The 8020 Drummer Podcast

TaRon Lockett, who was Prince’ last drummer, who cut his teeth with Erykah Badu, and who was a key member of a scene that spawned Robert “Sput” Searight, Cleon Edwards and Mike Mitchell among others… …showed up to our interview in character as his own life coach. And from that point I knew this wasn’t going to be an “average” podcast episode. It’s perfectly in-kee

Today we have an interview I’m very excited about. One of the forefathers of jazz drum instruction - though as you’ll hear he doesn’t like the taxonomy, preferring to say he’s an “improvisation teacher”. The biggest surprise for me upon speaking to Ed is that he’s an iconoclast. His energy is pure punk-rock, and he has no time for the idea of “handedness” on the d

Today’s podcast guest first caught my attention with his clean, slamming Instagram clips. Picture closing your eyes and hearing a mix of Clyde Stubblefield, Bonham, and Nate Smith, then opening them and seeing a skinny teenager with a big mop of black hair and an infectious smile, and thinking “this guy is playing this”? To the degree we use the word “prodigy”, Raghav Meh

If you’ve watched more than zero of my videos, you’ll know that there’s a kick drum technique that I endorse pretty unequivocally - simple heel up. Sure, it takes some dialing-in, but my general feeling is it’s the most versatile/least “distance-sensitive” technique for avoiding tension at multiple speeds and dynamic ranges. But what if I was wrong. Today’s interview

If you haven’t heard of Arch Echo’s Richie Martinez, get ready for a rabbit hole. (Richie’s Instagram) Richie is one of the most electrifying young drummers around. While he calls the genre of his band “progressive metal”, his playing encompasses a type of "cross-genre” fluency not many drummers have, but it’s exiting when you see it. Equally comfortable in funk, fusi

Want to play drums injury-free into your 70s and beyond? I sure do. Today’s video guest, Brandon Green, was coaching elite athletes when a high school friend’s struggle with injury inspired him to utilize his skills to help drummers. Since then, Brandon founded the Drum Mechanics YouTube and Instagram channels, where he breaks down the setup and movement of some of your favorit

Andy Prado is a drummer’s drummer. Talk to practically anyone you’ve heard of about who their favorite drummers are, and Andy is likely to be in that sentence. He’s one of a small list of drummers you could call “elite choppers” - a list that includes people like Ron Bruner, Mike Mitchell, and not too many others. As such he’s in both an enviable, and an unenviable posi

Whether or not you’ve heard the name Arthur Hnatek, you’ve probably heard the drummer. If you love Tigran Hamasyan, by definition you love Arthur Hnatek. Since the Mockroot album, Arthur has been creating unique drum parts for Tigran, and weaving himself deeply into the fabric of the band, and the albums. As my interests currently sit at the intersection of jazz and prog rock,

When I was first getting started on YouTube, there were only a few drummers doing the same thing. One, of course was podcast guest Mike Johnston. Another was Brandon Scott. Brandon brought great playing, low-key humor, and humility to his videos, and immediately captured attention. Over the years, as my production quality stagnated, Brandon kept leveling his up, becoming a student

One of my proudest “hipster” achievements was being an early adopter on Ari Hoenig. Long story short, I arrived in New York 3 months before the start of my first school year in grad school, and spent the summer checking out live music with other students who’d stayed around the for summer. One of those things we checked out was Ari. And as such, I was able to share the discov