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.
Frank Beard of ZZ Top
Frank Beard of ZZ Top has created his share of monsters. See if you recognize one of them in the following scenario. You're barely into your first set with your local bar band when somebody howls, "Play some ZZ Top!"…
Louie Bellson A Lifetime Of Greatness
"Young drummers should learn the history of the instrument. You have to know where you came from in order to know where you're going." When one of the greatest drummers of all time turns eighty, the celebrations continue all over…
Charlie Benante: Comin' For You
"I think I understand guitar more than most guitar players do," says Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante. "I come at it from two different ways'the guitar rhythm perspective and the drum perspective." You see, the New York-based thrash metal drummer isn't…
Eric Bobo
Photo by Flor Guzzetti Although Eric Bobo would tag Cypress Hill as his main gig, his current focus is a solo project. "It's a Latin jazz album, a return to roots for me, because that's my background," Bobo explains. "It's…
Jim Bogios
Jim Bogios was amazingly calm for someone who was about to perform two huge concerts at separate venues in one night. Earlier this year he was scheduled to perform with The Dixie Chicks at the Universal Ampitheatre in Los Angeles…
Paul Bostaph
When one thinks of the quintessential Slayer drummer - whether it's Dave Lombardo, Jon Dette, or in recent years, Paul Bostaph - a mammoth drumkit is what one pictures him seated behind. But Paul Bostaph is about to change that…
Terry Bozzio
Terry Bozzio and Pat Mastelotto have much in common. They've both worked with legendary rhythmic compositional masterminds'terry with Frank Zappa, and Pat with Robert Fripp in King Crimson. They both left Los Angeles after the major earthquakes of the '80s,…
Gary Burton
In 1999, as Gary Burton was celebrating his fiftieth year as a vibraphonist, the vibraphone itself turned seventy-five years old. That same year, two legendary vibes players died: Milt ("Bags") Jackson and Red Norvo. Burton felt the time was right…
Bun E. Carlos of Cheap Trick
Cheap Trick recently celebrated twenty-five years together with the release of the appropriately titled Silver, a two-disc collection of hits and best-loved tunes recorded live in the band's hometown of Rockford, Illinois. Silver is an endearing scrapbook anthology of memories…
Tommy Clufetos
Tommy Clufetos started playing drums at age six, and by his eleventh birthday he was gigging nonstop. "I started playing in my dad's band," Tommy says. "We'd back old-time rock 'n' roll acts like Chuck Berry or Jerry Lee Lewis.…
Joe Cocuzzo
Singer Keely Smith, the "straight man" (woman) for the late, great Louis Prima ("Just A Gigolo") has been joined in her New York and East Coast concert and nightclub tours by much sought-after jazz drummer Joe Cocuzzo. He also recently…
King Coffey of the Butthole Surfers
Here's one for truth in advertising. On the Butthole Surfers' latest album, Weird Revolution, precise digital editing replaces the band's famous idiot-savant studio trickery, and sophisticated beat architecture holds sway where gut-wrenching tom-thuggery once ruled. Somehow, the beautifully skewed Surfers…
Grant Collins
As the saying goes, it's not what you've got, but what you do with it that counts. Australian drummer Grant Collins is proof. Many drummers have a big kit like his. But not many players can audiences amazed with their…
Phil Collins
Phil Collins' first studio album in six years, Testify, is another brilliant collection of pop songs, textures, and sounds from the singer/composer/drummer/producer, who still considers himself - first and foremost - a drummer. When last we spoke, two years ago,…
