Timm Biery is in the midst of a lengthy tour with Nils Lofgren, supporting the guitarists recent album Sacred Weapon, which was recorded at Lofgren’s home in Arizona. “We tracked for about thirteen days–Nils, of course, on guitar, and Kevin McCormick on bass,” says Biery. “Nils’ music is so wide-ranging that it’s a matter of listening to the song and choosing exactly the right thing to play, giving him options and working with tempos and feels.

“For instance,” Biery says, “I have the tendency to play a little behind the beat, so we’ll experiment with different tempos, rather than shifting the feel. There’s a lot of thought that goes into each song–whether I’m going to use rods or brushes, or whether it will be just straight on.”

Biery can also be heard on three recently reissued albums by Mahogany Rush, which he was a member of between 1981 and 1991. Of the albums Full Circle, Double Live, and From The Hip,” Timm admits, “The first two I had only heard on vinyl. Now I can hear things on these recordings that I don’t remember playing.” Advertisement

Biery has recently been working on a book series called Serious Drumset, with a multi-media CD. “The first book, Serious Hands, is all about hand position, holding the sticks, rudiments, exercises, and some snare drum etudes. The next two books move into drumset. They feature a series of exercises I’ve created to help drummers move in any direction on the set at any time.” All three books will be released within the next year.

Robyn Flans