October 2020 Issue – Volume 44 • Number 10
Articles in October 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…
What Song Are You Working on Now?
“Metropolis—Part I” by Dream Theater .@ptrlcc “Chemical Warfare” by Slayer .@nickkcuevas “Hemispheres” by Rush . The first section is so tough on the hi-hat.@mconrad332 “Around the World” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers .@_rywill22 “Just like Heaven” by the Cure…
The Great Jazz Drummers
Sidney “Big Sid” Catlett Though Sidney “Big Sid” Catlett came out of the swing era, he is best remembered for a drumming style that had a marked influence on the bop drummers of the 1940s. Catlett bridged the gap between…
Philly Joe Jones
Miles Davis was the only group I gave up New York to go out with. That was in ’54, and it was my greatest experience in the music business.I don’t think I’ll ever be associated with four people like Miles,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Rick Shutter
“Day by Day,” the gargantuan hit single from the Grammy-winning musical Godspell, gets by with some tasteful cymbal swells and tambourine shaking—until drummer Rick Shutter blasts the ride-out with a driving rock groove. It’s a classic moment on a timeless…
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…
Bill Stewart
Striving for Clarity His appearance on the new John Scofield album marks thirty years of one of modern jazz’s great partnerships. But of course that’s only part of what he’s been up to lately. When Bill Stewart made his first…
13th Floor Elevators: A Visual History
A deserving tribute to one of rock’s most iconic groups provides an opportunity to delve into the work of two under-considered sticksmen. Few bands have influenced rock ’n’ roll as deeply as the 13th Floor Elevators. They are the kind…
Sugar Percussion Snare Workshop
Transforming Raw Planks to “Perfect” Circles It all started with a few innocuous text messages: “How would you like to attend one of my snare classes and maybe write a little article about it?” asked Jefferson Shallenberger, founder and master…
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…
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…
The Next Best Thing
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…
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…
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…
