Big Drum Thump

Drum and Drummer News and Photos

  • Lars Ulrich Don’t Lie

    New Metallica is on the way, and Ulrich has spoken a little bit about it to Revolver. Apparently (and somewhat miraculously), producer Rick Rubin has the guys returning to the kick-ass sound, energy, and drumming (!) of albums like Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets.

    So does that mean we’re going to feel metal up our collective ass? Here’s what Lars had to say:

    I hate to be that specific, because six months from now people are gonna go, “What the f***? Lars lied to us!” But it feels that way to me.

  • Harmonix’s Drumming Tips for Rock Band

    You already know all this shit, but Harmonix has put together some good drumming tips for Rock Band. Pass them along to all your guitarist buddies. Maybe they’ll share a little bit of the limelight.

  • Mike Piazza, Drummer

    Well, he does hit things with a big old stick for a living, but we had no idea that MLB’s Mike Piazza also plays drums. Paiste is apparently a little more up on these things and featured Piazza at a NAMM autograph signing a decade ago.

  • Vadrum Meets Super Mario Bros. 2

    The awesome-ass Vadrum posted his latest video on YouTube last month, but we just had to spread the link love in case there was anyone out there who actually hasn’t heard this fantastic and fun drummer. On a scale of 1 to 10, he get’s 11 for skillz and a solid 15 for being so kitsch-y cool.

  • Trash Orchestra

    Percussion, protests, performance art? Fuck yeah!

    Trash Orchestra is using their banging skills to make the world a better place. Or at least piss a whole lot of people off. Here’s what they got to say:

    Trash Orchestra is a marching percussion band – a bone-shaking recycled orchestra. We make percussion on tuned cans, hubcaps and barrels, drums, pieces of sheet metal, and homemade oddities. We show up at demonstrations and performances, sometimes invited, sometimes not, to make a big noise wherever it is needed.

    We have experience working with kids, fighting cops, taking streets, entertaining crowds, tearing up a house show, leading parades and marches, spicing up an anarchist cafe, or crashing the local farmer’s market. We want to play with you.

    Check ’em out here.

    [via Santa Cruz Indymedia]

  • Dave Grohl to Play With Zeppelin?

    After last month’s one-off Led Zep gig, the reunion rumors kicked in with full force, and now Dave Grohl is reportedly interested in taking over the drum chair….Well, yeah, who the fuck wouldn’t want that gig? It seems likely, though, that Jason Bonham will handle the stick swinging duties should Zeppelin actually tour. Grohl himself said as much to NME.com in this interview:

    I am at their beck and call, but Jason should be the one….It should be Jason and everyone knows that, it should be Jason. And Jason’s a fucking phenomenal drummer, you know? And he’s a really sweet guy, he’s a really good guy. They seem like a family, they feel like a family that have been around for a long time.

  • More Mapex Gear for the New Year

    Yeah, we just couldn’t resist posting some more Mapex pics. The company has the best drum porn in the industry.

    Here are today’s centerfolds:

    • Saturn Studioease kit in a Blue Galaxy Sparkle Burst finish
    • Pro M kit in a Boston Pewter finish

  • Win a Kabuto Snare From Yamaha

    It’s red, it’s steel, it’s 14″x 5.5″, and you can win it from Yamaha here. Last day to submit an entry is February 29, 2008.

  • Tommy Lee’s New Project

    The New Year is off to a good start ’cause Tommy Lee is finally putting out some new music.  It’s an electronica project called WTF? Check out the tracks on the group’s Myspace page. As always, we are down for listening to whatever Tommy is putting out, whether he’s fronting a band and playing guitar or manning the turntables, but we can’t wait to see him play some drums again soon too.

  • New Mapex Gear for the New Year

    Damn you, Mapex. Resolution primarius this year was to not spend cash I don’t have. And now you’ve gone and introduced cool shit I must own.

    New Mapex stuff in random order of cool-shitness:

    1. Thick Flamed maple snare.
    2. “Krushed” glass finishes.
    3. Limited-edition Orion kit with a Chocolate Burl veneer.

  • Tom Sawyer Expert Level on Rock Band

    This dude got 99% on expert level. He is using a real kick pedal though (via a mod).

    So how would Neil Peart do?

    [via Kotaku Australia]

  • Yamaha Drummers at the Grammys

    Never too early to start the back-patting.

    Yamaha has put together a list of its artists who played on Grammy-nominated albums this year. The award show will take place in Los Angeles on February 10, 2008 (assuming, that is, the on-going writers strike doesn’t somehow bring it down), but until then, the Yamaha hopefuls are:

    • Larry Mullen Jr. (U2)
    • Matt Flynn (Maroon 5)
    • Oliver Charles (Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals)
    • Mike Bordin (Ozzy Osbourne)
    • Paquito D’Rivera (Paquito D’Rivera Quintet)
    • Mark Walker (Paquito D’Rivera Quintet)
    • Ray Brinker (Tierney Sutton Band)

  • Thomas Lang at the Montreal Drumfest

    Courtesy of Vic Firth’s video podcasts (what happened to posting weekly, guys?), Thomas Lang shreds it up on his Roland V-Drums. He’s also rockin’ some anti-Teutonic long locks.

  • Vic Firth Video Podcasts

    Sweet fucking Jesus, a gear company is finally figuring out this whole Web thing. Vic Firth is posting weekly video podcasts on iTunes as well as on its site here. This week’s entry features Omar Hakim at PASIC 2007.

    [Update 2022: These vids have all moved, as far as I can tell, to Vic Firth’s channel on YouTube. The Omar Hakim vid looks like it has been reposted in slightly higher vid quality. Progress!]

  • Motley Crue Drummer Nikki Sixx?

    Nikki Sixx? A little freakin’ fact checking goes a long way.

    (…I know that one day, probably very soon, I’m going to regret having mentioned that.)

    The Indian site newkerala.com is reporting that “drummer Nikki Sixx” has written about his heroin addiction in a new book.

    Now, I know these dudes are in India, and verifying the drug adventures of aged rock stars is probably low on their list of life concerns (what with all the rioting and rigged elections and stolen nukes), but if a drummer like Tommy Lee, the man with one of the biggest back beats and largest cocks in rock, can’t get his name correctly mentioned in a e-rag published half way around the world, what hope do any of us wee bashers have for, well, anything at all?

    And now somebody will have to tell this poor guy not to Halloween in India.