July 2021 – Volume 45 • Number 7

July 2021 - Volume 45 • Number 7

Crowded House

Markus Gerhard Branches Out Lake Ridge, Virginia-based drummer Markus Gerhard plays with the band Given Eye, which just dropped its first release, “Soops Hoots,” in May 2021. The band sounds a bit like a ‘90s-indie-rock recast of 10cc—which is pretty…

The Appice Brothers Take to the Airwaves

In one of those sci-fi-esque synergies of parallel dimensions, interviewing Carmine and Vinny Appice about their Hangin’ & Bangin’ livestream show is practically like being in an episode. Carmine’s enthusiastic rat-a-tat delivery is often gleefully interrupted with punctuations and elaborations…

Roland | V-Drums Roundup

Roland knows a thing or two about electronic drums. In the late-’90s, the company’s TD-10 V-Drums were powered by its COSM modeling technology, and, in 2012, their TD-30KV V-Drums featured SuperNATURAL sounds, Behavior Modeling, and upgraded sensing technology. So, it’s…

Celebrating Drummers and the MD Community

This month’s issue represents another milestone in Modern Drummer’s storied history: Sheila E. is the Modern Drummer Readers Poll 2021 Hall Of Fame inductee! It’s hard to believe that Sheila is the first woman to be recognized by our readers…

Introduction to Jazz

Here are a couple of exercises from my Drum Channel course, Introduction to Jazz. There are many different ways to play jazz, just as there are for playing rock, Dixieland, songo, samba, or reggae. One of the things I built…

Harvey Mason

Modern Drummer, July 1981 “Artists generally give me creative freedom. Sometimes, I feel that people are intimidated, and they don’t want to tell me what to play—which is too bad. I want everything. I want it both ways. I want…

Jimmy Paxson

The Soul of a Side Musician Point Jimmy Paxson in the direction of a gig, and he’s there taking care of business. Paxson is a fearless player with mega chops who is not afraid to take on any kind of…

Modern Drummer 2021 Readers Poll Winners

Celebrate Your Choices for the Extraordinary Drummers of the Past Year It’s that time again for the Modern Drummer staff to thank the community for making possible our annual Readers Poll. Your enthusiasm for all things drumming, your knowledge of…

Louie Bellson

October-November 1980 At the root of Louie Bellson’s talent lies a wealth of knowledge, perseverance and the hunger for constant improvement. His consistent quest to remain abreast of the times and changes is rewarding to him and his audiences all…

Jules Radino

Grooving with Blue Öyster Cult Born in New York City and raised on Long Island, Jules Radino grew up taking lessons and hanging out at the Long Island Drum Center. I remember it was owned by the Ricci brothers—Dennis and…

Donn Bennett’s Drum Vault

Remembrances of Neil Peart At some point, every drummer has probably engaged in a debate over “Who is the best drummer of all time?” I ran a drum store for almost 20 years, and I heard it countless times. In…

Sheila E.

Our Newest Hall of Fame Member Defines Purpose and Passion Sheila Escovedo’s journey from growing up in a legendary family of percussionists, to seeing Karen Carpenter playing drums when she was just eight or nine, to performing with her dad…

7 Cymbals for Ringing In the Sounds of the Summer

Many years ago, the jazz-guitar teacher who had the misfortune of trying to teach me there was more to the art of guitar than Marc Bolan and Mick Ronson dragged me to a local drum shop to hear his drummer…

Linn 9000, March 1985

Was it annoyingly cheeky, a boon for open-minded early adopters, or just plain wrong to place an ad for a Linn drum machine—the digital device that was “taking” gigs away from drummers in the ‘80s—in a magazine for drummers? Ultimately,…

NEW GEAR - July 2021

ddrum Studio Class Isolation Headphones Conventional studio headphones aren’t specifically designed to save a drummer’s ears from furious cymbal crashes and hours of snare pounding. While many closed-earcup headphones provide some ear protection, it typically isn’t enough to combat fatigue…

Gretsch | Keith Carlock and Gergo Borlai Signature Snare Drums

The Gretsch “New for 2021” series currently includes two amazing signature snares from two incredible drummers. The extremely versatile Keith Carlock has played with Toto, Steely Dan, Sting, John Mayer, James Taylor, and others, and after winning the 2008 Modern…

Flams

Excerpted from Rudimental Jazz The traditional flam is a principal note played from a high position preceded by a grace note played from a low position. The sound of a flam is a thick one ranging from “fa-lam” at the…

8 Tips for Mixing Drums with Maximum Impact

While the pre-vaccination era of COVID annihilated any chance for musicians to earn revenue from live shows, it also boosted collaborative, home-recording projects by insane degrees. Everyone was quarantined for a time, so anyone with an idea for a tune…