Drum Dog Podcast

Full video essay: https://youtu.be/fzSGQpm3lNI James Gadson was fired five times from his first R&B gig. A few years later he was the drummer on Bill Withers's "Use Me", Marvin Gaye's "I Want You" and Diana Ross's "Love Hangover". This video follows his path from a doo-wop singer in Kansas City to one of the most recorded drummers in R&B history...

Mel Gaynor spent 38 years behind the kit with Simple Minds. Here he talks about the exit, the book that’ll tell the full story, and playing with Elton John. In this clip from our full interview, the Simple Minds drummer looks back on four decades in one of the biggest bands of the 80s. He explains why the exit story is saved for his book, why the 80s drum sound deserves to stay, and what the Elton...

Full video essay: https://youtu.be/zh_VAbL8B3w Dave Weckl is one of drumming's most influential figures and a technical monster. In this video I give an overview on his career and take a look at this approach to the drums. Intro: 00:00 Career: 00:40 Means (Technical): 02:30 End (Philosophical): 07:15 #daveweckl #chickcorea #buddyrich  Music credit: Smoke - Lish Grooves Support the channel: ht...

A bite-size insight from our interview with Bill Bruford. This is one moment from a longer conversation, and you can watch the full interview on the Drum Dog YouTube channel. Bill Bruford on what he’d tell his younger self: ease off the arrogance, slow down, and put yourself where you haven’t a clue. In this clip from our full interview, the Yes and King Crimson drummer reflects on being too arrog...

Full video essay here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNJzWNIoiHg&t Anika Nilles went from a preschool classroom in Germany to a viral YouTube video, Jeff Beck's final touring band and Neil Peart's seat in Rush. In this video I look at how she got there, and what it takes to play a feel that isn't naturally yours. Anika was picked by the Patreon community as the next drummer I...

A bite-size insight from our interview with Mel Gaynor, the Simple Minds drummer. This is one moment from a longer conversation, and you can watch the full interview on the Drum Dog YouTube channel. Mel explains how he approaches John Bonham’s drum parts, and the difference between drummers who sit on the beat and drummers who sit behind it. He covers Bonham’s lazy feel, Jeff Porcaro, Buddy Rich h...

Send us Fan Mail Video essay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDp_tV8MhOc&t Omar Hakim is the drummer you've heard on more classic records than you probably realise: David Bowie's Let's Dance, Sting's The Dream of the Blue Turtles, Miles Davis's Tutu and Daft Punk's Get Lucky, plus years behind Madonna and a spell in Weather Report. Drawing on his own interviews,...

Send us Fan Mail Studio tips for drummers from Rob Brian, who’s been making records for 35 to 40 years and says he’s still picking up new tricks. Rob has recently worked at Abbey Road and Real World Studios. Here he shares what he’s learnt about walking into a session ready to play. We cover what gear to bring (and why a few spares in the car always pay off), how to choose kit, heads and cymbals f...

Send us Fan Mail Four working-class kids from one of the roughest corners of Birmingham picked up guitars, bass and drums with no plan beyond getting out of the factories - and ended up inventing an entire genre. This is the story of Black Sabbath: the blues club circuit, the accident that nearly ended Tony Iommi's career before it started, the album that gave heavy metal its name, the firing...

Send us Fan Mail Had a great chat with Pat Garvey ahead of Ozric Tentacles' UK tour to talk about 32 years as a working drummer. He tells us how he landed the teaching gig at BIM, how he went on to start the Brighton Drum School, and what it was like recording drums for the new Ozrics album, Harmonic Mind. We also get into how to stay professional (and pleasant) on the road, why the portfolio...

Send us Fan Mail Video essay - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHajaWKSomo&t Bernard Purdie reckons he has played on 4,000 albums for 2,500 artists, and the striking thing is that almost nobody in the business thinks he is exaggerating by much. Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Steely Dan, King Curtis, Louis Armstrong, Hall & Oates. If you have ever owned a radio, you have heard him. What I ke...

Send us Fan Mail Simon Phillips is one of four people we're interviewing at the UK Drum Show 2026 in Liverpool, so this week I'm digging into why his Voice record with Hiromi is on repeat, plus the four culprits behind rushing and how to fix them. 00:00 - Cold open: UK Drum Show 2026, Simon Phillips & the science of rushing 01:00 - Drummer Spotlight: Simon Phillips, UK Drum Show 2026...

Send us Fan Mail Video essay - https://youtu.be/Lbf0SU994Qg With the White Stripes, Meg White tore rock’n’roll down to its bare bones. Alongside Jack White, she created some of the most exciting music of the past 25 years, with a fiercely elemental drumming style that flew in the face of its critics. This is what made her quite such a force. Intro: 00:00 Career: 00:55 Style: 05:41 Legacy: 10:19 #w...

Send us Fan Mail This week on the pod, we're covering a strange new track from Angine de Poitrine that just debuted on Fallon, why Mark Guiliana might be the best case study going for drummers who think "feel" and "precision" are opposites, and a proper look at Pearl's Compact Traveler Kit for anyone who's ever needed a full kit that fits in a bag. In this episod...

Send us Fan Mail Video essay - https://youtu.be/GS0ZG8os8Ww Everyone calls Mark Guiliana the drummer who fused jazz and electronic music. He played on David Bowie's Blackstar, he's toured for years with St. Vincent, he made a duo record with Brad Mehldau, and Time Out once tried to explain him using actual maths. All true. All, I think, slightly beside the point. Because the thing Guilia...

Send us Fan Mail Was very excited to chat with Adam, drummer for Chicago blues-rock outfit The Empty Pockets, ahead of their new album Dear Billionaires. We got into joining a band that already had years of history and a married couple at its core, why he stripped his kit down to a three-piece setup and never looked back, and what it was like tracking the new record live in one room at Abbey Road...

Send us Fan Mail Video essay - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlWzjU8OVv8&t You've probably heard Chris Dave play drums without ever knowing his name. He's contributed grooves to Adele's ‘21’, D'Angelo's ‘Black Messiah’, and Justin Bieber's ‘Purpose’. Questlove called him “the most dangerous drummer alive.” In this video, we trace how a Houston church kid who cho...

Send us Fan Mail Blue Note's opening a London venue, so Jochen's back for his second appearance and we're running through the London rooms that actually matter for jazz. Ronnie Scott's, the Jazz Cafe, Steam Down, Cafe OTO, and a fifth slot we gave up on and turned into honourable mentions. 00:00 - Cold open: take two, and Blue Note coming to London 01:50 - Ronnie Scott's:...

Send us Fan Mail Video essay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PptKcRhw4MM Most drummers would be lucky to have played a part in just one era-defining band, but with New Order and Joy Division, Stephen Morris did it twice. His early post-punk style matched minimalism with momentum, before reinventing itself by fusing with new drum technologies to help spark the dance music explosion. Intro: 00:00 C...

Send us Fan Mail We sat down with Anna for a video interview just days before she competed in the World Pipe Band Championships with the City of St Andrews Pipe Band. At 17, Anna's already earned a $120,000 scholarship to Berklee starting September 2027, delivered her first ever clinic at Dorset Drum Festival, and picked up a pair of Steve Gadd's own sticks after meeting him in Glasgow....

Send us Fan Mail Video essay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V93JXlGXLV4&t Often overshadowed by his louder peers, Deep Purple’s Ian Paice quietly shaped the sound of hard rock drumming. Combining swing-era finesse with unmatched speed and precision, Paice built grooves that were as musical as they were powerful. In this video essay, we explore how Paice’s technique, tone, and phrasing helped...

Send us Fan Mail Steve Gadd gets the spotlight this week because, honestly, how could he not. Plus a fusion find on Vincen García's Ventura, the Meinl Marshmallow Pad in the studio, and a Gavin Harrison clip that might change how you practice. 00:00 - Cold open / what's on this week 00:30 - Heavy Rotation: Vincen García, Ventura 01:53 - Drummer Spotlight: Steve Gadd, the formality that i...

Send us Fan Mail Video essay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tot2osqBPFQ&t Keith Carlock might be the most quietly influential drummer working today: jazz educated, delta raised, and impossible to pin to a single genre. This video essay traces how he engineered that sound. We start in Clinton, Mississippi, where a childhood steeped in soul, R&B and funk (Stevie Wonder, Earth, Wind & F...

Send us Fan Mail We sat down with Ralph Rolle at the Drum Dog studio during his latest visit to the UK. Ralph talks growing up in the Bronx, the high-pressure audition that landed him the Nile Rodgers & CHIC gig, and the stories behind sessions with D'Angelo, Biggie Smalls, and the Rocketman soundtrack. If you've ever wondered what it takes to build a career playing with music legend...

Send us Fan Mail Video essay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUzdxo3c00g In 1966, Elvin Jones walked out of the John Coltrane Quartet, the band that made him famous, because Coltrane hired a second drummer. This is the story of the man who reconceived the drum kit as a source of multiple rhythms at once including a demonstration of his "Three Card Molly" solo build and a genuinely stran...