Update
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.
Jerome Dillon
For a solo album produced and composed by a drummer, one would anticipate involved drumming on each track, or at the very least, drums on every song. But in former Nine Inch Nails drummer Jerome Dillon’s case, his nearLY project…
Jim Fox of The James Gang and More
As The James Gang’s founder and only constant member during their 1966–76 run, you would think their criminally unheralded drummer, Jim Fox, would know if he owned the rights to his band’s name. “I just don’t know much about the…
Gutbucket's Paul Chuffo
If you’re unfamiliar with the Brooklyn instrumental quartet Gutbucket and you glance at the stage before a performance, you might think you’re about to hear some jazz. An alto sax, an upright bass, a hollow-body guitar, and a three-piece drumkit…
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…
Motion City Soundtrack’s Tony Thaxton
For Motion City Soundtrack’s Tony Thaxton, his drumming career has gone full circle–at least in one sense. Growing up in Virginia as a budding drummer, Thaxton would often find himself behind a kit with a pair of headphones, playing along…
Barry Kerch of Shinedown
In 2001, Barry Kerch’s audition for Shinedown consisted of going into the studio, laying down tracks, and seeing what stuck. Within the tryout he performed the band’s eventual single, “45.” Though the record endured many producers and record company scrutiny,…
Ric Menck
In-demand drummer Ric Menck (Matthew Sweet, Velvet Crush, Liz Phair, Marianne Faithful) faced a quandary during sessions for Sweet and Susannna Hoffs’ recently released duets album of ’60s covers, Under The Covers, Vol. 1: Mimic classic performances like the ragged…
Spencer Seim of The Advantage
When Spencer Seim was a kid, he spent hours each day riveted in front of the family television, tirelessly playing video games on his Nintendo Entertainment System. Beyond the games’ sense of fantasy, action, and adventure, Spencer became obsessed with…
Def Leppard’s Rick Allen
Rick Allen says the great thing about Def Leppard’s new album, Yeah!, is that the band didn’t have to spend time writing new material. Instead, they decided to record a selection of ’70s cover songs. “We were a ’70s band,”…
Harold Jones
Harold Jones' golf game is reportedly a lot better now than the last time he was in Tony Bennett's band. But that's just one of the changes the drummer has been through in the thirty years he's been away from…
Vinnie Paul
As the drummer for two now classic metal acts, Pantera and Damageplan, Vinnie Paul has clearly leaned toward the heavier side of the rock spectrum. With his latest project, Rebel Meets Rebel, featuring vocalist David Allan Coe, bassist Rex Brown,…
Manu Katche
It's been at least fifteen years since Manfred Eicher, founder of the German record label ECM, pulled his sedan over to the shoulder of the Autobahn, smitten by the drumming coming from the radio. He paused until the DJ called…
Erik Sandin of NOFX
Had it not been for a group of aspiring punk rockers, NOFX's Erik Sandin might not have been featured in the pages of this magazine. "When I was a kid," recalls Sandin, "I knew some older kids from the neighborhood…
Prairie Prince: An Interview
by Billy Amendola Prairie Prince was born on May 7, 1950 in Charlotte, North Carolina and has been a founding member of art-rock band The Tubes since 1969. He was also a major player in getting the band Journey off…
