Drummers on Drumming

Welcome back to Drummers on Drumming, powered by Big Fat Snare Drum. Today, I’m joined by my co-host Eric Urrea (Marina City, La Armada) and returning guest Zack Albetta (Broadway's & Juliet , Working Drummer Podcast) for another installment of The Drum Panel. In this episode: The problem with ranking drummers Playing the gig you are meant to play Learning from teachers who do not gig Technique ve...

Welcome back to Drummers on Drumming, I’m joined by Carla Azar for a new installment of Big Fat Five. Carla is the drummer, a vocalist, and a creative force behind Autolux. She has also worked with artists like PJ Harvey, Jack White, T Bone Burnett, Jim Keltner, and more. But as you’ll hear in this conversation, the résumé is only part of the story. Carla’s playing has a rare kind of tension to it...

Welcome back to Drummers on Drumming, a podcast powered by Big Fat Snare Drum. Terry Keating of the Bonzolium YouTube channel joins the show for a deep, hilarious, and wildly passionate dive into the world of John Bonham. This is a re-airing of an older episode that originally centered around five less obvious Bonzo tracks. And yes, we do get there. But with Terry, the joy is in the detours. This...

Welcome back to Drummers on Drumming, powered by Big Fat Snare Drum. Today, I’m joined by my co-host Eric Urrea (Marina City, La Armada) and returning guest Zack Albetta (Broadway's & Juliet , Working Drummer Podcast) for another installment of The Drum Panel. In this episode: Angine de Poitrine and the rise of microtonal math-rock weirdness Masks, costumes, performance art, and the word “gimmick”...

Welcome back to Drummers on Drumming, powered by Big Fat Snare Drum. Today, I’m joined by my trusty co-host Eric Urrea, and one of my best friends, Kris Mazzarisi, owner and founder of Big Fat Snare Drum, and drummer for Winnetka Bowling League. Over on the Big Fat Snare Drum Instagram page, we asked our followers to name their favorite worst-sounding snare drum. What does that even mean? Who the...

Welcome back to Drummers on Drumming, powered by Big Fat Snare Drum. This episode is a new installment of The Drum Panel, and it’s Part TWO of TWO of diving into Chick Corea’s Cheap But Good Advice For Playing Music in a Group. I’m joined by good friend of mine ⁠Rafa Vidal⁠, who also plays with the band Almost Monday, who are currently killing it, and of course ⁠Eric Somers-Urrea ⁠is back on the p...

Welcome back to Drummers on Drumming, powered by Big Fat Snare Drum. This week on The Drum Panel, I’m joined by my co-host Eric Urrea, an independent drummer from Chicago who plays with Marina City and La Armada, and Steve Durham, who is new to The Drum Panel but returning from Big Fat Five. Steve has worked with artists like Louis Tomlinson, Mumford & Sons, Foals, Wolf Alice, Aurora and a bunch o...

What is up? Welcome back to Drummers on Drumming, a podcast powered by Big Fat Snare Drum. This week I’m re-airing a classic Big Fat Five episode with Tosh Peterson. Long before playing with Lady Gaga and Alkaline Trio, Tosh sat down with me to break down the records, mentors, and moments that shaped his drumming voice. We talk about discovering Thomas Pridgen at 10 years old, learning how to comm...

What is up? Ben here. Another Drum Panel this week powered by Big Fat Snare Drum. This one’s with Eric Urrea and E-MAN. We got into studio vs live drumming, why some players obsess over the grid, and whether modern editing has actually made people more musical…or just safer. E-Man had a great point about how at a certain level, everybody can already play close to the click. What actually separates...

Ben here. On this week’s episode of Drummers on Drumming (powered by Big Fat Snare Drum), we’re back with another round of The Drum Panel. Joining me: Gunnar Olsen: Currently out with Puscifer Eric Urrea: One of my favorite drummers to talk shop with because he somehow makes existential drum conversations feel practical. This episode starts with Gunnar talking about completely losing the plot duri...

Welcome back to Drummers on Drumming, a podcast powered by Big Fat Snare Drum. I’m Ben Hilzinger, and this is another segment of The Drum Panel. Joining me: Jessica Burdeaux (@jburdsbeats) Touring drummer (Covet, City Mouth) and content creator balancing real-world gigs with online presence. George Martinez (@skinnygeorge) Former full-time studio drummer turned educator, content creator, and all-a...

Welcome back to Drummers on Drumming, a podcast powered by Big Fat Snare Drum. I’m Ben Hilzinger, and this is another segment of The Drum Panel. This week I’m joined by Eric Urrea (La Armada, Marina City) and Matt Crouse (Working Drummer podcast). In this episode: Why doing less with your podcast might be the only way to keep it alive The quiet way a podcast can land you real gigs years later Crai...

Welcome back to Drummers on Drumming ...a podcast powered by Big Fat Snare Drum... In this episode of The Drum Panel, I’m joined by Jared Shavelson (Joyce Manor, The Bronx, Seal) and Mike Robinson (Say Anything, Slayyter, Oliver Tree).  In this episode: Playing festivals - yay nay or meh The pefectly “sized” tour The backline details that matter most when you’re trying to play your best How each o...

This week’s episode is a special one. In light of James Gadson’s passing, I wanted to bring this conversation back to the top of the feed. James was one of the all-time greats, and getting to talk with him was a real honor. The audio is a little raw, he was on his phone, moving around, doing his thing, but the stories are gold, and honestly, that’s part of what makes it feel like James.  Back when...

Welcome back to Drummers on Drumming, a podcast powered by Big Fat Snare Drum. In this episode of The Drum Panel, I’m joined by Eric Urrea (Marina City, La Armada) and Kris Mazzarisi (Founder of BFSD / Winnetka Bowling League) - In this episode: Why prep pay still is not standard, even though most drummers are expected to show up overprepared The weird state of touring right now, from DIY scenes d...

Welcome back to Drummers on Drumming, powered by Big Fat Snare Drum. We're here with another segment of Big Fat Five and today’s guest is John Stanier of Battles, and if you know anything about powerful, creative, unmistakable drumming, you already know why I was excited for this one. John was also a founding member of Helmet, has played with Tomahawk, and has built one of the most unique voices o...

Welcome back to Drummers on Drumming, a podcast powered by Big Fat Snare Drum. This week, we’re celebrating the release of Mike Robinson’s new Food on Tour Guide. Mike has toured with Say Anything, Oliver Tree, K.Flay, and many more and this guide is built from years of eating on the road. It’s a curated digital map with more than 2,000 spots across three layers: food, drink, and tiki. It gets upd...

Welcome back to Drummers on Drumming...a podcast powered by Big Fat Snare Drum. In this segment of The Drum Panel, I’m joined by Eric Urrea (Marina City) and Matt Starr (Sarah McLachlan) for a conversation that starts in the weeds and slowly turns into therapy. We kick things off with some proper nerd talk about trash can endings, stingers, and the infamous shugidaboom. From there, the conversatio...

Welcome back to Drummers on Drumming...a podcast powered by Big Fat Snare Drum. In this segment of The Drum Panel, I’m joined by Eric Urrea (Marina City) and Ralph Alexander (Poppy) for one of those conversations that goes everywhere. We start with life on the road and the physical reality of playing demanding shows night after night. From there we get into practice routines, creativity, and the s...

Welcome back to Drummers on Drumming, a podcast powered by Big Fat Snare Drum. This is another segment of The Drum Panel featuring myself, Sarab Singh (MUNA), and Brendan Buckley (Shakira). In this episode, we talk about: Getting over the fear of recording at home and figuring out certain techniques later in your career Why some producers and artists choose emotional takes over technically perfect...

What is up? Welcome back to Drummers on Drumming, powered by Big Fat Snare Drum. I decided to move this episode toward the top of the feed and revisit it. Last weekend, Tim Very, the drummer for Manchester Orchestra, passed away. While we weren’t super close, we stayed in touch over the years. He was kind enough to be part of my first book, and he also came on the podcast to do a Big Fat Five. Tha...

Welcome back to Drummers on Drumming, powered by Big Fat Snare Drum. This episode is a new installment of The Drum Panel, and it’s Part One of Two diving into Chick Corea’s Cheap But Good Advice For Playing Music in a Group. I’m joined by good friend of mine Rafa Vidal, who also plays with the band Almost Monday, who are currently killing it, and of course Eric Somers-Urrea is back on the panel. W...

Welcome back to Big Fat Five, a segment of Drummers on Drumming, powered by Big Fat Snare Drum. This episode is a first for the show. For the first time ever, Big Fat Five has two hosts. I explain it more at the top of the episode, but today Eric Urrea is joining me as a co-host. Eric’s someone I trust musically and personally, and having him in the room added a different kind of energy and flow t...

Welcome back to Drummers on Drumming ... a podcast powered by Big Fat Snare Drum. This week's Drum Panel features myself (Ben Hilzinger) alongside Eric Urrea (Marina City) and Gunnar Olsen (Puscifer) aka **The Dream Team** We talk about: The specific tools we each use to stay on top of gigs, holds, and payments The not-so-obvious challenges of over-scheduling and saying “yes” to everything Gunnar’...

Welcome back to Drummers on Drumming ... a podcast powered by Big Fat Snare Drum This week’s Drum Panel has me joined by Mark Stepro and Kris Mazzarisi for a wide-ranging conversation about what happens when gigs fall through, routines get shaken, and you’re forced to rethink how you want to work and live as a drummer. In this episode, we talk about: How to respond when a major gig disappears Why...