Mark Griffith
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.
Patrick Wilson - Ergo Fuego, I Just Want to Play!
Weezer’s Patrick Wilson is a drummer just like many of us reading this article right now. He loves Rush and Van Halen. He says things like, “I buy so much gear based on demos that I see online, and then…
Community, Scene
It’s a subject that comes up often in my interviews— Being part of a community or a scene, and I can’t stress its importance enough! All drummers (should) know about how supportive the drum community is for one another. It’s…
Joel Selvin - Drums & Demons, The Tragic Journey of Jim Gordon
Jim Gordon is so much more than the drummer in Eric Clapton’s band, Derek and the Dominos. Jim played drums on the soundtrack to many people’s lives. He had a remarkable studio drumming career that was unfortunately eclipsed by the…
Dave Abbruzzese - Gets Back to the Woods
In the critically acclaimed cult television series Twin Peaks, which was based in and around Washington state in the early 90’s, Special Agent Dale Cooper stated, “When two events occur simultaneously pertaining to the same object of inquiry, we must…
Nic Collins - From Genesis to The Effect
Nic Collins has had quite a start to his drumming career. He began by playing drums in rock bands and performing in clubs around Miami, Florida. Then he landed the gig drumming on Phil Collins’ final tour. He followed that…
Russ Kunkel - Drumming with The Immediate Family and Lyle Lovett
Russ Kunkel is a true drumming legend. He has spent an entire career drumming for THE most significant singer-songwriters in music history. His drumming on classic recordings like Carole King’s Tapestry, Joni Mitchel’s Blue, James Taylor’s Sweet Baby James, and…
A Drummers Best Friend, Make the Music Smile
For many years it was said that a drummer’s best friend is the bassist. I will contend that in some musical contexts a drummer’s best friend might (as many other drummers have stated) be the rhythm guitarist. However, let’s not…
Lenny Kravitz Talks Drums
Lenny Kravitz has played drums, programmed the drum parts, or created the loops on all of his songs for the last 35 years with only two exceptions. He is a multi-instrumentalist songwriter walking in the tradition of Stevie Wonder and…
Ralph Rolle - Laying it Down and Taking Care of Business with Chic
There are several intimidating drum gigs that a drummer can step into, but I’ll mention one that might not come immediately to mind. The iconic band Chic. The original drum chair was manned by the legendary powerhouse drummer Tony Thompson,…
Mike Reid - Playing the Patterns with Justin Timberlake
In today’s pop music world, why does it seem that there are only a handful of drummers who are doing all of the top gigs? Why do pop stars like Janet Jackson, Rihanna, Charlie Puth, Alicia Keys, Demi Lovato, and…
Listen to What the Music is Telling You to Play!
In this month’s Modern Drummer, legendary songwriter Lenny Kravitz, Justin Timberlake’s Mike Reid, and Chic’s Ralph Rolle all allude to the phrase, “Listen to what the music is telling you to play” in their interviews regarding the subject of how…
Michal Miskiewicz - Playing ECM’s Air with Feeling
Jazz is a truly American artform, as is jazz drumming. However, that doesn’t mean that this important resource hasn’t been exported to the rest of the world. Poland was an importer of American jazz in the 1950s and 60s. But…
Dirty Honey’s Jaydon Bean - Can’t Find the Brakes
Dirty Honey is going full speed ahead, keeping the rock and roll flame burning and breaking the rules. Their song “When I’m Gone” was the first single by an unsigned band to ever reach #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock…
Mikkey Dee - Playing Heavy Music on the Drums
From 1985 through 1989 drummer Mikkey Dee created a modern style of progressive hard rock drumming with the band King Diamond. The recordings and the drumming on Abigail and Conspiracy laid the groundwork for many of today’s most extreme metal…
