Check out this unique factory-tour video created by Paiste endorser Pauli “the PSM” Stanley-McKenzie of Gorillaz Sound System. Stanley-McKenzie, a voracious and creative video chronicler, continues to find music in unexpected places—and unexpected music in predictable settings.

 

To learn more about the PSM, read this Update piece, which ran in the November 2011 issue of Modern Drummer magazine.

Pauli Stanley-McKenzie (the PSM)

Pushing the boundaries of multimedia performance arts, this young gun can still make your head bob.

It isn’t enough that U.K. drummer Pauli Stanley-McKenzie, aka the PSM, wickedly whips out hip-hop and funk patterns in a variety of intriguing groups. The 2005 U.K. Young Drummer of the Year contest winner (at age sixteen) is also something of a computer wiz. Having worked at an Apple Store, where he’d deliver presentations to customers on how to incorporate Macs into their live music setups, Stanley-McKenzie went on to provide the beats for the neo-soul singer Tawiah, the freewheeling rap duo MLKnCRL (“milk and cereal”), and, his highest-profile project yet, Gorillaz Sound System, the audio/visual live remix project of the cartoon band’s music.

“We developed a whole series of ways that the drums could trigger animated clips and visuals,” Stanley-McKenzie says. “Along with a percussionist, a DJ, and a video director, we were able to make the show multidimensional and magical.” Advertisement

Never resting, the drummer appears in Lexus commercials and is currently preparing a “performance cinema” drum clinic project. The PSM is also featured in a short documentary (check psmthepsm.com) that chronicles a festival appearance and a solo drums/electronics improv filmed in the woods. “Our instrument is made from natural, breathing sources,” he says, “so it was meaningful to take the drums there and see nature react to the music—and vice versa.”

Ilya Stemkovsky

Modern Drummer is a monthly publication targeting the interests of drummers and percussionists. The magazine features interviews, equipment reviews, and columns offering advice on technique, as well as information for the general public. First published in 1977, today the print version of Modern Drummeris available in sixty-seven countries. The monthly digital edition, enhanced with music and videos corresponding to the current issue’s contents, is available online worldwide.