Wow, September is a huge month for me in Modern Drummer magazine. First of all, I’m really excited about and proud of my feature on Jon Karel of the experimental mathcore band, The Number 12 Looks Like You. In my ten-plus years of interviewing drummers, Jon was one of my very favorite interviews. I predict we will see him on the cover of Modern Drummer within two years. Also in this issue, I’ve got an update with Sib Hashian of Ernie & The Automatics. Sib is perhaps best known as the original drummer of the legendary classic rock band Boston, so everybody knows his licks. Lastly, I have a profile with Eric Green of Riverboat Gamblers, a truly innovative modern punk band that hasn’t forgotten where the melody is. Their latest CD, Underneath The Owl, is one of my favorites of the year so far. Three great articles all in an issue that has Josh Homme and Joey Castillo (Queens of the Stone Age) on the cover as well as interviews with Bun E Carlos, Slayer’s Dave Lombardo and local hero Chris Pennie of Coheed and Cambria. Be sure to pick up a copy of September’s Modern Drummer, which you can find on newsstands next week!
The May 2009 issue of Modern Drummer features jazz great Lewis Nash on the cover, plus my updates with AJ Pero (Twisted Sister) and Steve Frothingham of LA Prog Rock Revivalists, Bigelf, among lots of other cool drumming-related stuff to read. Read the full issue online at This Link!
Me and Bill at the Modern Drummer Hang, 2006, at the Cutting Room NYC
Last weekend I was in a Duane Reade buying a “Get Well” card for my friend Bill Miller. Yesterday I was buying a condolence card for his wife. Bill, who was my editor at Modern Drummer for over ten years, passed away Friday night after a five year battle with Cancer. Bill had been very private about his illness and, even though a friend of mine at the magazine confided in me recently that Bill was back in the hospital and “probably not going to make it,” he really didn’t want anyone to know how sick he was. I’m so grateful that I had the chance to send that final card to Bill, because I know he got to read it before he passed, so at least he knew I was thinking of him. Just a few weeks ago we’d been on the phone discussing a feature he’d assigned me. I can’t believe he’s gone.
I started writing for Modern Drummer in 1997, after I cold pitched Bill on Johnny Kelly, the drummer for Type O Negative. I’d never written for a technical magazine before and didn’t know much about drums at the time except that they were round things that guys hit with sticks. But Bill and I had an immediate bond, and he assigned me short, a front-of-the-book piece about Johnny Kelly “on spec,” which I was overjoyed to do. I couldn’t believe I was getting a chance to get my foot in the door of a magazine like Modern Drummer. Bill will never know how much I sweated those 350 words, but he liked the piece enough to run it, and he continued to give me regular assignments for the magazine for the next eleven years.
Bill was just a fantastic person. He was not only an exceptional editor; he was a very good friend. Bill was always so receptive to my pitches (more than few times he let me write about personal friends who were drummers) and was consistently complimentary and encouraging about my work. And even though he asked me to rewrite pieces on a few occasions, it’s only because his standards for the magazine were so high, and his critical eye made me step up as a writer. Thanks to Bill I’ve had the opportunity to interview such fantastic musicians and wonderful people in my time writing for MD, and I have made more good friends than I can count. I owe him so much. I am sure that before he went he knew how much he was loved by everyone who knew him. Goodbye, Bill. I will miss you forever.
In the October 2008 issue of Modern Drummer magazine (Todd Sucherman on the cover) you’ll find my updates with George Michael drummer, Carlos Hercules and Spencer Smith of Panic at The Disco. Read the full issue online Here.
Perfectly timed to hit the newsstands concurrently with the Dethklok tour, the August 2008 issue of Modern Drummer magazine has my update on drummer Gene “The Machine” Hoglan somewhere in the front of the book. Gene Rules!
