Joining me today is Jay Weinberg.

 Jay is best know as the drummer in Slipknot from from 2014 to 2023 replacing the late great Joey Jordison, he also filled in for his father Max Weinberg for a tour with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in 2009. Since Jay's departure from Slipknot he now plays for Suicidal Tendencies and Infectious Grooves.

 Join Jay and myself as we talk about his amazing career so far (he is still only 34 years old) we talk about his early days with his parents musical influences, through to sitting in with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band for the first time as a kid! no oressure eh? 

Jay tells us how he was taken along to the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien (Jays dad Max is the drummer on this show and has been for a long time) to see a new upcoming Nu Metal Band called Slipknot play, and how taken he was with them as a youngster, of course we all know this would eventually be his gig! 

i dont want to give too much away as Jay is a wonderful talker and quite happy to share his story with us, we had a good long chat. 

Jay, thank you so much for giving up your time so generously, especially on Superbowl Sunday!! its really appreciated. 

please enjoy this conversation, and do feel free to share it with your friends.

March 8th 2025 is international womens day, so i thought we should celebrate all the wonderful lady drummers and percussionists from around the globe with a fabulous conversation with Emma Taylor.

 You must have have been living under a rock for the last 5 years if you havent seen Emma on social media, Since Covid she has a huge presence on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.

 She delivers her short lessons in a wonderfully unique, quirky, funny and most importantly incredible effective way! Join Emma and myself as we chat about her remarkable success on social media in the last 5 years, we talk about the amount of work that goes into all the amazing content that she and her team produces, and how she handles the pressure of recording live content at such shows as the UK drum Show and NAMM. 

This was such a fun conversation, im a huge fan of all the content that Emma produces and long may it continue - Thanks to Emma and also thanks to our mutual friend Adam Parsons for introducing us!

Joining me today is Spike T Smith. 

Originally from Holyhead in North Wales, Spike has a formidable CV with some of the biggest names from the Punk/Alternative genre appearing on including Morrissey, The Damned, The New York Dolls, Killing Joke, Sham 69, H.R. (Bad Brains) and many more. 

Join Spike and myself as we talk about his remarkable career so far, we find out why he moved from his native Holyhead to Peterborough where he know lives with his family. 

We chat about his early years in North Wales and the suprisingly vibrant punk scene that was happening in the area at the time that ignited his love of this genre of music. 

Spike tells us about joining Memoriam, a midlands based Death metal band and how it took quite a bit of thinking about before finally commiting to the band as this was a genre he had played very little of before.

 It was only right to talk about the late great Robin Guy, Robin was a great friend of Spikes and they used to cover eachothers gigs quite frequently. Robin was a great former guest on the podcast, a lovely man and a great drummer, if felt right to pay tribute to Robin with Spike. 

We had such an enjoyable chat, Spike is such a great and very popular guy, it was a pleasure to have such a great natter with him! 

Cheers spike. check out his website - www.spiketsmith.com

Joining me today is Chris Maas.

 Chris was born and bred in Luxembourg, he came over to the UK in 2006 to continue his musical studies and to further his career, he has since played for/collabarated with The Pierces, Maggie Rodgers, Mumford and Sons and of course his current huge gig with Sting that has been touring around the globe for the last 18 months as Sting 3.0! 

Join Chris and i as we talk about his amazing career so far including his musical education in Luxembourg and how he found his way over to the UK in 2006 finding a college to continue his musical education, taking a year off to work and never acrtually returning. 

We of course talk about the Sting gig, including the pressure of the remarkable cast of drummers that have gone beore him! Chris shares a wonderful story of how Sting took him to lunch to discuss going out as a Trio, Chris had no idea he was goinig to ask him to be the drummer and was asking eagerly which drummer was going to get the gig! 

This was a mindblowing experience to chat to Chris and i would like to thank him or giving up his time so generously! im sure you will enjoy every second.

Percussion Discussion Podcast - Episode 154 - Donavan Hepburn. 

Joining me today is Drummer, Programmer, Musical Director and Tutor Donavan Hepburn. 

Donavan already has a glittering career under his belt having recorded or toured with the likes of Mis-Teeq, Lemar, Adele, Ms Dynamite and many more his current gigs are with Take That, Gary Barlow and Jeff Lynne's ELO! Huge gigs! 

Join Donavan and myself as we pick through some of his remarakable career so far, including how the Take That gig came about and what it entails to pull of this huge gig! 

We of course had to talk about his gig with Jeff Lynne's ELO and how Don worked really hard to replicate the sounds and wonderful drumming of former ELO Drummer Bev Bevan. 

We also talk about the different approaches to each different gig that are neccesary to be the first call session drummer that Donavan is! 

We had the most wonderful chat, Don is very easy to get on with and a remarkably humble gentleman - Thank you for giving up your valuable time so freely to talk to me!

Joining me today is Elliott Henshaw.

 Elliott is one of the most in demand drummers in the UK, he has performed with many household names such as Tony Christie, Leo Sayer, Tony Hadley and over 20 West End Shows.

 Join myself and Elliott as we pick through his amazing career so far, we of course talk about his early days through to his first big gig playing drums for Andy Prior's amazing big band, at this time Andy was a huge name in the UK eventually landing his own TV Show. 

We talk extensively about working as a pro reading drummer and having to work with Musical Directors and the many things to watch out for. 

Elliott shares with us the INCREDIBLE story of how he prepared to do a couple of shows as a dep on a major west end show and how he got to play for none other than Phil Collins on a TV show......No pressure eh? 

This was a fantastic and fascinating conversation to have, i really hope you enjoy it and i would like to thank Elliott for giving his time up so generously. 

www.elliotthenshaw.com

Joining me today is Andy Gangadeen.

 Andy Gangadeen is one of the original and leading Hybrid drummers in the world today, effortlessly fusing together acoustic and electronic drums creating grooves and sounds beyond the wildest dreams of your average drummer!

 Andy has honed both his immense drumming skills and technical knowledge since late 80's playing for the likes of Lisa Stansfield, Massive Attack, Duran Duran, The Spice Girls, Jeff Beck, The Bays and the huge English Drum & Bass duo Chase and Status.

 Join Andy and myself as we chat about his incredible career to date, from his early days with racks and racks of samplers and other equipment needed to recreate the electronic sounds that Andy wanted to achieve. We talk about how he goes about recreating the complex drum beats live that Chase & Staus use on their albums.

 The first time i became aware of Andy and his immense playing was with the house band on Jonathon Ross's Last Resort TV Show on Channel 4 along with band leader Steve Nieve, this was a wonderful band, Andy took over from Pete Thomas (Elvis Costello & The Attractions) he tells us all about this amazing gig backing artists of the highest calibre, James Brown to name just one! 

It was a real thrill to chat to Andy, I know you and going to enjoy this as much as i did doing it! Cheers Andy

Here we are with the final episode of 2024.

 Firstly, huge thanks to everybody that has watched, listened, shared, commented or contributed this far, i really appreciate the support. 

Todays episode focuses on drum education, there are quite a few options to choose from when thinking of either teaching or taking drum exams, my personal favourite and definetely one of the market leaders is Trinity Rock & Pop, i have been teaching this Syllabus for many years now and it is always met with enthusiasm from my students.

 I am thrilled to welcome Toby Davies - Trinity's National Advisor for Rock & Pop and JJ Wheeler - UK & Ireland Development Manager - Music to the podcast. Trinity are not known for appearing on podcasts so i am very grateful to them for this opportunity. 

We talk extensively about the Rock & Pop Course, what it entails, why you should do it, what it can do for you., other subjects include online exams versus in person, rudiments, repertoire and many other subjects. 

If you are a drummer thinking of taking exams, a drum teacher looking to teach a new syllabus or a drummer already teaching this syllabus but looking for some more information then this is the episode for you to listen to.

 Huge thanks to Toby & JJ for taking the time to do this - its hugely appreciated.

 if you would like more information on the Trinity Rock & Pop Syllabus please get in touch with JJ via email - [email protected]

Firmly back in the legends lounge for our landmark 150th Episode with none other than Bernard ' Pretty' Purdie.

 Bernard is without doubt one of the most legendary names in drumming! he has played on over 4000 album and worked with such incredible artists as Steely Dan, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Miles davies, Hall & Oates, BB King, Cat Stevens, Tom Jones, The Rolling Stones and 100's more!

 Bernard joins me straight ater receiving his richly deserved lifetime achievment award at the UK Drum Show 2024.

We spend an hour talking about some of the many highlights from his illustrious career including the recording of the iconic Aretha Franklin track 'Rock Steady' and so much more!

Huge thanks to Anne McCoy and the wonderful gentlemen at Drum.Dog for giving me this wonderful opportunity!

More Huge thanks to our sponsor for this episode - Protection Racket
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www.youtube.com/ProtectionRacket

Joining me today is Scott Travis. 

Since 1989 Scott Travis has been the powerhouse drummer for British heavy metal legends - Judas Priest. 

Join Scott and myself as we have a brief chat about drums, Judas Priest and the current Invincible Shield Tour. Scott tells us as he is almost at the very end of an extensive US tour in support of the stunning new Priest album The Invincible Shield how the fatigue is setting in and how the band are looking forward to a few months off to recover after giving 110% night after night on a very long and gruelling world tour! 

We had to talk about Scotts introduction to Judas Priest and Metal fans in general with the now legendary drum intro to Painkiller. Scott tells us how he came up with this now iconic drum part! we also talk about another great drum intro from earlier in is career with Racer X on the song Scarified, an album i bought as a spotty long haired youth purely because it had a cool album cover! thankfully i instantly loved the content of the album too! 

Huge thanks to Scott for giving up his time so generously especially during a world tour! Massive thanks to my buddy Adam Parsons & Jayne Andrews for arranging this for me - hugely appreciated. www.judaspriest.com