Modern Drummer Magazine

Catching Up With… Bill Kreutzmann Fifty years after the birth of the Grateful Dead, the band’s founding drummer reflects on a long career. Then, after one last big fling with his old group, it’s back to business as usual: “playing a lot and loving it.” When MD caught up with Bill Kreutzmann to discuss his […]

Catching Up With… Mike Bordin Faith No More has always followed its own rules. So if the band wants to wait until it’s half a decade into its “comeback” to finally release a new recording, you can bet there’s a good reason for it. And that said album will melt your face off. “Too weird […]

Features Oscar Seaton Playing with unbridled freedom and being a faithful servant to the groove might seem like two opposing goals. But for this long-revered multi-genre monster, it’s all about the same thing—putting in the time, and acquiring the tools. Story by Ken Micallef Photos by Alex Solca At a recent Blue Note NYC performance […]

Features Blake Richardson Don’t let his calm drumming demeanor with Between the Buried and Me fool you—the ideas flying off his sticks can jolt you like a defibrillator. Long live technical rock ’n’ roll. Story by David Ciauro Photos by Justin Reich Between the Buried and Me’s unique brand of millennial progressive metal is teeming […]

Features Joe Vitale For nearly half a century, his drumming has been heard in the music of rock icons like Joe Walsh, Rick Derringer, Dan Fogelberg, Peter Frampton, John Entwistle, Zakk Wylde, and Crosby, Stills & Nash. But his talents extend well beyond the drumset, and even onto the silver screen. by Billy Amendola The […]

Up & Coming Ben Thatcher Royal Blood’s percussive half avoids excess at all costs—and the payoff has been handsome indeed. Who said the blues is dead? British power-rock duo Royal Blood has earned success on both sides of the Atlantic with its blues-drenched thunder grooves, with a bass-and-drums attack so mercilessly heavy that rock god […]

A Different View John Tropea The New York–born, Berklee-trained guitarist is part of a small circle of musicians who basically owned the Manhattan studio scene in the ’70s, and whose influence is still being felt today. Drum gods? Yeah, he’s known a few. by Billy Amendola John Tropea has collaborated with such legendary figures as […]