Features
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.
JR Robinson
Always Ahead of the Curve and Deep Inside the Pocket These days, with all the insanity surrounding us and COVID-19 impacting every facet of our lives, it’s a wonder how anyone can keep focus on creative pursuits. Not only maintaining…
Van Halen’s Alex Van Halen
For over forty-five years, Alex Van Halen’s brilliant, forceful, grooving, and melodic drumming has been the driving force behind one of the truly great rock bands that ever existed. His bash has graced so many classic Van Halen radio staples,…
The Modern Drummer Festival 2020
A Celebration and Tribute to the Life and Legacy of Neil Peart Modern Drummer had been planning to bring back the world-renowned MD festival in 2020, and we were ready to put the plan into action. Then the world stopped…
Secret Machines’ Josh Garza For the Sake of Rock ’n’ Roll
Not everyone would release an album in the middle of the pandemic. For Secret Machines, it seemed to be the perfect time to break their hiatus and share their new record, Awake in the Brain Chamber, for the sake of…
Professor and the Madman’s Rat Scabies
The legendary punk drummer discusses the fourth release from his trans-Atlantic band featuring former Adolescents and D.I. vocalist/guitarist Alfie Agnew, ex-D.I. and Mind Over Four vocalist/guitarist Sean Elliott, and Scabies’ old Damned bandmate Paul Gray on bass. MD: What was…
Steve Jordan
He’s brought a timeless elegance to some of the heaviest recordings of the past five decades. TO READ THE FULL STORY: SUBSCRIBE TO ACCESS LOG IN
Nick Mason
The long-delayed release of a live album by his new Saucerful of Secrets band provides a good opportunity to catch up with Pink Floyd’s sticksman—much better late than never. This past March, two years after launching Nick Mason’s Saucerful of…
Justin Tyson
Savannah Harris, who we profile elsewhere in this issue, sits with the remarkably daring drummer, who’s commanded our attention with Herbie Hancock, Robert Glasper, and so many other movers and shakers. Among the things we discover? Sometimes it’s about more…
Stan Lynch
It’s been thirty years since he recorded with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. But for many drummers, his playing defines the late rocker’s greatest work. Now all those fans have got good reason to celebrate. If you’re having difficulty remembering…
Bill Bruford
Part 2: The Go Between While some of his peers from the ’70s were content to rest on their laurels, our man never settled for settling down. Moreover, not only did his appetite for new sensations push his drumming into…
The Killers’ Ronnie Vannucci Jr.
His secret to drumming greatness: passion plus musicality.As a pair of new albums demonstrate, it’s a recipe that never fails him. Somewhere around the midpoint of “My Own Soul’s Warning,” the lead-off track on the Killers’ new album, Imploding the…
Savannah Harris
She’s all over the jazz, avant-garde, and crossover scenes, playing gigs with everyone from stately ambassadors like Kenny Barron to the fierce hip-hop collective Standing on the Corner. Here the drummer discusses her ideas about playing and composing—including how kindness…
Daru Jones
We last heard from him when he was backing Jack White, a rock icon with a deep appreciation for hip-hop. The drummer’s latest project is pure beats-n-rhymes, with a rock-hard soul. For certain drummers, it’s all about playing with a…
Dana Hawkins
The future of drumming, the future of music, relies on innovation, on the ceaseless spiral of inspired musicians exploring the bottomless well of musical possibility, and in the process, creating originality. Thirty-five-year-old Baltimore native Dana Hawkins is one such fearless…
