As the saying goes, it’s not what you’ve got, but what
you do with it that counts. Australian drummer Grant Collins is proof. Many drummers have a big kit like his. But not many players
can audiences amazed with their drum compositions for two hours straight. And Collins performs at clinics and solo concerts
without the benefit of backing tracks.

On the Butthole Surfers’ latest album, Weird Revolution,
precise digital editing replaces the band’s famous idiot-savant studio trickery.

Singer Keely Smith, the “straight man” (woman) for the late, great Louis Prima
(“Just A Gigolo”) has been joined in her New York and East Coast concert and nightclub tours by much sought-after jazz drummer
Joe Cocuzzo.

Tommy Clufetos started playing drums at age six, and by his
eleventh birthday he was gigging nonstop.

Cheap Trick recently celebrated twenty-five years together with the release of the
appropriately titled Silver, a two-disc collection of hits and best-loved tunes recorded live in the band’s hometown of
Rockford, Illinois.

In 1999, as Gary Burton was celebrating his fiftieth year as a
vibraphonist, the
vibraphone itself turned seventy-five years old.
Burton felt the time was right to pay tribute to the instrument and the
players
who pioneered jazz vibraphone. The result is his recent album
on Concord, For Hamp, Red, Bags, And Cal.

Terry Bozzio and Pat Mastelotto have much in common.
They’ve both worked with legendary rhythmic compositional masterminds, they both left LA for Austin, Texas, and when they
finally had a chance to get together, the obvious thing to do was…play!

When one thinks of the quintessential Slayer drummer – whether it’s Dave
Lombardo, Jon Dette, or in recent years, Paul Bostaph – a mammoth drumkit is what one pictures him seated behind. But Paul
Bostaph is about to change that notion.

Jim Bogios was amazingly calm for someone who was about to perform two huge
concerts at separate venues in one night. Earlier this year he was scheduled to perform with The Dixie Chicks at the Universal
Ampitheatre in Los Angeles for a Recording Artists Coalition (RAC) benefit. That performance would follow a show at the LA Forum
with Sheryl Crow. He’d have to do dual soundchecks and performances in very diverse areas of LA. But Bogios was pumped
for it.

Although Eric Bobo would tag Cypress Hill as his
main gig, his current focus is a solo project. “It’s a Latin jazz album, a return to roots for me, because that’s my
background,” Bobo explains. “It’s not really anything that goes with the whole recent Latin explosion.

When one of the greatest drummers of all time turns eighty,
celebrations are
held all over the country – from coast to coast for months.

Watching Jay Bellerose climb behind his kit as troubadour Joe Henry
walks on stage is an eye-catching moment. The mishmash assortment of vintage drum gear looks just as likely to fall apart as it
does to offer uniquely resounding percussive tones.

Frank Beard of ZZ Top has created his share of monsters. See if you
recognize one of them in the following scenario. You’re barely into your first set with your local bar band when somebody
howls, “Play some ZZ Top!”

Eddie Bayers is blown away by the fact that, after thirty years of
first-call recording status, he’s recently become a member of two bands.

With the release of Iyab’, his premiere album as bandleader, Barreto
is destined to climb his own pinnacle of success.

Martina Ax’n of Drain STH loves a big drum sound. To get that
sound
she plays a big kit – 26″ bass drum, 14″ mounted tom, and 18″ floor tom.
And she plays hard. “Last time we played
Phoenix, they practically had
to carry me off the stage,” she says.