drumming
Modern Drummer is the world’s most widely read drum magazine, is dedicated entirely to the art of drumming and caters to the needs of amateur, semi-pro, and professional drummers.
Alex “El Animal??? González: A Passion For Drumming
by Robyn Flans Maná is a true rags-to-riches story. Fueled by an intense passion for music and a belief that music can transcend the boundaries of language, the Mexican rock band has sold more than twenty-two million records and collected…
Joshua Wolf: The Surgeon Drummer
I love drumming as a creative medium, and I value its breadth of expression and many technical challenges. In my opinion, many people fail to appreciate the work of a drummer in a great song, in much the same way…
Kelly Keagy: Alive...And Well
Kelly Keagy is a busy man these days. Known for his powerful drumming with Night Ranger (“Sister Christian” was named one of the “Top Drum Tracks of the 1980s” in a recent Modern Drummer article), Keagy has a new solo…
Jojo Mayer: Revealing the Secret
by Ken Micallef “Proving to the world that I can play drums really well is not a priority. I’m trying to create art that touches normal people.” For years, Jojo Mayer has been regarded as a drumming shaman, a man…
The Evolution of Jimmy Chamberlin: Still Smashing
by Ken Micallef As a self confessed “elder statesman of music,” and one of the most influential drummers of the past fifteen years, Jimmy Chamberlin has a thing or two to say about the state of the instrument. He…
Elton John's Nigel Olsson: That Classic Feel
by Robyn Flans No one plays a pop song like Nigel Olsson, and his triumphant return to Elton John’s band has allowed the veteran musician to inspire drummers all over again. When news hit in the mid-’80s that Nigel Olsson…
Tony Royster Jr.
Tony Royster Jr. has been busy. We caught up with him while he was home for a couple of days from globetrotting with En Vogue. “En Vogue needs someone to hold down the pocket while they’re singing,” the former child…
David Garibaldi
Back Home With Tower Of Power Tower Of Power made David Garibaldi a household name among drummers back in the '70s. But David insists he had no intentions of going back to his old band - until fate intervened. "I…
Nick D'Virgilio
Phil Collins began his successful musical career as the exciting young drummer for an obscure prog band from England called Genesis. He eventually worked his way out from behind the drumkit to center stage as the lead vocalist. As lead…
Damon Delapaz
Just over a year ago, Damon Delapaz was the guitarist for Houston, Texas-based pop-punk band FenixTX, then an underground independent group whose tracks hadn't even hit major radio rotation. Yet, all that changed within a matter of a few short…
Denise Fraser
Denise Fraser's drumming career has involved some serious island-hopping. When last we spoke with her, she was on the island of Manhattan, playing for Sandra Bernhardt's Broadway show at the Booth Theater. The success of that show led to a…
Chevelle's Sam Loeffler
Literally a few days before our interview with Sam Loeffler, the news came that Chicago trio Chevelle had just been awarded platinum status (sales of one million copies) for their sophomore effort, Wonder What's Next. And that's exactly the question…
John Otto
"Developing things like soloing and independence is an ongoing battle. Working on that stuff will never stop until you leave this Earth." Four years ago, when John Otto was first featured in Modern Drummer, the then twenty-three-year-old spoke with a…
Matt Abts of Gov't Mule
Jack Bruce, Larry Graham, John Entwistle, Chris Squire, Bootsy Collins, Les Claypool, Phil Lesh-is there a drummer among us who hasn't fantasized about playing with these and other giants of the bass guitar? Matt Abts of Gov't Mule recently got…
