Feature Stories
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.
Best Of '07
I'm convinced that, ten years from now, we're going to look back at 2007 as an unusually fertile time in music and in drumming. True, these days the most intriguing musicians inevitably lurk in the under-reported corners of the music…
Alex Van Halen: Bashing and Crashing In the Here and Now
by Ken Micallef Practically joined at the hip to his brother Eddie, nephew Wolfgang, and David Lee Roth, Alex Van Halen has finally returned to the road with the band that bears his name. It’s been four years since the…
Alex “El Animal??? González: A Passion For Drumming
by Robyn Flans Maná is a true rags-to-riches story. Fueled by an intense passion for music and a belief that music can transcend the boundaries of language, the Mexican rock band has sold more than twenty-two million records and collected…
Jimmy “The Rev??? Sullivan
“I have a clear vision of what I’m going to do before I go in there,” says Avenged Sevenfold’s speedy stickman, Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan. After recording an album as diverse and detailed as the band’s latest self-titled affair, he…
Chris Wilson of Ted Leo And The Pharmacists
“This is the first record where I don’t really regret anything I played,” says Ted Leo And The Pharmacists drummer Chris Wilson of the band’s most recent album, Living With The Living. A Philadelphia resident via Arkansas, Wilson drummed in…
Luis Conte
Percussion great Luis Conte’s new album, Marimbula, is a trio disc featuring bassist Jimmy Johnson and guitarist Barry Coates. Conte describes the music as a unique mixture of ideas. “It’s a marriage of traditional percussion in every style,” he says.…
Pete Wilhoit of FYI
In 2004, after playing with the band Fiction Plane for a year, Pete Wilhoit was offered a position to be the only American member of the all-British band. FYI, Fiction Plane’s lead singer, Joe Sumner, is Sting’s son. Originally from…
Jason Bonham
By Billy Amendola The rumors started spreading months before the official press release went out: “Led Zeppelin is getting back together and they’re going on tour.” MD, like everyone else, was getting excited at the possibility. Was it true? We…
Antonio Sanchez
Best known for his multi-timbral, multi-textural, orchestral jazz drumming with The Pat Metheny Group, Antonio Sanchez spreads his solo sticks wide for his debut as a leader, Migration. A whirling dervish of a record with guest spots (and material) from…
Kelly Keagy: Alive...And Well
Kelly Keagy is a busy man these days. Known for his powerful drumming with Night Ranger (“Sister Christian” was named one of the “Top Drum Tracks of the 1980s” in a recent Modern Drummer article), Keagy has a new solo…
Allison Miller: Freedom Jazz-Folk-Pop-Rock Dance
by Adam Budofsky Since moving to New York in 1996, Allison Miller has thrived by refusing to acknowledge musical borders. Alli, as she likes to be called, has allowed her sincere love of pop and rock music to ground her…
Nathan Wetherington
Nathan Wetherington was a working actor in Hollywood when he accidentally became a professional drummer. Having played drums from ages ten to seventeen, Nathan left drumming for acting after he scored a two-year gig with The Blue Man Group. But…
Update: Roger Taylor
by Billy Amendola It shouldn’t be much of a surprise that Justin Timberlake, Timbaland, and Nate “Danja” Hills signed on to co-produce Duran Duran’s latest CD, Red Carpet Massacre. After all, the band—keyboardist Nick Rhodes, singer Simon Le Bon, bassist…
Chris Hornbrook of Poison The Well
If practice makes perfect, then Poison The Well’s Chris Hornbrook is on his way to mega-precision. That’s because the drummer maintains a religious practice regimen, working out for two to four hours every day. “If I’m not working on actual…
