Departments
Modern Drummer is the world’s most widely read drum magazine, is dedicated entirely to the art of drumming and caters to the needs of amateur, semi-pro, and professional drummers.
A Bigger Boom
Producer Jacquire King on Reamping Drums Producer, audio engineer, and mixer Jacquire King is a multiple Grammy winner who has worked with Tom Waits, Buddy Guy, Kings of Leon, and many others. His commitment to crafting distinctive and idiosyncratic sounds…
A Message of Hope
Ricky Byrd and Bob Stander Look Back at Creating Soundscapes for Sobering Times When Rock and Roll Hall of Fame guitarist Ricky Byrd released Sobering Times in 2020, it celebrated his own 30+ years of being clean and sober, while…
Reissue of Keith Moon’s “Pictures of Lily” Drum Set
Keith Moon’s original 1967 “Pictures of Lily” Premier drum set was not only visually stunning, it was also likely the first customized-graphic kit put into use by a major rock act. Premier’s in-house publication, Talking Drums, states that Moon approached…
Thank You for Being There for Us in 2021!
What does a new year really mean? Should we fall in behind holiday tradition and write some adorable “New Year’s Resolutions” that promise bucketloads of personal evolution? It seems that everybody gets to believe their own marketing muse on the…
Motorheart, The Darkness
Rufus Taylor of the Darkness here. Motorheart is our hard-hitting new album, and we’re very proud of her. I used my old-faithful DW Collectors Series kit in maple-lacquer, specialty-pearlescent black with black chrome hardware. It has a 22×24 VLX kick—the…
David Lloyd Johnson Celebrates Frank Lloyd Wright
The backstory of David Lloyd Johnson’s one-of-a-kind Frank Lloyd Wright kit was initiated by three of his idols. After diving into drumming at 14 years old, Johnson became entranced by the playing of Idol #1—Ginger Baker—and he eventually acquired a…
PASIC 2021
The Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) is one of the largest percussion events in the world. Concerts, clinics, panels, and presentations from world-class professionals attract more than 5,000 attendees annually. There are also more than 100 exhibitors showcasing the…
Grateful Drumming
Can being grateful make you a better drummer? It just might. Research shows that gratefulness positively impacts everything from sleep to heart health, feelings of depression, less fatigue, to even reducing materialism and improving eating habits. So, if you want…
Carmine Appice’s Custom Slingerland Kit
“This is a custom one-of-a-kind job that Slingerland made for me in 2004,” says Carmine Appice. “It’s a hand-painted, lacquer leopard finish—not a wrap—on three-ply maple shells. It features 8×12 and 9×13 rack toms, 16×16 and 16×18 floor toms, and…
45 Years of a Vibrant Community
It’s just unbelievable how quickly 45 years can go by. It was 1977, when founder Ron Spagnardi launched what the world would come to know, love, and behold as Modern Drummer magazine. Modern Drummer is much more than a magazine.…
12 Iconic Punk-Rock Drummers Sound Off
We spun through the MD archives to collect some brash, aggro wisdom from punk-rock, punk-pop, or post-punk drummers who have shared their musical insights in these pages. Punk isn’t always about diving blindly into intensity with limited technique, and some…
Buddy Rich Elected to Hall of Fame in 1980
Excerpted from the January 1977 issue When it comes to interviewing Buddy, one must learn to expect the unexpected. You can end up with a first rate story, or no story at all. He’s a very intense human being, with…
Gene Krupa Elected to Hall of Fame in 1979
Excerpted from the October/November 1979 issue “I’m happy that I succeeded in doing two things: I made the drummer a highpriced guy, and I was able to draw more people to jazz.” The above quote of drum master Gene Krupa…
John Bonham Elected to Hall of Fame in 1981
Excerpted from the John Bonham tribute issue, July 1984 John Bonham played, for the most part, a very simple drumkit, consisting of a 14×26 bass drum, a 12×15 small tom—at first mounted on a snare stand and later on the…
