Percussion Discussion Podcast

Joining me today is CEO and founder of Drumeo Jared Falk.

 Im quite certain that everyone watching or listening to this will know what Drumeo is and without doubt will have seen some of the remarkable content that they deliver time and time again, not just remarkable content, but filmed with the finest video and audio you could ever wish to see!

 Join Jared and myself as we chat all about Drumeo, from its humble beginnings from Jared's basement (this was pre Drumeo) through to the global success story that it is now, employing 150 staff from across the world! We chat about the behind the scenes work that goes into bringing these amazing lessons and features to life, we pick through some of Jared's favourite moments, there is a great story with Todd Sucherman and how he was "Persuaded" to do the first listen segment!! and of course we talked about the recent as yet unreleased Phil Collins interview in Switzerland with Brandon Toews!
 
This was so much fun to do! im a huge admirer of what Drumeo do for our community and it was a real pleasure to chat to Jared - Thanks for giving your time up so generously. 

www.drumeo.com

 www.musora.com

This was the end of another wonderful conversation with Simon Phillips that wasnt used in the recent Hayman episode, its way too interesting not to use. 

Simon tells us where his love of 24" bass drums came from, his first experience of using a boom cymbal stand that was brough back as a gift from New York and he tells us how cymbal stands affect the sound of cymbals!

 Simon as always has some fascinating insights in the drum world and this little nugget was way too good to waste, short but very sweet!

Joining me today is Lina Anderberg. 

Lina is currently on tour with Swedish singer and song writer, Zara Larsson. 

Lina (also from Sweden ) takes us through her career so far from her early days when her love of horses was the main competition to her drumming career! She tells us how she got the bug after just having a go on a kit at school, knowing nothing about the instrument, she just knew it was for her.....this led to her playing drums in a death metal band... (really badly, in Lina's own words!) of course she knuckled down, studied, practiced, never said no to a gig, learnt her craft well and here she is playing for one of the biggest stars in pop! 

We also talk about her upcoming at the UK Drum Show later this year in Liverpool.

 Lina, thanks so musch for chatting to me!

Percussion Discussion - Episode 134 - The history of Hayman Drums .

Joining me today for this very special episode talking about the history of Hayman Drums is a star studded cast including Drummer and Hayman authority Nigel Constable, Nigel wrote the Hayman Drum Book along with Bob Henrit in 2016 so is the perfect person to guide us through the Hayman History. 

We are also joined by perhaps one of the most famous Hayman users, Simon Kirke, he famously used the gold ingot Hayman kit with Free in the early 70's. 

Another former Hayman player is none other than the incredible Simon Phillips, Simon had quite the history with Hayman drums as you will hear during the episode. 

Last, but by no means least is my good friend and incredible drummer Robb Reiner, Robb has been the powerhouse Canadian Heavy Metal Trio Anvil since 1978, Just about to release there 20th Studio album this summer the band are as active as they ever were, Robb is a fan of a certain Hayman snare drum........ 

I have to say a huge thank you to all of the guests that made this possible, Nigel, Simon Phillips, Robb Reiner and of course Simon Kirke. everyone gave there time up so generously to contribute and i am very grateful. Thank you gentlemen.

Joining me today is Nic Collins & Trev Lukather

 Trev Lukather and Nic Collins join me for a chat about their stunning new band The Effect, the band is completed by Steve Maggiora on Keys and the stunning vocals of Emmet Stang!

 Obvioulsy neither Nic or Trev need no introduction, Nic makes his 4th appearance on the Podcast while Trev has the honour of being the first guitarist to appear! 

Nic and Trev explain how the band came together and how the bands sound was acheived very organically with the influences of the four members just blending nicely. 


Obviously both Nic & Trev have incredibly talented and hugely successful fathers, Phil Collins and Steve Lukather respectively, they share with us what its like finding your way in the music business whilst having parents that are household names. 

Nic and Trev are both hugely talented and incredibly humble and i really enjoyed chatting with them - Gentlemen, thanks for giving up your valuable time to speak to me.

Percussion Discussion - Episode 132 - Mike Heaton.

 Joining me today is Mike Heaton.

 Since the 90’s Mike has been the drummer for Yorkshire indie rockers Embrace.

 Join Mike and myself as we chat about many aspects of his amazing career including his beautiful drumming and always serving the song, Mike explains how this wasn’t always the case and how he found it tricky to play in such a sparse and simple way after a producer asked for this.

 Mike is of course the main man behind Code drum heads, Mike tells us why he got into the drum head business and how it felt when Nicko McBrain from the mighty Iron Maiden came on board as an endorser of the heads with his own signature line of drum heads! 

Mike is great to chat to, the conversation is always easy and free flowing, I really hope you enjoy our conversation, I found it really fascinating! 

Mike, thank you for giving up your valuable time to chat to me. 

www.codedrumheads.co.uk

Joining me today is Michel'le Baptiste.

 Michel'le has played for the likes of Beyonce, Lizzo and Fifth Harmony to name but a few!

 My first time seeing Michel'le play was at Glastonbury 2023 where she was the drummer with Lizzo's incredible all female band that totally blew my mind!

 Join myself and Michel'le, as we talk about her incredible journey so far from her beginnings in Houston TX starting out on her drummimg journey at 2 years old, through to studying at the revered Berklee College of Music, she tells us how she took every class available to her to help her gain knowledge of every aspect of the business. 

We talk about making the daunting move to Los Angeles once Michel'le had graduated with a Bachelors of Music, she tells us about the struggle of being an unknown musician in LA and how she had to do plenty of mundane jobs before getting her first break in the business......... 

Thanks to Michel'le for finding the time in her busy schedule to chat with me!

Joining me today is Leon Cave. 

Since 2013 Leon has been the drummer with the mighty Status Quo. 

Join Leon and myself as we talk about his career so far, from his early days as a young heavy metal fan playing along to Iron Maiden songs through to studying with the renowned manchester based drummer and percussionist (and former guest) Dave Hassel.

 Leon tells us about his "sliding doors" moment, a turn of events that got him the Francis Rossi gig, and how things could have been very different if hadnt made a certain decision........ im not giving it away here!!

 We talk about what it takes to pull of the Quo songs especially some of the up tempo shuffles and how Leon does this and makes it look so easy! 

This was a fabulous conversation, its been a while in the making and im so glad we got it over the line!

 Leon, thanks so much for giving up your time from your manic schedule! 

www.statusquo.co.uk 

Socials@Leoncavenusic

This is a very special episode of Percussion Discussion Podcast - this celebrates 101 years of Premier Percussion, Join myself and a wealth of remarkable drummers and industry professionals as they share their memories and thoughts of the mighty Premier Percussion. 

Joining me in no particular order are - Joe Franco - Ged Lynch - Andie Laidlaw - Bob Henrit - Steve White - Adam Parsons - Tom Meyers - Luke Bullen - Mike Eliis - Todd Sucherman - Bob Richards - Colin Tennant - Rod Morgenstein - Stuart Graham - Ian Moseley. 

Huge thanks to everybody involved in the making of this film. 

The clips were recorded between September and November 2023. 

Huge thanks to Colin Tennant and all at Premier Percussion for allowing the use of the footage of Ged Lynch playing the Elite drums.

 Premier factory footage belongs to Adrian Schackmann.

 www.premier-percussion.com

Percussion Discussion - Episode 129 - Rob Brian

Joining me today is English drummer Rob Brian

Rob has carved out an incredible career for himself so far, having wonderful names on his CV such as Miles Kane, Siouxsie Sioux, Peter Gabriel, Hugh Cornwell, Simple Minds, Clara Ponty, Modern English and many more.

Join Rob and myself for a fascinating and free flowing chat about his amazing career, we talk about Robs obvious passion for education, he tells us how important it is to pass on and share information and that how the drumming community thankfully thrives on doing this.

Rob and I also talk in-depth about his gig with Siouxsie Sioux, a gig he has held since 2006, and the challenge of playing some of the unique and tricky parts of the original Banshees drummer and former guest on this podcast Budgie.

We had to chat about Rob’s involvement in the upcoming tour with Gary Astridge in February 2024 - The Legendary Drums and Drumming of a Starr, a tribute to the Genius of Ringo Starr, Gary Astridge (Ringo’s curator of all the Beatles era drum kits, historian and friend of Ringo) will be hosting the evening featuring some incredible Ringo facts, storied and a multimedia presentation along with Rob demonstrating some of Ringos grooves and rather unique traits behind a drum kit!

Thanks to Rob for a totally fascinating chat - checkout his website www.robertbrian.co.uk