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.
Dave Weckl
In 1985, Chick Corea, who had helped usher in jazz-fusion with Miles Davis in the ’60s, introduced a completely new sound. Appropriately naming his project the Elektric Band, the keyboard legend enlisted up-and-coming drummer Dave Weckl to see how much…
George Thorogood and the Destroyers’ Jeff Simon
Forty years ago he went electric with his guitar-slinging, blues-wailing childhood friend. Since then, millions of albums have been sold and as many miles traveled, and he’s still the unstoppable heartbeat of his good buddy’s band. TO READ THE FULL…
Great 80s Drum Performances, Part 2: Jazz and Fusion
The ’80s might not be anyone’s first reference point for the golden age of jazz, but a closer examination reveals wonders under the surface. Sure, traditional acoustic jazz was no longer in favor, though some of the established innovators of…
Rat Scabies
He hasn’t been a member of THE DAMNED for twenty years. But the impression he made on fans of the legendary British punk band was indelible. With a current documentary hipping legions of younger listeners to the wild and wonderful…
6 More Mobile Apps Every Drummer Should Know
According to a series of surveys conducted by Pew Research Center in 2015, sixty-four percent of Americans now own smartphones. And they’ve become increasingly useful for musicians. In the October 2015 issue of MD we took a look at nine…
Catching Up With Trilok Gurtu
Trilok Gurtu will always be unique. His mixture of traditional Indian rhythms and jazz played on a customized hybrid kit looks and sounds singular, from the tabla to those amazing toms that sound like kick drums. But if you’ve seen…
Teacher's Forum - Technique
Drumset technique is the means by which the drummer expresses his musical intellect and feeling. Technique and expression function together as part of the central directive system which incorporates the mind and body (or inner and outer self) in producing…
Opeth's Martin Axenrot
Listening to the airy, floating, Baroque-style “Persephone,” the opening track from 2016’s Sorceress, one would never imagine that when Opeth was founded in Stockholm, Sweden, back in 1989, it was an out-and-out death-metal band. TO READ THE FULL STORY: SUBSCRIBE…
What's Your Favorite Steve Gadd Track and Why?
For drummers, it could be hard, if not impossible, to pick out one standout track from the extensive and legendary career of this month’s cover artist, Steve Gadd. His feel and explosive solo on Steely Dan’s “Aja,” the inventive groove…
Will Calhoun
For decades Living Colour’s connoisseur of all things rhythmic has journeyed to the far corners of the globe to perform, search for rare instruments, and jam with local musicians.
Trivium’s Paul Wandtke
Career highlights like playing with the alt-goth band Kill Hannah, a traveling production of Rock of Ages, and a Nirvana tribute act—in which he’s singing and playing guitar—might not seem typical for a lead-up to joining an established metal group.…
This Heat’s Charles Hayward
Coming out just as the era of prog rock gave way to the tidal wave of punk rock, England’s This Heat was largely drowned out by the overpowering sounds of the sonic revolution. TO READ THE FULL STORY: SUBSCRIBE TO…
Nate Lotz
Nate Lotz isn’t interested in showing you how fast his doubles are. As the drummer for the electro-pop starlet Halsey, Lotz works an electronic/acoustic hybrid kit with precision, but he’s much more focused on that magic that happens when the…
The Feelies’ Stan Demeski
Few groups enjoy as loyal a fan base as the Feelies, whose handful of ’80s albums had a profound influence on many a guitar-oriented alt-rock band. The days of bottomless major-label budgets are long past, though, and since the group…