January 2020 Issue – Volume 44 • Number 1

The 2020 Modern Drummer Readers Poll: Something New

This year we’ve made some adjustments to our annual Readers Poll, which goes live here at moderndrummer.com on December 1. So if you’ve voted in the past, you’ll notice that things look a little different. First off , whereas for…

Tower of Power’s David Garibaldi

Fifty years in, the legendary drummer is still at it for the same reason: the simple joy of groove-making with his closest friends. MD’s January 2020 issue “Influences” column honors David Garibaldi, whose funk innovations showed us “What Is Hip”…

Feedback-Balanced Creative Practice

The goal of practice is to improve our technical facility, musicality, and originality, so we want to practice in a way that balances those areas.

Rhythmic Problem Solving

We can use a similar approach to isolate any type of rhythm or concept by creating our own systems specific to whatever we’re working on.

BJ Miller with Health

Since answering a drummer-wanted Craigslist ad that listed influences from Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath to Public Image Ltd. and Can, BJ Miller has proven the ideal rhythm generator for his band. The L.A.-based group Health’s sound could be neatly…

In the Studio with Toby Keith's Dave McAfee

Dave McAfee has been on the road with country superstar Toby Keith for almost twenty years. Dave and the band have been just about everywhere in the world.

January 2020 Issue – Volume 44 • Number 1

Skillet's Jen Ledger

Her drumming journey has taken her from Coventry, England, to Kenosha, Wisconsin, to touring the world with Christian-rock group Skillet. That wasn’t exactly her life plan, though. Jen Ledger’s original plan was to be a hairdresser, and today she admits…

New Albums by Pattern-Seeking Animals and District 97, Aquiles Priester All Access DVD

Recordings Pattern-Seeking Animals Pattern-Seeking Animals An unpredictable Spock’s Beard spinoff featuring drummer JIMMY KEEGAN. Those hoping for lots of dense muso-centric epics from this Spock’s Beard side project will likely be disappointed. The band’s self-titled debut, largely written and cowritten…

Metric Modulation Magic

This month we’ll take a look at playing triplets in groupings of four.

Eric Singer of Kiss

It’s the end of an era, as the world’s most notorious rock act takes its final bow. We look back, and forward, with their long-serving timekeeper. Eric Singer knows this: serve the artist. With Kiss, his primary function is, and…

New Gear From DW, Physiostorm, AKG, Ear-Q, Pearl, Tama, TRX, and Sakae

New drum gear from the industry's leading manufacturers.

In the Studio with Gunnar Olsen

Gunnar does a lot of work in both the industrial and indie-music scenes employing both programming and live playing.

Tower of Power's David Garibaldi: The Beat Builder

Building upon the James Brown legacy, he expanded the vocabulary of beat-displacement groove patterns and applied them in a “linear” concept.

Bobby Morris’s My Las Vegas—With Elvis, Sinatra, Streisand, Darin, Prima & More

The next time you look back on a gig in anguish because the monitors weren’t great, or your kick drum was creeping, just remember, it could’ve been worse.

The Aristocrats’ Marco Minnemann

Like a drumming magician, he’s made the impossible seem effortless. But increasingly he also enchants with songcraft and the alchemy of instrumental interaction. A carefree smile has always been the hallmark of Marco Minnemann’s demeanor at the kit. With a…

British Drum Company Snare Drums

Merlin and Big Softy Snares Distinctive yet versatile offerings from the UK’s strongest newcomer. British Drum Company has been a quick-moving newcomer since establishing itself in 2015. With unique cold-pressed shells and classic hardware styling, the entire line is worth…

Galactic’s Stanton Moore

It seemed fitting to meet up with Galactic’s Stanton Moore in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the home of the original Gretsch factory, so we could talk about his Brooklyn series drumkit. Stanton uses this set when the band tours North America via…

February 1986: Roy Haynes Joins Louis Armstrong’s Big Band

The bus is waiting. Louis Armstrong’s big band is ready to depart. The drummer has become ill, and a last-minute substitute is needed for one week. Just out of his teens, Roy Haynes already has a strong word-of-mouth reputation among…

What’s Your Favorite David Garibaldi Track?

“Oakland Stroke.” The groove is completely original, innovative, and funky AH. It fits the song perfectly, and it sounds 100 percent like Garibaldi. He has so many amazing grooves, but to me, “Oakland Stroke” is his crowning achievement. It’s to…