“How is a drum solo like a sneeze? You know it’s coming, but there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Throughout music history, drummers have often bore the brunt of jokes, like the one-liner above. Or even worse, they’ve been known to spontaneously combust, at least according to This Is Spinal Tap. But drummers are, in fact, the heartbeat of any band, keeping everyone in time while the singer and lead guitarist get the spotlight.
Earlier this year, Consequence saluted bass players as part of our Bass Week celebration. Now, we’re turning our attention to the other half of the rhythm section with Drum Week, focusing on all things drums and the musicians who play them. From jazz to rock to heavy metal and beyond, we’re celebrating drummers across multiple genres and throughout history who have kept the beat alive.
Jazz icon Buddy Rich, one of the greatest to ever sit behind a drum kit, once told Modern Drummer, “Every drummer that had a name, had a name because of his individual playing. He didn’t sound like anybody else. So everybody that I ever listened to, in some form, influenced my taste.”
From Buddy Rich to John Bonham to Neil Peart to Sheila E., the greatest drummers have each created their own unique style of playing, their own combination of feel, groove, and timing. That’s why you’ll see names like these and more on our first feature of the week: our list of the 100 Best Drummers of All Time. As we did with bassists, we polled a number of modern drum masters to help determine our list, and we’ll share our full survey results later this week.
The beat keeps going throughout the week with exclusive curated lists from the likes of Dream Theater’s Mike Portnoy, Anthrax/Pantera drummer Charlie Benante, and Pixies’ David Lovering. Also look forward to a video roundtable discussion featuring Gina Schock (The Go-Go’s), Stella Mozgawa (Warpaint), and Janet Weiss (Quasi, Sleater-Kinney, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks), among other content.
It’s all part of Consequence’s Drum Week, and you can bookmark this page and check back every day this week as we update it with links to the latest content.
— Spencer Kaufman
Managing Editor, Heavy Consequence
Monday, September 16th:
