May 2019 Issue – Volume 43 • Number 05

Slightly Stoopid's Ryan "RyMo" Moran

When we caught up with RyMo at a Slightly Stoopid show, he had already logged three tours with this setup. “I was using a standard five-piece kit for years,” he says. “Then through touring with more reggae artists, like Sly…

New Releases by Kyle Crane, The BBB, Flav Martin, MewithoutYou, The Neal Morse Band, and more

Recordings Taking The Reins Crane Like the Bird Crane Like the Bird The Neko Case touring drummer and collaborator with Daniel Lanois and M. Ward focuses on his songwriting and arranging skills. Kyle Crane’s drumming acts as a core arranging…

Talking Heads’ Remain in Light

In the early ’70s, when Rhode Island School of Design student Mark Kehoe resolved to make a short horror film, he asked two of his peers to provide the score. Though it was the musicians’ first meeting, their music, an…

May 2019 Issue – Volume 43 • Number 05

Innovative Percussion

John “JR” Robinson and Brooks Wackerman Signature Models Extra-long options designed for more reach and power without sacrificing balance or tone. Innovative Percussion is a Nashville-based manufacturer that first made its mark by crafting high-quality drumsticks and mallets for concert…

MD Subscriber Exclusive: P!nk’s Mark Schulman On…

We had so many more cool stories left over from Mark Schulman’s May 2019 feature cover story that we decided to share them here. Besides being a member of P!nk’s touring band for the past twelve years, Schulman has had…

Jharis Yokley with My Brightest Diamond

The Berklee grad and tasteful up-and-comer backs the experimental savant on the road. Following the release of the album A Million and One this past November, the innovative indie-pop act My Brightest Diamond embarked on a North American tour opening…

Enduring Effort

I’ve been reading Modern Drummer since I was a teenager, and since first picking up the January 2001 25th Anniversary issue, I’ve managed to hang on to my copy of nearly every subsequent one. The first time I saw MD…

Funkify Your Swing Feel

Part 1: Clyde Stubblefield Interpretations Fusing rhythms from one style of music to another can help a player develop new ideas and fresh rhythmic approaches that might not have yet been previously explored. In this lesson we’ll apply the classic…

Ultimate Ears Pro UE 6 Pro

UE 6 Pro In-Ear Monitors The unmatched isolation and clarity of custom molds, but at a palatable price point. Ultimate Ears Pro established the custom in-ear industry in 1995, after going to market with a design originally created for Alex…

Josh Groban’s Kaz Rodriguez

Whatever you may know about the drummer and composer, it’s probably only a fraction of the story. Take a perusal of London-based drummer Kaz Rodriguez’s social media videos, and it quickly becomes evident that he cannot be easily pigeonholed. On…

Bentley’s Drum Shop, Fresno, California

Take a short four-hour drive north out of Los Angeles up I-99, and you’ll find yourself in the little big town of Fresno, California. It’s the fifth largest city in the state, with a population of more than half a…

Drum Wisdom: Bruce Becker

“If you want to learn technical stuff ,” says this month’s cover artist, P!nk drummer Mark Schulman, “he’s the guy.” Jacob Slichter—a fellow student and respected pro drummer in his own right— takes us inside the career and concepts of…

Pfeifer Drum Co. Snares

September and Generation Series Snares Unusual nine-lug and 16" models from an innovative newcomer who’s not afraid to buck conventions. Pfeifer Drum Co. is a Philadelphia-based company owned and operated by former Hollywood Undead drummer, author, educator, Knock Box metronome…

The Duality of 16th-Note Meters

A Method for Internalizing Odd-Time Grooves Time signatures such as 15/16, 17/16, and 29/16 can bring out anxiety in drummers who aren’t familiar with them. The truth of the matter is that they’re only slightly different from quarter-or 8th-note meters,…

PASIC18

The “Mother of All Percussion Events” Does It Again The Percussive Arts Society held its annual international convention this past November 14–17 at the Indiana Convention Center in downtown Indianapolis. Featuring over 120 concerts, clinics, master classes, labs, workshops, panels,…

Vintage Potpourri

David Levit, a drummer, educator, and sound engineer based in Mount Prospect, Illinois, pieced together this month’s featured kit from various vintage drums he collected throughout his career. The kit consists of a 1929 Ludwig 14x24 bass drum with DW…

Navene Koperweis on Whitechapel’s The Valley

The progressive-metal vet puts his unique stamp on the long-running deathcore titan’s newest release. This past March 29, the Knoxville, Tennessee–based metal band Whitechapel released The Valley on Metal Blade records. The album—the group’s seventh since 2007—features the multi-instrumentalist, producer,…

Ani DiFranco’s Terence Higgins

He somehow manages to balance with Ani DiFranco, Don Was, George Porter & Ivan Neville, John Medeski's Mad Skillet, Tab Benoit—a seemingly endless string of fascinating and utterly unique recordings, tours, and special appearances. What makes him able to handle…