Drummers on Drumming

well dammit.

**This is the new and improved interview with James Gadson that happened 2 years ago now in November of 2020.**

 ‘Gadson on Gadson’. Today was a milestone for me. I’ve been such a huge fan of this man for years and I hope I hide my nervousness well enough in this conversation. This week’s guest is James Gadson…one of the funkiest drummers out there. He gave life to the 16th note groove and used it on countless records with Bill Withers, The Jackson Five, Beck, Cheryl Lynn, Charles Wright and the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band and many more. For a time, it was rare to go a whole day without hearing James’ drumming on the radio, and probably still true to this day on some stations. We discuss the top records on which he played that best represent his career in the studio. I had a blast talking with James and he is a gentleman through and through. And if you’re a drummer, his DVD ‘Funk / R&B Drumming’ is a must watch. Honestly…must OWN. It will get you paid. I guarantee it.

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Get Your Copy of the Drummers on Drumming Book Today!

🎯 Click here to order now!

Drummers on Drumming (the book) takes you inside the stories, records, and moments that shaped some of the world’s greatest drummers. Built on the Big Fat Five format of digging into top influences, it’s packed with candid interviews and personal insights. Whether you’re just starting out or have been playing for years, this book is here to inspire you to sharpen your skills and find your own voice behind the kit.

For more information on Big Fat Snare Drum, check out www.bigfatsnaredrum.com and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok.

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This week’s guest is THE Sam Merrick, drummer for ‘& Juliet’ on Broadway at the Sondheim Theater in New York City. We’ll learn more about that show later on in the episode, but Sam just got done with a 1200+ long run as the drummer for the national tour of Hamilton: An American Musical. In addition to live theatre, Sam has played with Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Charlie Wilson, Charles Bradley and his Extraordinaires…and many more. He’s also got an amazing sample pack series called Break Habits (available exclusively at The Drum Broker). He’s a stud; people want to hire him and he can teach all of us a whole hell of a lot. I wanted to find out what he focuses on from a drumming perspective that’s formed him into such a professional, consistent player. Please enjoy my chat with Sam Merrick about the 5 records that shaped him into the drummer he is today. Cheers!

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Get Your Copy of the Drummers on Drumming Book Today!

🎯 Click here to order now!

Drummers on Drumming (the book) takes you inside the stories, records, and moments that shaped some of the world’s greatest drummers. Built on the Big Fat Five format of digging into top influences, it’s packed with candid interviews and personal insights. Whether you’re just starting out or have been playing for years, this book is here to inspire you to sharpen your skills and find your own voice behind the kit.

For more information on Big Fat Snare Drum, check out www.bigfatsnaredrum.com and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week’s guest is Willy Rodriguez. Willy is a Latin-Grammy award winning drummer and percussionist based in New York City. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Willy has been playing drums since he was thirteen and his list of associated acts is endless…including Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, Mon Laferte, Domino Saints and more. After leaving Puerto Rico, he attended Berklee College of Music and began making a name for himself in the Boston music scene rather quickly, but he ultimately set up shop in New York City. His work with Omar eventually led to him being called to drum on the newest The Mars Volta record (which is an insane honor for any drummer), but Willy is a singular player. He extremely knowledgeable and well-plugged in to so many scenes and genres that you can’t really describe him in any particular way; He’s just Willy. Also, hit him up on his Instagram the next time you’re in New York City and he’ll point to the right places to go. Please enjoy my chat with THE willy Rodriguez about the 5 records that shaped him into the player he is today. Cheers!

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Get Your Copy of the Drummers on Drumming Book Today!

🎯 Click here to order now!

Drummers on Drumming (the book) takes you inside the stories, records, and moments that shaped some of the world’s greatest drummers. Built on the Big Fat Five format of digging into top influences, it’s packed with candid interviews and personal insights. Whether you’re just starting out or have been playing for years, this book is here to inspire you to sharpen your skills and find your own voice behind the kit.

For more information on Big Fat Snare Drum, check out www.bigfatsnaredrum.com and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week’s guest is Rod “Hot Rod” Elkins…drummer for Tyler Childers and The Food Stamps…among many others. Rod was born and raised in Huntington, West Virginia and has spent his life keeping time and sharing his infectious love for music…but more importantly…his devotion to the song. Rod is fairly new to my radar.  As you know, I’ve been on tour the last six weeks and I was recently in Lexington, Kentucky playing The Burl. My good buddy (and friend of the podcast, Steve from Junkdrummer.tv) came out to hang and we, of course, started chatting about Levon Helm. He mentioned that his buddy, Rod, was the closest living thing to Levon’s legendary style AND his drumming his currently on a top 10 country album by an artist called Tyler Childers. I immediately checked him out and damnnnn…Steve was right. Sooooo I got him on the show right away; I LOVED all his picks and loved his reasoning even more. This was a really relaxing chat and Rod has a great perspective on all things music. I hope you enjoy the top 5 records that shaped Rod Elkins into the drummer he is today!

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Get Your Copy of the Drummers on Drumming Book Today!

🎯 Click here to order now!

Drummers on Drumming (the book) takes you inside the stories, records, and moments that shaped some of the world’s greatest drummers. Built on the Big Fat Five format of digging into top influences, it’s packed with candid interviews and personal insights. Whether you’re just starting out or have been playing for years, this book is here to inspire you to sharpen your skills and find your own voice behind the kit.

For more information on Big Fat Snare Drum, check out www.bigfatsnaredrum.com and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This weeks guest is Greg Hersey…a percussionist and educational artist based out of Jackonville, Florida. He is currently the Director of Instrumental Music at Episcopal School of Jacksonville. I first found him on Instagram when he started tagging Big Fat Snare Drum. His creativity has seemingly grown exponentially and it’s super inspiring and his use of multi-percussion is insane. Before you listen to the episode, I encourage you to check out some of Greg’s videos to understand the context of both my questions and his approach to music as a whole. But anyways…enough of my yacking…please enjoy the top 5 records that helped shape greg Hersey into the drummer he is today. Cheers!

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Get Your Copy of the Drummers on Drumming Book Today!

🎯 Click here to order now!

Drummers on Drumming (the book) takes you inside the stories, records, and moments that shaped some of the world’s greatest drummers. Built on the Big Fat Five format of digging into top influences, it’s packed with candid interviews and personal insights. Whether you’re just starting out or have been playing for years, this book is here to inspire you to sharpen your skills and find your own voice behind the kit.

For more information on Big Fat Snare Drum, check out www.bigfatsnaredrum.com and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week’s guest is Dimitri Fantini. I’m actually not sure how I first found out about Dimitri, but he was my online instructor for quite some time and I’m just a huge fan of his drumming. He’s garnered quite the collection of followers on Instagram due to his consistent posting of…well super rad awesome videos. They look great, sound great…and are very inspiring. Also check out his growing YouTube. His book “The Total Drummer: a guide to developing your style, feel, touch, groove and more” was published by Hal Leonard in 2022 and continues to receive high accolades. I’ve also included a link to his free course, 'Technique Fundamentals' HERE.

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Get Your Copy of the Drummers on Drumming Book Today!

🎯 Click here to order now!

Drummers on Drumming (the book) takes you inside the stories, records, and moments that shaped some of the world’s greatest drummers. Built on the Big Fat Five format of digging into top influences, it’s packed with candid interviews and personal insights. Whether you’re just starting out or have been playing for years, this book is here to inspire you to sharpen your skills and find your own voice behind the kit.

For more information on Big Fat Snare Drum, check out www.bigfatsnaredrum.com and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week’s guest is everybody’s favorite drummer, Ryan Seaman. Ryan has been on my wishlist of guests for a while now and surprisingly enough, we were finally able to work it out on the road when it’s the hardest time to schedule people! Anyways, Ryan has played with so many amazing artists throughout his career, especially in the punk rock scene, but his current project is called Mercy Music. Ryan is a one of the most likable guys out there and I look up to him AND how he’s navigated his career in so many ways. I know I say this about every guest, but I really enjoyed this chat. Ryan and I have a lot in common when it comes to our background as drummers and it was just an easy chat. He’s the kind of person you want to see succeed. Alright, please enjoy my chat with Ryan about the 5 records that shaped him into the player he is today. Cheers!

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Get Your Copy of the Drummers on Drumming Book Today!

🎯 Click here to order now!

Drummers on Drumming (the book) takes you inside the stories, records, and moments that shaped some of the world’s greatest drummers. Built on the Big Fat Five format of digging into top influences, it’s packed with candid interviews and personal insights. Whether you’re just starting out or have been playing for years, this book is here to inspire you to sharpen your skills and find your own voice behind the kit.

For more information on Big Fat Snare Drum, check out www.bigfatsnaredrum.com and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok\

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week’s guest is Q. Robinson…the newly-announced touring drummer for Broadway's ‘Hamilton’ (which is huge as it's a highly-coveted chair!). But before he starts that, he currently finishing up his tenure with the “Ain’t Too Proud”…a musical about the band The Temptations. Besides Broadway, Q has played with Avery Sunshine, Bobby Brown, Anthony David and a host of others. He’s a mentor to a few of my peers and is just a bundle of positivity. On top of that, he’s a great drummer with finesse and pocket for DAYZZZ. It was great catching up with him and I hope you enjoy the top 5 records that shaped Quinton “Q” Robinson into the drummer he is today. Cheers!

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Get Your Copy of the Drummers on Drumming Book Today!

🎯 Click here to order now!

Drummers on Drumming (the book) takes you inside the stories, records, and moments that shaped some of the world’s greatest drummers. Built on the Big Fat Five format of digging into top influences, it’s packed with candid interviews and personal insights. Whether you’re just starting out or have been playing for years, this book is here to inspire you to sharpen your skills and find your own voice behind the kit.

For more information on Big Fat Snare Drum, check out www.bigfatsnaredrum.com and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week’s guest is Ralph Alexander…an incredibly talented drummer currently out with the artist Poppy. Ralph is one of those “rarely makes a mistake” kind of drummers, but his incredible independence was the first thing that turned me onto his skills…referring to this video. I mean…wow.  He’s also worked with other legendary artists including CRX (featuring Nick Valensi of The Strokes). Anyways, just trust me, he’s great. Please enjoy this chat about the 5 records that shaped him into the bombastic yet incredibly precise drummer he is today. 

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Get Your Copy of the Drummers on Drumming Book Today!

🎯 Click here to order now!

Drummers on Drumming (the book) takes you inside the stories, records, and moments that shaped some of the world’s greatest drummers. Built on the Big Fat Five format of digging into top influences, it’s packed with candid interviews and personal insights. Whether you’re just starting out or have been playing for years, this book is here to inspire you to sharpen your skills and find your own voice behind the kit.

For more information on Big Fat Snare Drum, check out www.bigfatsnaredrum.com and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices