FREE ROLAND V-DRUMS® LESSONS AVAILABLE ONLINE

Roland is pleased to announce the launch of V-Drums Lessons, a series of free online drumming videos taught exclusively using Roland drum & percussion products.

Hosted by top Roland clinicians and artists, these lessons are designed for every level of drummer. V-Drums Lessons cover various drum and percussion techniques and styles, and also provide helpful tips unique to electronic percussion instruments.

Visitors can view any of the lessons directly in their web browser, subscribe to the free video podcast via iTunes, or download individual lesson episodes directly to their computer.

“We are thrilled at how quickly these lessons have gained popularity in the drumming community,” says Steve Fisher, Percussion Market Development Manager at Roland. “With new lessons added each week, we’re confident the buzz will continue to grow.”

To get started with V-Drums Lessons today, visit:
www.RolandUS.com/V-DrumsLessons

V-Drums Lessons are also available at the iTunes store as a free video podcast:
itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=301964611

Dave Lombardo

performed with:

Slayer
Andy Wallace
John Zorn
Bill Metoyer
Grip Inc.
Vivaldi
Testament
Fantomas
.. and more

When I was in 3rd. grade my class had show and tell day, bashful as I was I brought a set of bongos and a Santana record and played along to a song. My parents put me in a Catholic private school where we lived in Southgate California. They had a school band, I was in that class only for a year, marching drum was not what I wanted but I enjoyed it very much. At age 10 my dad saw my persistent interest in drums and agreed to buy me a 5 piece Maxwin by Pearl drumset for $350.I was a KISS fan at the time and the first record I ever bought was KISS Alive, I taught myself to play "100,000 years". I remember being the talk of the town for knowing that solo. Some guy I knew during that time asked me if I knew the drum solo in the song "Moby Dick". I was very aware of Led Zeppelin but exposing myself to the record Led Zeppelin II showed me a side of music that I wasn't too familiar with, The Blues. An amazing amount of feeling was what this band had, and not only as a whole but the drummer John Bonham played with soo much emotion that I felt I learned that element and took it with me through my career. Later I learned this was Crescendo's and Decrescendo's.

I would listen to the radio often I would tune into a show called The King Biscuit Flower Hour, and hear pre-recorded broadcast's of live show's. I'd go to the local record store and buy 45's (records containing one song on each side.) of songs that I would hear on the radio and play along to them. I feel this was a learning period for me. I asked my parents to let me take drum lesson's. That lasted a week, I got extremely bored with LRLLRLRR.I went back to listening and playing along to records. From 10 to 12 years old all I liked was Rock music, but Something strange was happening to me and it wasn't just puberty. I was again exposed to new music. A good majority of my friends if not all were listening to DISCO. And I got into it. It was fun I went to allot of dances and parties was even a DJ for a mobile Disc Jockey called "A Touch of Class" those were great times. I would come home at 4AM And my parents would be pissed and threatened to put me in a military school. Underneath the no collar shirt, pleated pants and stacy adam shoes was a still devoted rock fan. The music I was exposed to at that time showed me the effects of rhythm on the body. The difference of Disco and Rock were so great that it intrigued me and I found that playing along to this music showed me groove. I felt this energy and it was amazing, it made people dance and not just listen, like what rock music was about.

Summer of 78 still a DJ and still drumming, I was meeting various musicians around town and they would come over and talk with me, and some would bring there guitars and we would jam in my bedroom. We would play songs by Jimi Hendriks like Purple Haze, Foxy Lady and one of my favorites,Fire.Graduating from the private school at 8th grade I went to a private high school called Pius 10th.High school. There were older students and more musicians. There I sign up to be in the talent show. I did a duet with a guitar player named Peter Fashing, we did our own rendition of Johnny B Goode complete with a drum solo. I'll never forget the dress rehearsal the night before. There was sarcasm from another band yelling from a distance calling me Buddy Rich. We brought the house down the following night. I'll never forget the roar of the crowd during the drum solo. The next day at school the word was out, my name was "David the drummer" and everybody knew who I was. Soon after that I formed a band called "Escape" we only had 2 guitar players and played AC/DC Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath songs In my garage. I had to change school's because I wasn't meeting grade expectations. I went to South Gate High School and found a singer to join the band and still no bass player we played a couple parties under the name Sabotage, nothing came of it. My parents noticed my withdrawal from everything except music I would stay in my room after school and play my drums and listen to music. They nagged me to get a job and quit the band. So I did.

I was threatened by the musicians. I was hearing they were out to "kick my ass"for leaving the group. They never did. One of the guitar players girlfriend, the so-called manager went as far as to write a poem about me leaving the band in the school news paper saying," we'll see who makes it to the top, lets place a bet". I should of made that bet.

Getting a job at the local pizza joint as a delivery boy shut my parents up for a while I was able to talk my dad into buying me a real drumset.And since I had a job I was able to pay him back the loan. I went to Guitar Center in Hollywood and found a TAMA Swingstar drumset and Paiste Rude cymbal package for $1100 I'll never forget the ride home from the store in the back of my dads truck with my drums.

One day I was doing a local delivery and I remembered one of the guys that use to come over telling me about this guitar player that lived 5 blocks away he also told me that he had all these guitars that his dad bought him. I drove by the house and he was outside watering the lawn, I introduced myself to him by saying "hey I heard you play guitar I play drums do you want to jam?" he said,"yeah, Do you want to come by later and check out my guitars?" I agreed and showed up that night, and shared music and bands that each of us liked. His name was Kerry King.

To be continued...........

Lars Urich

Besides being one of Metallica's founding members and main songwriters, drummer Lars Ulrich is also the band's spokesman. Born on December 26, 1963, in Gentofte, Denmark, Ulrich's father (Torbin Ulrich) was a nationally renowned tennis player, and it appeared as though Lars would follow in his father's footsteps, as the young Ulrich practiced hard on tennis skills. In 1973, his father took Lars to his first rock concert, to see the mighty Deep Purple in Copenhagen, which opened the youngster's eyes to hard rock and heavy metal. After he decided that the tennis life wasn't for him after all, Ulrich shifted his focus on music (namely the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement: Iron Maiden, Saxon, Diamond Head, Motorhead, Def Leppard, etc.), and took up the drums. His family relocated to California in the early '80s, as Lars promptly put an ad in the local music paper looking for other similarly minded musicians looking to start up a band (even though the NWOBHM had yet to make an impression stateside). One of the first replies he received was from guitarist James Hetfield, as the pair agreed that they should form a band that was a reaction against the glam metal that had infiltrated Los Angeles at the time. Soon after, Metallica was officially born.

Several other bandmembers came and went, until a lineup consisting of bassist Cliff Burton, lead guitarist Dave Mustaine, plus Ulrich and Hetfield (the latter also doubling on vocals by this time) moved to San Francisco, building up a solid fan base due to their shows and a heavily circulated demo tape, No Life 'Til Leather. Metallica was offered a record contract with the independent label Megaforce if they agreed to move to New York, which they did, replacing Mustaine with Kirk Hammett in the process. Over the course of three releases, 1983's Kill 'Em All, 1984's Ride the Lightning (which was the group's first to be issued by a major label, Elektra), and 1986's Master of Puppets, Metallica became one of heavy metal's most promising new bands, until Burton's tragic death nearly derailed the group. With massive success just around the corner, the remaining members decided to carry on with replacement member Jason Newsted, resulting in such blockbuster releases as 1988's And Justice for All and 1991's self-titled release, which established the group as one of the biggest rock bands on the planet. The '90s saw more sold-out stadium tours and further hit albums (1996's Load, 1997's Reload, etc.), before Newsted exited the band in early 2001.

Between Metallica tours throughout the '90s, Ulrich kept himself busy forming his own record label, Music Company (via Elektra/Asylum) and jet setting with other rock stars as well as movie actors. In the late '90s, Ulrich received criticism from rock fans when he publicly spoke out against the mp3 file sharing internet server Napster, attempting to lend a hand in closing down the server by prohibiting Napster from including any Metallica songs - going as far as giving a list of Metallica fans who had downloaded songs of the group (which resulted in the ban of nearly 300,000 users from the service).

perform with :
Metallica
Diamond Head
Mercyful Fate
James Hetfield
Kirk Hammett
Randy Staub
Bob Rock
Jason Newsted
Cliff Burton
Brian Dobbs
Mark Whitaker
Jeffrey Norman
Michael Kamen
Toby Wright
Mike Clink
S. Mark Wright
Paul Welcomer
David Teie
Anthony Striplen
Peter Shelton
Victor Romasevich

.....and many more

Source: artistdirect.com

David Silveria

David Silveria was born in Bakersfield, California, on September 21st 1972. David grew up in Bakersfield, where he learned how to play drums at the age of 9. "I think one of the reasons music became such an obsession for everyone in the band is that there just wasn't a whole lot to do where we lived."

James, Brian and Fieldy were looking for a drummer for their band. Fieldy says "I get a message on my answer machine from this kid. David's like 13... 'hey you guys looking for a drummer'. So we called him up, tried him out...he was good, man"

"David was like, so young, he used to have to get his mom to drop him off at practice" says Munky. "They called me up. And I loaded up my drum kit into the car, and took it down to the studio, and it's been there ever since" says David.


David married Shannon Bellino in April, 1997, and tattooed her first name on his back. They have a son, David Jr., born on August 22, 1997. Along with the aforementioned tattoo of his wife's name, David has three more tattoos: a Cheshire cat, a guy sticking out his tongue that has a drumstick through it, and the Korn logo. He is described as the shy member of the band.

David has a lucrative side job as a model. He has already completed a modeling assignment for skate punk clothing company 26 Red. He proved such a hit that 26 Red's biggest rivals, Grind, have now also contracted Silveria to do a series of ads for them.

Of David's influences he says "There's music that I like to listen to, but when it comes to writing our music, I don't really get influenced by anyone else's music. I get influenced as we write our music. The part comes up and it influences me to think a certain way about the part and about how to go about writing to it."

Source: kornkids.com

Metallica Up For Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction

With a lot of buzz still going strong after the release of the groups new album “Death Magnetic” (which I actually think is pretty good)…It has been announced that the group is being considered for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Billboard reports… “Metallica, Run-D.M.C. and the Stooges lead the list of nine acts up for induction next year into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Five will be chosen in January for enshrinement during an April 4 ceremony at Cleveland’s Public Hall.”

The 2009 ceremony will be the first one open to the public since 1997 and will be held in Cleveland, Ohio the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Metallica has made a lot of missteps over the years, specifically “St. Anger” and the snare drum sound that came with it. Regardless, the band is arguably one of the most important metal bands of all time and also one of the most successful. Also, contrary to what most people say about Lars Ulrich’s drumming, he definitely knows his way around a kit and how to perfectly compliment James Hetfield’s rhythm guitar.

courtesy: drumtom

Alexander Arthur Van Halen was born to Jan and Eugenia van Halen in Amsterdam, The Netherlands on May 8, 1953. Shortly after Edward was born, the van Halen family moved to Nijmegen.

On February 22, 1962, the van Halen family left Holland, after receiving several letters from relatives describing the wonders of California. In their possession were a few suitcases, 75 guilders and a piano. The trip took nine days by boat to New York, followed by another four days by train to California. Some time after their arrival in the United States, they changed their last name from van Halen, to Van Halen.

Alex developed an interest in music as a young boy, and as a grade-schooler in Pasadena, CA, began taking flamenco guitar lessons. At around the same time, Edward had begun playing the drums. But, as fate would have it, Alex lost interest in the guitar and spent more time pounding out the Surfaris' "Wipe Out" on Edward's $125 Japanese-made St. George kit while his younger brother was out delivering newspapers to pay for it, and they soon switched instruments permanently.

Alex graduated from Pasadena High School in 1971 and attended Pasadena City College for a brief period of time, where some of his classes included music theory and scoring and arranging.

Some of Al's early bands, all of which included Edward in the mix, were The Broken Combs (who performed lunchtime concerts at Hamilton Elementary School and featured Alex on saxophone), The Trojan Rubber Company, Genesis, and The Space Brothers. Among his influences are Buddy Rich, Keith Moon, John Bonham and Ginger Baker.

In 1972, Mammoth was formed and featured Alex on drums, Edward on lead vocals and guitar and Mark Stone on bass. By 1974, Mammoth became Van Halen; Stone had been replaced by Michael Anthony and David Lee Roth had taken over as the lead mouthpiece. From here, the quartet paid their dues on the Southern California club circuit, pounding out five sets a night everywhere they could. Be it Gazzari's (the first club to give them a break), the Starwood, the Whisky a GoGo, or Walter Mitty's Rock & Roll Emporium, Van Halen were everywhere, with Al often handling managerial duties, booking gigs and whatnot.

Shortly before the band was signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1977, Alex nearly lost a finger in a machine shop accident.

On February 8, 1978, "Van Halen," was released amid a flourishing disco and punk scene. This watershed album almost single-handedly brought rock and roll back into the forefront and to this day, remains one of the greatest and most powerful recordings of the 20th century to fans, musicians and critics worldwide. 20 years and twelve albums later, Van Halen are still doing things their way. There are no rules and what's trendy doesn't apply. It's music straight from the heart. Always has been, always will be.

Alex's powerful and dynamic drumming style and voice are as unique and instantly recognizable as Edward's guitar sound. The term "brown sound," which is universally linked with Edward's tone was actually coined by Alex and refers to the warmth of his own snare drum sound. But, don't overlook the finesse and sensitivity. He plays what's right for the song. Not to grandstand or just to draw attention to himself. He will however, let loose live in his unaccompanied drum solo. In this instance you've got to expect the unexpected. From lighting his kit on fire during the Van Halen II tour, to the Latinesque version of " Outta Love Again," complete with congas and horns on the III tour, you're always in for a treat.

In addition to the drums, Alex is also an accomplished pianist. The instrumental "Respect the Wind" from the Twister soundtrack features Alex on keys and marks his first and only appearance on a record outside of Van Halen. The piece has a melancholy, classical flavor to it, which isn't surprising due to the fact that Alex had several years of classical piano training as a young boy.

Though he appears ominous, silent and brooding to many (which is further enhanced by his usual all-black garb), Alex has a rapier-sharp wit and a love of practical jokes. In 1986, he shaved his head completely bald as a part of a bet, even appearing on an episode of Night Tracks and in the Hank Williams, Jr. video for "My Name is Bocephus" with his newly shorn dome. A word to the wise: don't ever leave your shoes unattended in his presence. Otherwise you may return to find them nailed to the floor.

Alex will be the first to tell you he's not a rock star. He's a musician. He'll be making music until the day he dies, in one form or another.


courtesy: drummerworld

Trent Reznor

Birth name Michael Trent Reznor
Born May 17, 1965 (1965-05-17) (age 43)
Mercer, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Genre(s)
Industrial
Industrial rock
Industrial metal
Alternative rock
Electronic

Occupation(s)
Musician
Singer-songwriter
Sound designer
Record producer

Instrument(s)
Vocals
Piano
Synthesizer
Keyboard instrument
Programming
Guitar
Bass guitar
Saxophone
Drums
Tuba
Sousaphone
Marimba
Pan flute

Years active 1982–present
Label(s) Independent
Associated acts Option 30 (1982–1984)
The Innocent (1985)
Exotic Birds (1986–1988)
Lucky Pierre (1988)
Nine Inch Nails (since 1988)
Pigface
Tapeworm
Revolting Cocks
David Bowie
Marilyn Manson
1000 Homo DJs
Saul Williams
QOTSA
Peter Lynch

Early life

Michael Trent Reznor was born in Mercer, Pennsylvania (halfway between Pittsburgh and Erie) to Michael Joseph Reznor and Nancy Lou Clark on May 17, 1965.[4] Reznor was referred to by his middle name to avoid confusion with his father. After his parents divorced, he lived with his grandparents, while his sister Tera lived with their mother.[5] Reznor has acknowledged that his sheltered life in Pennsylvania left him feeling isolated from the outside world. In a 1994 interview with Rolling Stone, he makes reference to his choices in the music industry, as well as elaborating on his early life, stating

I don't know why I want to do these things, other than my desire to escape from Small Town, U.S.A., to dismiss the boundaries, to explore. It isn't a bad place where I grew up, but there was nothing going on but the cornfields. My life experience came from watching movies, watching TV and reading books and looking at magazines. And when your fucking culture comes from watching TV every day, you're bombarded with images of things that seem cool, places that seem interesting, people who have jobs and careers and opportunities. None of that happened where I was. You're almost taught to realize it's not for you.

However, Reznor later said "I don't want to give the impression it was a miserable childhood".[7] At the Mercer Area Junior and Senior High Schools, Reznor learned to play the saxophone and tuba. He was a member of both the jazz and marching band. Former Mercer High School band director Dr. Hendley Hoge remembered Reznor as "very upbeat and friendly."[8] Reznor also became involved in theater while in high school. He was voted "Best in Drama" by classmates for his roles as Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar and Professor Harold Hill in The Music Man. Reznor graduated from this high school in 1983 and enrolled at Allegheny College, where he studied computer engineering

Early musical projects
Reznor (far right) on the cover of Option 30's self-titled album.

While still in high school in Mercer, Reznor was the keyboardist and one of the vocalists in a local band called The Klikz. Playing local clubs and quite a few high school dances throughout the area, The Klikz had a reputation as a talented and fun cover band. The repertoire consisted of the Pop and New Wave music hits of that period in the early 1980s. Playing a host of analog synthesizers, Reznor kept his primary keyboard on a stand he had constructed himself made from a work-mate table and a Lazy Susan that allowed him to rotate the keyboard along with his frenetic dancing and singing. The Klikz disbanded before Reznor went to college.

While he was enrolled in Allegheny College, Reznor joined local band Option 30, playing three shows a week with them. But after only a year of college, Reznor dropped out and moved to Cleveland, Ohio in order to pursue a career in music.[8] In 1985, he joined The Innocent as a keyboardist. They released one album, Livin' in the Street, but Reznor quit after just three months. In 1986, Reznor joined local band Exotic Birds. He also appeared with them as the fictional band "The Problems" in the 1987 film Light of Day.[10]

Reznor got a job at Right Track Studio (now known as Midtown Recording) as an assistant engineer and janitor.[11] Studio owner Bart Koster later commented that Reznor was "so focused in everything he [did]. When that guy waxed the floor, it looked great."[8] Reznor asked Koster for permission to record demos of his own songs for free during unused studio time. Koster agreed, remarking that it cost him "just a little wear on [his] tape heads".[8] While assembling these, the earliest NIN recordings, Reznor was unable to find a band that could articulate his songs as he wanted. Instead, inspired by Prince, he played all the instruments except drums himself.[12] This role remains Reznor's on most of the band's studio recordings, though he has occasionally involved other musicians and assistants. Several labels responded favorably to the demo material, and Reznor signed with TVT Records.[11] Nine selections from the Right Track demos were unofficially released in 1994 as Purest Feeling; many of these songs would appear in revised form on his 1989 debut studio album under the stage name Nine Inch Nails.