Modern Drummer Magazine

The name Artimus Pyle conjures up the image of a guy in cut-off jeans all frayed at the ends, hair hanging down the middle of his back, tucked under a wool hat, and a long, long beard that hides half a face and frames a pair of very intense eyes.

Certain reader questions seem to repeat themselves. Several of them involve the ins and outs of bass drums. What size? What kind of heads? How do I tune them?

Writing The History of Rock Drumming opened a Pandora’s Box. I knew it would. Researching the existing volumes of rock history made it clear that there was a shameful lack of recognition for the drummers’ contributions to this music.

SF: What does it take to become a circus drummer? WC: You have to be familiar with every style of music and drumming. Latin, rock, shows, marches, contemporary, disco. You have to have all those in mind and be comfortable playing them. What seems to be most unusual are the tempos involved. Some of these […]

Watching Sue Hadjopoulos on percussion and Larry Tolfree on drums, one would think they’d been playing with Joe Jackson for eons, and certainly working together for even longer. Neither of the above assumptions is accurate. Tolfree has been working with Jackson for only two albums in as many years, and Hadjopoulos has been a group […]