Digging for the rhythmic gold at the core of the Scottish rock institution. Driving, methodical, precise yet bombastic…these are the qualities we rock drummers strive for when we pick up a pair of sticks. But in reality it’s rare when players fully grasp the depth of such profound attributes, and…

The drummer for the band that bore his name played at Woodstock and helped put progressive rock on the map. Beatle fanatics, being Beatle fanatics, may scoff at those unfamiliar with the name Keef Hartley, but you won’t be treated so sternly here. While the drummer who replaced Ringo Starr…

One the the world’s greatest drummers suggests that musical growth cannot be separated from personal growth. The proof, as usual, is in the pudding. The feats required of jazz drummers are Herculean, testing their physical, intellectual, and emotional strength. There is simply no comparable musical challenge. Consider: Jazz drummers must…

The drummer, percussionist, and initiator of a thousand artful ideas recalls what went into — and came out of — the rock icon’s 1992 masterwork. On the occasion of what would have been Lou Reed’s seventy-ninth birthday, we’ve asked Michael Blair to recall the conceptual and instrumental ingredients of the…

Pianist, composer, and vocalist Cameron Graves’ new album, Seven (Artistry Music/Mack Avenue Music Group), features drummer MIKE MITCHELL, guitarist Colin Cook, bassist Max Gerl, and on two tracks, saxophonist Kamasi Washington. Graves and Mitchell served together on the road with fusion bass giant Stanley Clarke. “No one has the over-the-top…

The drummer, composer, and sound artist’s new album is a world of timbre, tone, and time. But it’s a world within a world, representing only one of her forays into understanding, illuminating, and ultimately healing our endangered planet. It’s been a tough couple weeks for drummers, with the passing of…

Jenn Wasner of the acclaimed duo Wye Oak (featuring drummer/multi-instrumentalist Andy Stack) will be releasing her second full-length as Flock of Dimes, Head of Roses, on April 2. The album was co-produced by Nick Sanborn and recorded with a small group of collaborators in quarantine at Betty’s in Chapel Hill…

How an unexpected gift kicked off a lifelong love affair with the Butthole Surfers’ double-drum attack Once, out of the blue, a friend of mine offered to give me all of his Butthole Surfers albums. It seemed weird at the time. I don’t recall the reason he gave for wanting…

Cult of Luna’s new EP, The Raging River, proves that the strongest metal can sometimes be forged with the least likely tools For more than twenty years, the Swedish metal band Cult of Luna, featuring drummer Thomas Hedlund, have built a reputation as one of the heaviest acts on either…