As a renowned session and touring drummer, instructor and clinician, drummer Ray Luzier has enjoyed an almost storybook-like career. Playing drums since age seven, Ray grew up on a farm in rural Pennsylvania. After high school, he left home for Los Angeles – with visions of rock stardom in his eyes – to study drums and percussion at LA’s Musicians Institute. Later, Ray paid the bills teaching the hard rock curriculum at MI’s Percussion Institute of Technology. He also realized a childhood dream by playing drums on a dozen albums for the famed Shrapnel Records label. Continue reading An Interview with Ray Luzier of Korn→
“Every arrow has to have a head, shaft and feathers, otherwise it won’t fly,” observes Buckcherry drummer Xavier Muriel. “Everyone in this band does his job and it’s all good.” Xavier refers to what it’s like being one of Buckcherry’s three “new kids on the block” after guitarist Keith Nelson and vocalist Josh Todd reformed the band in 2005. Best described as a Stones/AC DC/ Motley Crue amalgam of blues, booze and tattoos, Buckcherry’s Return to Rock has been enthusiastically embraced by fans with sold-out national tours accompanied by whirlwind press for its independently released comeback album, 15. Continue reading An Interview with Xavier Muriel of Buckcherry→
Type O Negative understands that change is good. After releasing seven albums during a dozen years with Roadrunner Records, Brooklyn’s favorite purveyors of lead-heavy melodic metal (think: The Beatles-Meets-Black Sabbath) jumped ship for a new home at SPV. While Peter Steele (vocals/bass) Kenny Hickey (guitar), Josh Silver (keyboards) and Johnny Kelly (drums) completed pre-production on their much anticipated follow up to 2003’s Life Is Killing Me, SPV threw the fans a bone in the form of an amazing live DVD, Symphony for the Devil. Continue reading An Interview with Johnny Kelly of Type O Negative→
Sometimes, one missed opportunity can open doors to many undreamed of possibilities. When Sevendust’s former label missed its option to renew the group’s contract due to a technical oversight, the Gold-selling, wildly popular metal band were free to walk away without so much as a formal goodbye from what had become an unsatisfactory relationship. “When we started with that label in 1997 they were perfect for us,” explains drummer Morgan Rose. “We were an unknown band playing a style of music that was far from being accepted at that point – commercially or otherwise. Bands like Shadows Fall, Lamb of God and Disturbed were not yet signed, so there really weren’t a lot of bands for us to tour with. Our label allowed us to go on the road, play live and build our following that way.” Continue reading An Interview with Morgan Rose of Sevendust→
When Brian Tichy was a kid, he thought everyone wanted to play drums. Brian got his first drumset at age ten and took private lessons while also learning the drums licks on all his favorite records by Kiss, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith and AC/DC. “Kiss was the first major band for me,” the drummer admits. “My friends had the Kiss Alive albums and I’d listen to the drum solos and think, ‘Oh my god, Peter Criss! That’s untouchable!’ Then my dad took me to see Kiss at Madison Square Garden on the Destroyer tour and that changed everything right there.”
