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October 2020 Issue – Volume 44 • Number 10

In his cover story this month, Chad Smith says, “It’s great to play in a room and record yourself. But…to me, to truly be playing music you have to be playing with other people. That’s the fun part, the human connection…. To me, that’s making music.” I couldn’t agree more with Chad. I’ve actually been thinking a lot about this lately—and I bet many of you have as well. You don’t miss your water ’til your well runs dry, as the old saying goes, and I’ll tell you, six months into this lockdown, I’m feeling pretty emotionally parched from the lack of collaborative, in-person music-making happening in my life right now. The joy of playing with other people, face-to-face, isn’t just one of the best things about music—for most of us, it’s one of the best things about living. Take that away, and a big part of our ability to […]
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Articles in October 2020

Chad Smith’s Three Basic Beats to Infuse with Your Own Thing

You can get ten different people playing on a basic drumset, playing a basic rock beat, and they will all sound different. We each have a signature, and that’s a beautiful thing. It’s not “my way or the highway”—it’s about…

Modern Drummer
Sep 1, 2020

Amy Aileen Wood

The drummer played an outsized part in bringing one of the most anticipated and well-received albums of the year to fruition. Amy Aileen Wood is a comfortable conversationalist, modest and engaging even when she downplays her immense skill as a…

Modern Drummer
Sep 1, 2020

Remembering Neil Peart

Part 2: “De Slagwerker” Drum Solo Neil and I often talked about improvisation. He told me why his solo in “De Slagwerker” was so important to him. What follows are some of Neil’s own words, taken from his Drum Channel…

Modern Drummer
Sep 1, 2020

Iúri Oliveira

The Portuguese percussionist has made an art out of creating unique hybrid sets for each act he supports—but sometimes a lone shaker is all he really needs. During a recent phone conversation, Portuguese percussionist and drummer Iúri Oliveira was a…

Modern Drummer
Sep 1, 2020

Noble & Cooley

6x14 Copper and 4.75x14 Painted Alloy Classic Snares Premium metal drums that provide maximum impact withoutsacrificing versatility or sensitivity. The Massachusetts-based Noble & Cooley drum company has lineage that goes back as far as 1854, when Silas Noble and James…

Modern Drummer
Sep 1, 2020
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Deep Purple’s Ian Paice

Of all the remarkable rock drummers to have originated in the late 1960s/early 1970s, none was more astonishing than Ian Paice. If John Bonham was the zeppelin, Carl Palmer the tank, and Nick Mason the perpetual clock, Ian Paice was…

Modern Drummer
Sep 1, 2020

Meat ’n’ Potatoes—With Some Spice

This month’s KOTM is a hybrid rig that the owner uses on semi-acoustic shows with his rock band Floater. The “groovy meat ’n’ potatoes” of Portland, Oregon–based drummer Mark Powers’ set consists of a vintage Yamaha bass drum, a new…

Modern Drummer
Sep 1, 2020

John Herndon

The drummer and cofounder of the influential Chicago band Tortoise details the gear and methods he used to get “jagged and weird” on his new solo album. John Herndon is best known as a drummer/percussionist in Chicago’s Tortoise, the instrumental…

Modern Drummer
Sep 1, 2020

Trivium’s Alex Bent

The metal phenomenon has an irrepressible drive to succeed—and he’s done so stunningly, slaying two of Trivium’s best albums to date, earning a Grammy nomination, and touring Europe and the U.S. extensively since 2017. Alex Bent has lived many metal…

Modern Drummer
Sep 1, 2020

Chad Smith

The longtime Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer is enjoying a wave of great reviews for his work on the new, critically acclaimed Ozzy Osbourne album, Ordinary Man. The takeaway? If there’s one contemporary drummer on the planet who wholly embodies…

Modern Drummer
Sep 1, 2020

Rudy Royston

His new solo album, PaNOptic, gives listeners—especially drummers—the opportunity to commune with the mind, heart, and soul of Rudy Royston, perhaps more fully than ever before. Modern Drummer has often praised the marvelous first-call jazz drummer Rudy Royston for meeting…

Modern Drummer
Sep 1, 2020

“Getting the Sound”

Detailed tutorials for recreating classic recordings from a drumming, engineering, and mixing perspective. We first checked in with Hoboken, New Jersey–based session drummer/engineer/online educator Dylan Wissing back in November 2013, when he had just gotten his studio, Triple Colossal Studio,…

Modern Drummer
Sep 1, 2020
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sE Electronics - V Pack Arena Microphone Kit

A perfect set for capturing the punchy, full tones of a five-piece drumset. Chinese musician/composer Siwei Zou started sE Electronics twenty years ago in an effort to improve the design of some of the microphones that were coming out of…

Modern Drummer
Sep 1, 2020

RECORDINGS

Haken Virus The U.K. prog-rock sextet’s latest album may adhere to a lyrical narrative, but according to drummer RAY HEARNE, they’re still dedicated to evolving their sound. Embracing the mystery of their curious Cockroach King character, Haken’s new release, Virus…

Modern Drummer
Sep 1, 2020

Nektar’s Ron Howden

The progressive-rock elder statesman has survived life-threatening medical issues to celebrate his iconic band’s fiftieth anniversary with a fine new album. Throughout its five-decades-long lifespan, Nektar has generated a cult following, sending music listeners on mind-bending conceptual sojourns. Likewise, the…

Modern Drummer
Sep 1, 2020

Stick Technique Revisited

Part 4: Alley-Oop The alley-oop technique is what I call a wrist/finger combination used for playing double strokes (diddles) and triple strokes. While it can be likened to the push/pull technique, which is a wrist stroke followed by a finger…

Modern Drummer
Sep 1, 2020

Samba Funk

Modern Fusion Beats Based on Traditional Brazilian Rhythms Hi, everybody! It’s a pleasure to be back writing for Modern Drummer and sharing some of my Brazilian culture with you. This time I am talking about my application of samba funk…

Modern Drummer
Sep 1, 2020

Covet’s Forrest Rice

The drummer, who’s honed his skills with a number of math-rock groups, brings ever more sophistication and fire on the new Covet record, Technicolor. MD interviews him and also chats with the band’s compelling guitarist, Yvette Young, to learn about…

Modern Drummer
Sep 1, 2020

Joe Morello

Chops Master and Musical Poet Joe Morello inspired thousands of drummers during his long career, which spanned from 1957, the year of his first recording session with Dave Brubeck, to 2011, when he passed away. Morello’s legacy reached a wide…

Modern Drummer
Sep 1, 2020
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Zildjian - I Family Cymbals

A modernized approach to entry-level bronze. Released earlier this year, Zildjian’s new I Family of cymbals was designed to provide bright and expressive sounds at ultra-affordable prices. These traditionally finished B8 bronze additions replace the discontinued ZBT series and comprise…

Modern Drummer
Sep 1, 2020

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