Matt Brennan is an author, musician, and academic. He is currently an Associate Professor in Popular Music at the University of Glasgow.  His newest book is Kick It, A Social History of the Drum Kit. In it, he addresses the seeming contradiction between the centrality of the drum kit on one hand and the general disparagement of drummers on the other. He examines the roles of artists and manufacturers against a dynamic backdrop race relations, global migration, and the tensions between high and low culture.