On the Beat
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.
Xavier Muriel of Buckcherry
Hi, my name is Xavier Muriel. I play drums for the Southern California—based rock band Buckcherry. Like most of you who read Modern Drummer, I share a passion for drums and drumming. People often ask me why I chose drums,…
Lisa Cusack of Boy/Girl
I think one of the greatest challenges for a drummer is to not fall into the "backbeat," even though that is often how people characterize us. "Who is the only member of a band that is not a musician?" "The…
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…
Jon Karel of The Number 12 Looks Like You
The greatest experience being on tour for me, is the bond you form with the other drummers. It all starts the same way. You're a little stand-off-ish at first. You admire each other's chops from a distance. By the end…
TJ Snow of CorpuS
Hello, MD readers. I was thirteen when I got my first Modern Drummer magazine. I had just started to learn how to play drums, and every month I looked forward to getting the magazine to read more about drummers like…
Joe Halberstadt of Foxy Shazam
My father was a drummer, so I've been playing since I was old enough to grip sticks. I got my first drumkit when I was seven, and started taking lessons the same year. I've always had an extreme passion for…
Antonio Chiappetta of King Farook
Hey, MD readers. This is my first blog, and my first opportunity to say hello and introduce myself. King Farook is my band, and we're based in Sydney and tour Australia extensively. I've been playing and working on music for…
Brian Kelley
Hello, my name is Brian Kelley, and this is my first blog for Modern Drummer. It's an honor to be asked to contribute. I live in the Boston area and make my living as a musician teaching drums, playing gigs…
Liberty DeVitto Checking In
Life is different when you're playing with a famous act: You're sheltered from the fans. One of my favorite things about doing drum clinics is that I get to meet, talk, and share time with some of the people who…
Dee Pop of The Bush Tetras
As with most people around my age (born in '56), my heroes were Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa (who both seemed to turn up regularly on variety television shows), Ringo Starr, Charlie Watts, Mitch Mitchell (who got me into Elvin!),…
Ches Smith of Xiu Xiu
Although I had recorded with Xiu Xiu sporadically over the years, I didn't join the band full-time until the summer of 2006. Drum machines and sequencers had been staples of the band's sound. I was sort of surprised when friend…
Mark Dodge of The Leslie Pintchik Trio
Hi there, this is my first blog for Modern Drummer, and I'm excited to talk to everyone about The Leslie Pintchik Trio and our most recent album, Quartets, which is due out October 9th. Leslie Pintchik is a jazz pianist…
Drummer Blog: Aaron Siegel
I play in a band called White, Blue, Yellow And Clouds. It was a band long before I joined it. They had two tapes with do-wop covers and experiments involving crude reverb loops. My friend from college, Matt Bauder, is…
Santiago Cabakian of AplanadorA
Hello, people at Modern Drummer, it's a pleasure for me to tell you the way I've been trying to survive musically in this little big-hearted country in Latin America called Uruguay. Logically, this country's good heart and friendly people are…
