August 2021 – Volume 45 • Number 8

Earl Young

Legendary Timekeeper for The Sound of Philadelphia Earl Donald Young, bassist Ronnie Baker, and guitarist Norman Harris formed the Philadelphia-based rhythm section known as Baker Harris Young. That the trio helped change the music world is not an understatement. In…

August 2021 - Volume 45 • Number 8

Peter Criss

Excerpted from the February 1999 Cover Story Peter Criss—born Peter George Criscuola—is a true rock ‘n’ roll survivor. The Brooklyn-bred drummer, whose affinity for jazz prompted him to seek out Gene Krupa as a youth, ran an ad in Rolling…

The Etiquette of Sitting In

The Considerate Guest Let’s assume you are going to sit in with a group—either at your request or their invitation. There are definitely some things you should do before you actually come up on stage to play. The first and…

Todd Sucherman's New Styx Album, First Solo Release

Longevity and relevance are key components to any successful career. The Beatles were together only eight years, but the group’s prolific music catalog still stands the test of time. Formed in 1972, Chicago-based, progressive pop-rock group Styx is closing in…

The Pocket Queen

The Viral Drummer’s Brand-Building Strategies Like a superhero with an alter ego, Taylor Gordon’s transformation into The Pocket Queen had a seismic effect on not just her own career, but also upon legions of music fans and aspiring drummers. With…

Audix

DP7 Drum Mic Pack For any pro- or home-studio engineer, live-sound mixer, or weekend tone miner, the goal is to get the sound crisp, clean, and just right. A lot of the gig is having ears, knowing the ins and…

Terry Bozzio

Modern Drummer, July 1994 “Even though I’ve got that humongous drum kit sitting there, I’ve learned I don’t have to use it all at once. Igor Stravinsky thought nothing of having five solo cellos play a section in the middle…

Eric Boudreault’s Treetop Percussion

Just about every pit gig and live-performance for a multimedia theatrical production can be tough. Negotiating myriad cues, charts, conductors, actors, and other elements can stress out even the most skilled professional. But is your gig, 23-feet-in-the-air-atop-a-tree tough? That is…

Justice James on Swingin’ Surf

It seemed like a pretty normal surf show until it wasn’t. The Young Barons were onstage performing their edgy, modern-primitive style of surf music. Suddenly, the drums exploded like Buddy Rich torturing the squares at a 1940s swing dance with…

Roger Hawkins October 16, 1945 – May 20, 2021

Roger Hawkins—one of music history’s most recorded drummers—died peacefully at his home in Sheffield, Alabama, after a few years of declining health. He was 75 years old. Hawkins has been called an architect of the Muscle Shoals sound. He was…

8 Affordable Home Recording Tools

There certainly hasn’t been a bucketload of good about pandemic lockdowns, but when you have ambitious and creative musicians stuck at home, they tend to figure out ways to get their music out there. Many creators upgraded their home studios,…

Get Into the Groove

To further celebrate the soulful, timekeeping majesty of this month’s cover artist Earl Young, we dove into the Modern Drummer archives to find ten other groove masters talking about how they make the music move. Greg Errico, October 2011 “Sly…

16th-Note Accents

Excepted from Accent Control Accents add color and dynamic variation to our drumming, and they’re an extremely essential aspect of every drummer’s technique. The 16th-note accent patterns that follow should be practiced using the four stickings shown: (a) alternate sticking…

Judy Cocuzza

The Return of Betty Blowtorch Betty Blowtorch was one of the most ferocious, hard-rocking, and riotously in-your-face all-female rock bands to ever tread onstage. From 1998-2001, drummer Judy Cocuzza, guitarists Sharon Needles and Blare N. Bitch, and bassist/vocalist Bianca Halstead…

Bobby Bond

The Beat Goes On As time marches on, and we lose more and more of the rock-and-roll hitmakers of the 1960s, those stars still soldiering on via ‘60 rock cruises and package tours have become living embodiments of the era…

Low Boy

Custom Lightweight Bass Drum Beater Customizing stuff is one of my guilty pleasures—I’m always “building” cars on manufacturer websites that I have no intention of actually buying—so the opportunity to design my own beater was what initially attracted me to…

The Healing Power of Silence

The center of a musician’s world is often thought to be within their love for sound, melody, and rhythm. Most of you reading this article will be big fans of sound in general—creating sound, appreciating sound, and listening to sound.…

Gretsch

Classic Renown 57 I was immediately aware I was in two kinds of big trouble when I opened the initial press-release announcement for the Limited Edition Gretsch Classic Renown 57. Big Trouble Number One: The photos of the kit in…

Mike Reid

Taking it to In the Heights, Janet Jackson, Alicia Keys, and Beyond. Mike Reid started playing drums at the age of three and never looked back. The Baltimore, Maryland, native joined his school and church bands to begin his first…