Drummer Biography

Mike Portnoy was born on April 20, 1967 and raised in Long Beach, New York, where his interest in music started at an early age. “My father was a rock n’ roll disc jockey, so I was always surrounded by music constantly. I had this huge record collection when I was real young and loved the Beatles and then later on Kiss. It was inevitable that I’d become a musician.”

Although Mike taught himself how to play the drums, he did take music theory classes in high school. During that time he began playing in local bands Intruder, Rising Power and Inner Sanctum, the latter of which released their own album. Mike left the band after being awarded a scholarship to attend Berklee Music College in Boston.
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Rarely in the history of rock has a musician switched bands and instruments simultaneously with such a high degree of success as Dave Grohl. Born on January 14, 1969, Grohl grew up in Washington, D.C., teaching himself to play drums and guitar. While still a teenager, he joined his first real band, independent D.C. punkers Scream, and toured the world as their drummer. After Scream broke up in the late ’80s, Grohl relocated to Seattle and tried out for a little-known band who had a drum vacancy - Nirvana.
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“Ultimately what’s most impressive about Ringo Starr isn’t what he’s been, but rather who he is,” wrote Rolling Stone rock critic David Wild. “The man’s great heart and soul, his wit and wisdom.” Ironically, the story of Ringo’s evolution from former Beatle to successful solo artist is still best told from the beginning.

“When I was thirteen I only wanted to be a drummer”, remembers Ringo, and four years later at age seventeen, he joined the Eddie Clayton Skiffle Band. In 1959, Ringo hooked up with the Raving Texans, which later became Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. In 1962, while playing a summer gig with Rory, Ringo was asked to join the Beatles. Worried that he might cost his bandmates the summer gig if he left, Ringo delayed his departure until after they found themselves a replacement, and on August 18, 1962, Ringo Starr officially became a Beatle.
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Muse Drummer Dominic James Howard, better known as Dom, was born on 7th of December in Stockport, not far from the more famous Manchester. His “childish” and funny looks deceive him, in fact he’s the oldest member of the band, though not the wisest, even if Matthew and Chris describe him as the trio’s boss. He considers himself ’sad, negative, pessimist’ but also ‘happy, honest and optimistic’. He’s definitely the most accessible member of the band. Always ready to tease and make others laugh, he’s got a great sense of humour. In fact his favourite thing about being in Muse is the contact with people they meet on the road. According to him, when he’s on tour he misses nothing.
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Myles Heskett, the drummer with the band Wolfmother was born November 21, 1977. Growing up in Sydney, Heskett attended Barrenjoy High School was always surrounded by creativeness. His father was an artist and his sister studied costume at NIDA.

Its not surprising that prior to Wolfmother, Myles was a graphic artist and even came up with the design for the band’s first album.

Myles endorses Ludwig drums and Zildjian cymbals.

Style of playing:

“Heskett’s playing seems to directly follow, and at some times improvise upon, the rhythm laid out by Ross & Stockdale. Often in Wolfmother songs, Heskett will switch from a triplet orientation, to a typical quarter note or eighth note pattern, depending on what Ross and Stockdale are playing. This can be seen particularly well in the song ‘Joker & the Thief’, in which a triplet oriented intro leads the quarter note oriented first verse, allowing for Heskett to switch between triplet fills,
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Stephen Morris was born 28 October, 195 in Macclesfield, Cheshire, England. Morris first made his name as the drummer with the highly influential post-punk rock group Joy Division. The band consisted of Ian Curtis on vocals, Bernard Sumner on guitar, Peter Hook on bass, and of course Stephen Morris on drums. With their dark sound, use of distorted guitars, throbbing bass lines, and electronics, they pioneered the post-punk sound of the late 1970s.

Stephen Morris used what could be described as quite extensive drum kit set up to achieve a great range of rolls, rhythm shifts and beats. Morris was an active drummer, especially on the tracks “She’s Lost Control” and “Transmission” where the pounding insistent beat fuelled Curtis’ gyrations. Morris also used Simmonds and Synare electronic drumpads and a BOSS DR-55 drum machine on the songs “Insight,” “She’s Lost Control,” “Isolation,” and “Decades”, in combination with conventional drums to broaden the tonal palette.
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Without a doubt Travis Barker owes most of his fame to his time as the drummer for Blink-182. While he is currently drumming with post-blink +44 he has always played on a number of side projects such as Box Car Racer, The Transplants and Expensive Taste.

Born in a poverty stricken neighbourhood in Fontana, CA. Travis Barker was given his first drum set from his mother at the tender age of four. He began taking drum lessons at age five, when he studied under a jazz teacher named Miachel Mai. Here, Travis was exposed to many different styles and genres of music which would shape his drumming style in the years to come. Barker’s mother also took the lessons along with him and when each lesson was over, she would re-teach Travis on her own time.

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After recently seeing Nine Inch Nails play live and seeing Josh Freese perform for the first time I was more than impressed with his performance at the gig and what better way to show that appreciation but a feature on Drummers Republic!

Josh Freese was born on Christmas Day, 1972 in Orlando, Florida but has lived in Southern California since he was 6 months old. Having been brought up in a musical family (father conducted the Disneyland Band and mother was a classical pianist) he was surrounded by music from an early age and began playing the drums around the time he was 7 or 8 years old. He started playing professionally at the age of 12 (in a Top 40 band at Disneyland) and starting touring and making records at the age of 15. First with Dweezil Zappa and then the Vandals, pretty much simultaneously. Still a member of the Vandals, Josh has gone on to work with some pretty bitchin’ folks in the last 10 years; ranging from Devo to Guns n’ Roses, Suicidal Tendencies to Perry Farrell, Paul Westerberg to Chris Cornell, A Perfect Circle to Juliana Hatfield, Mike Ness to 311, etc. He’s appeared on close to 100 records (see Discography page for an almost complete listing). Aside from being an L.A. studio musician (what he calls his “day job”) He’s a member of A Perfect Circle, The Vandals, and Devo.

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In honour of Velvet Revolver’s latest album release Libertad, Drummers Republic would like give you an insight into the power behind the rock drummer powerhouse that is Matt Sorum.

Matt Sorum was born in Long Beach, California sometime in the 1960’s, to Joanne and David Sorum of English and Norwegian descent. Having been steeped in Viking lore from his father (David) and classical music and opera from his music-teacher mother (Joanne), Matt’s path led him to the drums after seeing Ringo Starr of THE BEATLES on the Ed Sullivan Show. Matt’s two older brothers (Mark and Mike) also turned him onto rockers like Jimi Hendrix, Cream and The Doors.

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Bill Ward was born in Birmingham, England, in 1948. His interest in drumming began as a toddler and by age 15, he was playing gigs. Ward played in several bands before meeting up with Tony Iommi in 1964. The two of them worked together in the group Mythology before they met up with Ozzy Osbourne and Geezer Butler in the band Polka Tulk Blues. The blues band later changed their name to Earth, but that moniker was destined not to stay with them long. Instead, in 1969 they became Black Sabbath and that would prove to be a change that would transform Ward’s and the rest of band members’ lives forever. In 1970, they released their self-titled debut and their fame began. It was only a few short months later when Paranoid was released and the true glory would really begin. Ward stayed with them through what many consider to be the classic period of the group, even when Osbourne was ousted in 1978. He was a member of the band through the first album to feature Ronnie James Dio in Osbourne’s place, 1980’s Heaven & Hell.

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With names like Madonna, David Bowie and Sting under he’s belt its easy to see why Omar Hakim is such an in demand drummer. The legendary Omar Hakim takes advantage of every hot, new percussion option out there, from acoustic drums, to Roland’s electronic V-Drums—which he MIDIs into his Power Mac when he plays drums for and produces for the greats of pop and jazz fusion in modern music.

Not just a drummer, Omar Hakim is a well-recognized percussionist and producer in these two distinct worlds of music.
“I had a natural affinity for drums and rhythm very young,” says Hakim. “I started playing drums at about age five, when I got a toy drum as a Christmas gift from an uncle. They strapped that thing around my neck and I immediately started playing one of those marching cadence kind of beats.”

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Sometimes referred to as “The Wembley Whammer” by Mick Jagger. Rolling Stones Drummer, Charles Robert “Charlie” Watts was born 2nd June 1941 in London, England. As well as being the drummer for one of the biggest bands in the world Charlie Watts is a tireless jazz bandleader and also a commercial artist.

Charlie attended Tylers Croft Secondary Modern School and Harrow Art School. It was in 1960, while working with a local band that he met Alexis Korner, who convinced him to join his own band, as the drummer for Blues Incorporated. And later in that same year, the band picked up the vocal talents of one Mick Jagger, as well as guitarists Brian Jones and Keith Richards.

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Anthony “Tony” McCarroll was one of the founding members of English rock group Oasis, as their drummer from 1991 to May 1995.

Born in Levenshulme, Manchester, England, McCarroll joined pre-Oasis incarnation The Rain in 1990, replacing their drum machine, and linking up with rhythm guitarist Paul Arthurs, bassist Paul McGuigan and singer Chris Hutton. Hutton was later sacked, and replaced by Liam Gallagher. Liam’s brother Noel soon joined with a bag full of songs that were to make Oasis famous.

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Steve Hewitt the drummer for Placebo was born 22nd of March 1971 in Northwich, Manchester, United Kingdom which incidentally is also home to Tim Burgess of The Charlatans. Who Steve actually played with for a period with the band Electric Crayons. At the age of 17 after seeing an advert for ‘Genius duo’ who required a drummer for a German tour, he duly joined the ranks of Breed and touring Germany with them. As well as stints with the Boo Radleys, Steve was also playing simultaneously with early 90’s dance outfit K-Klass, who had scored five top 40 hits from 1991 to 1994. As time progressed, Steve found himself becoming more and more involved with session work doing music for car adverts amongst other things. Following a dismal and somewhat disastrous gig at the Bull and Gate, Breed decided to part ways and call it a day on the band.

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Where does one start with Steve Gadd?The man is modern day legend for all drummers, aspiring or professional. His body of work is phenomenal with a tally of over 600 albums to his name. A tireless drummer, teacher and entertainer the same Steve Gadd is synonymous with Drumming. Having worked with such names as Steely Dan, Joe Cocker, Chick Corea, Paul Simon, Eric Clapton and James Taylor its easy to see why Steve Gadd has become recognised as one of most well known session drummer around.

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Johnny Rabb is an American drummer characterised by his incredible speed and his ability to play single stroke rolls as well as modern Drum and Bass style beats with considerable style and ease. Johnny currently performs with his original duo Ten Finger Orchestra & Johnny Rabb, rock band U.S.S.A. (with Duane Denison, Paul Barker and Gary Call) and his Drum ‘N’ Bass group BioDiesel (featuring Clay Parnell and Borahm Lee). Rabb has added turntables to his arsenal of innovative drum sounds. Johnny refers to his drum / turntable set up as DrumJockey. The visual antics of the TFO & Johnny Rabb show include juggling routines using drumsticks while they are playing.

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Alan John Wren born on 10 April 1964, in Manchester, England better known as Reni, was the drummer of the ever influential rock band The Stone Roses from 1984 to 1995.

Reni is considered by many to be one of the best drummers of his generation, and quite possibly the “single most important drummer in UK indie circles” according to Rhythm magazine in 2004, he is also credited as being a “genius drummer” on John Squire’s official Web site, and according to former Hacienda General Manager Howard Jones he, “played the drums like Hendrix played the guitar.” His laid-back style of off-beat rhythms was influential in bringing about the blend of indie and dance music that formed much of the Manchester or Madchester (as it would become known) sound of the day.

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Rick Buckler born Paul Richard Buckler, 6 December 1955, in Woking, Surrey, England, was the drummer and one of the founding members of The Jam, the English rock band that enjoyed considerable success in the UK from 1977 until their premature demise in 1982. Although spearheaded by Paul Weller, the rhythm section of Buckler on drums and Bruce Foxton on bass guitar were an integral part of the Jam’s sound and success. The Jam split at the behest of Weller.

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