I’m always surprised by how quickly the end of the month arrives and I find the latest issue of Modern Drummer tucked neatly into my mail box. Like last month, October – graced by Jazz master Jeff “Tain” Watts on the cover – is another great issue where you will find my by-line on three fantastic articles!
Continue reading Gail In Print: Modern Drummer, October 2009
When I am not blogging about Gay Ice Cream Trucks or Dead Rock Stars Birthdays, I am all about interviewing the Drummers. Because that is how I roll. In the August 2009 issue of Modern Drummer (Tre Cool of Green Day on the cover), you’ll find a lovely little chat I had with drummer Jeff Friedl of Ashes Divide and Puscifer. Jeff brings the radness home. Read the full issue online at This Link!
When Florida’s premier Thrash/Metalcore band, Trivium, released The Crusade in 2006, drummer Travis Smith felt he’d “broken out of the box” – surpassing his previous recorded performances exponentially. With the release of the band’s fourth CD, Shogun, however, he thinks he may have “jumped the gun” with that claim. “That quote would apply 100 percent right now,” says the drummer. “This record really has the Travis Smith stamp on it. It shows my true identity behind the kit.
Continue reading An Interview with Travis Smith of Trivium
In a career spanning over twenty years, drummer Jimmy DeGrasso has toured and recorded with some of the biggest acts in classic hard rock and metal, including Ozzy, Megadeth, David Lee Roth and Alice Cooper. So when his former Megadeth rhythm section partner, David Ellefson needed a drummer to record the sophomore album by his band F5, DeGrasso was his only choice. While Jimmy lays down some brutal double bass on The Reckoning he resists being labeled a “metal drummer” and reveals that the direction of his career was somewhat of a lucky accident. “When I moved to LA twenty-five years ago I wanted to be a fusion jazz drummer,” Jimmy admits.
Continue reading An Interview with Jimmy DeGrasso of F5
The highly innovative Gavin Harrison of hallucination-inducing Prog Rockers Porcupine Tree is on the cover story of the January 2009 issue of Modern Drummer magazine. Inside you’ll also find my brain-dazzling updates on Pat Wilson of Weezer and Sean Davidson of LA metal band, Black List Union.