“My approach was very much to keep it true to what Mike did, because no matter what I would do, I knew that my personality and my style would probably shine through even though [I was] trying to do what Mike did originally. So my approach was very much to keep it to what it is and keep it like the fans know the songs and how they wanna hear them.”

John Densmore also waving off fans

Drummer Talk — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:00:15 +0000

Peace and love, peace and LOVE! First Ringo, now Doors drummer, John Densmore, is now no longer signing autographs.

“The last several years I have been so flooded with requests that it is interfering with my personal life, and I am going to have to stop.  Fans (or opportunists from ebay) track me when I land at any airport, follow me into the bathroom, and hang around my hotel, looking for my John Henry (autograph). It is unfortunate, but I have to draw the line.”

Full story …

Steve Smith Interview over at Mike Dolbear

Drummer Talk — Mon, 02 May 2011 16:12:30 +0000

Mike’s done it again with a fabulous and in-depth interview with Steve Smith. The article is complete with pics, and some pretty rare video finds. Here’s a little taste

How did the Journey gig come around?

The short answer is I was playing in a band that was opening for Journey; they heard what I was playing, liked what I was doing and asked me if I wanted to join the band.

I feel like I need to give you a little more background and give you a more complete answer. Growing up in the 60s I was very involved with playing big band music and small group jazz. I started playing drums in 1963 when I was 9 years old and my teacher was a big band drummer. I didn’t get interested in rock until I heard Jimi Hendrix in 1967 with Mitch Mitchell playing drums and then I heard Ginger Baker with Cream. At that point I started to enjoy listening to rock music. I did play some rock with a few local bands during my teen years in the Boston area but my main focus was playing jazz.
I was a student at Berklee from ’72-76 and during summer breaks in ’74 & ‘75 I did some touring with the Lin Biviano Big Band. Lin and most of the members of the band had toured and recorded with Buddy Rich and Maynard Ferguson. In fact most of that band play on the classic Buddy Rich album called “Rich In London,” recorded in 1971 live at Ronnie Scott’s. In 1976 I left Berklee to join Jean-Luc Ponty’s band, which was a jazz-rock fusion band.In those years fusion was still a relatively new style of music. When I first played with Ponty I was using a small Gretsch jazz drumset. The kit didn’t work with that music because it was too small, the band was very loud and powerful and in January 1977 I started to play Sonor drums.

Read the full interview here!

New RHCP out in August

Drummer Talk — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 13:00:43 +0000

Chad Smith has confirmed that a new Red Hot Chili Peppers album will be out in August. According to Rock it Out Blog, Smith says, “It’s been going good. We got lots of songs, we’re just choosing the ones that are gonna be on the album. It sounds great.”