Drum Channel Podcast

Hello everyone, welcome to Billy’s Bubble! This episode features a behind-the-scenes look into Def Leppard’s Rick Allen and singer/songwriter Lauren Monroe’s organization Raven Drum Foundation.  The organization was started twenty years ago by Rick & Lauren to raise awareness of healing through music, with drum circles, (with many top drummers & musicians) and raising funds for Veterans, F...

Hello everyone, Billy Amendola here.   My guest today Fred Coury is mostly known as the drummer from the eighties MTV-multi-platinum-band Cinderella.    Coury and Cinderella parted ways in 1991 and Fred joined Stephen Pearcy of Ratt to form the band Arcade and record two albums.    Fred also briefly substituted for GnR’s drummer Steven Adler in 1987 when health issues forced Adler off the road.  ...

Hello everyone! Billy A. here with my guest Cole Marcus, who is no stranger to our Drum Channel audience. I remember meeting and seeing Cole mesmerize a crowd at a NAMM SHOW when he was four years old, which doesn’t sound odd these days, but over two decades ago, it wasn’t as common as now. These days, now twenty-five years old, Cole has released a new single “Cause & Effect,” which he wrote, reco...

Hello everyone, Billy Amendola here on Drum Channel with my long-time friend and R&B/Soul legend Earl Young.    Earl, known as the founder and singer of the group The Trammps, (and recording drummer) took the disco world to the mainstream pop charts with their smash hit “Disco Inferno” among others.    Always having success as both a vocalist as well as a drummer, many didn’t realize that Earl, al...

Hello, my Drum Channel family! Billy Amendola here in my “Bubble” with, our special guest, superstar Rick Astley.    Before exploding on the pop charts in the 1980s, Astley was playing drums in bands and singing from behind the kit. Once he stepped out front, a new calling began. He was labeled one of the best singers to come out of the U.K. and take America by storm with his powerhouse vocal styl...

Hello Hello! Billy Amendola in my “Bubble” with today’s guest, who is not only one of the most respected musicians/producers on the planet, but he’s also been a mentor, an inspiration, and a dear friend to me for decades. He appeared on the scene in NYC from Michigan as a drummer and teacher. A few of his students include Omar Hakim, the late Tony Thompson, and many others who launched successful...

Hello Everyone, welcome to “Billy’s Bubble” on Drum Channel. Today’s show features my co-host, longtime friend, and the beat on every Billy Joel hit, Liberty DeVitto.   Lib & I got together to honor and pay tribute to the late great Hall of Fame drummer Dino Danelli.  The legendary drummer best known as an innovator, inspiration, and influence to thousands of musicians, first with the 60/70s band...

Hello everyone! This is a “Billy's Bubble” segment here on Drum Channel, and my guest today is a friend and drummer/bandmate for one of the most popular pop/rock bands on the planet, The Struts. The new album “Pretty Vicious” is the band's fourth album, and each gets better and better. The band is ending the 2023 tour and already getting prepared for 2024. Gethin and I talk about a few tracks from...

Hello everyone, Billy A. and my guest today on Drum Channel is Rick Springfield’s Jorge Palacios.    Jorge has been touring and recording with Springfield since 2010.    The gig was originally scheduled for three days as a fill-in for drummer Roger Carter, who was going through health issues at the time and it became the start of a long music relationship with Rick and the band.    In the nineties...

Hello everyone! Billy Amendola here, and my show today is one of my “Billy’s Bubble” segments, featuring Marshall Chess, the son of Chess Records founder Leonard Chess. Chess, a Polish/Jewish immigrant, and his brother Phil created what many describe as “America’s Greatest Blues label.”    You’ve heard of Willie Dixon, Howlin Wolf, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, and other legendary blues m...

Hello everyone, Billy Amendola here with my guest today, drummer T.J. Steinwart from the upcoming independent rock band Feel. If you’re a fan of late 60s British rock drumming and California 70s blues/rock, you will dig T.J. and the band Feel. The vibe of the young band from St. Louis, Missouri, floats back to the sounds of Humble Pie, Bad Company, Led Zeppelin, and the Black Crows combined with f...

Hello everyone, Billy Amendola here on Drum Channel with my guest, Donald Barrett.   Donald recently wrapped up a Las Vegas residency with superstar artist Lady GaGa on her “Piano & Jazz” show.    Over the years, Donald has toured and or performed with Toni Braxton, Seal, Tony Bennett, Sade, Pussycat Dolls, Dolly Parton, and Josh Kelly. From 2006 to 2009, Donald was the house band drummer for TV's...

Hello everyone, Billy Amendola and I’m in Brooklyn, New York in my bubble for this special episode. My guests today are two members of the band Mammoth WVH Garrett Whitlock and Wolfgang Van Halen. As on the previous Mammoth debut, which started as a solo project, Van Halen writes and plays all the instruments, vocals and drums.  Band member Garrett Whitlock and leader and founder Wolfgang Van Hale...

Hello everyone, welcome to “Billy’s Bubble” on Drum Channel. In this segment, we talk to independent country/pop artist Jessica Lynn.    Jess recently returned from a long-awaited two-month European tour that was planned to take place just as the pandemic began.    We talk to Jess about the tour, her career as an independent artist/singer/songwriter, her tips, and her determination to stick to her...

Hello everyone! My guest today is Hooters drummer and long-time band member David Uosikkinen.    David and the band recently recorded and released a new album, “Rocking & Swing,” that took the band back to their original ska/reggae sound from the early eighties.    The band of forty-plus years has just wrapped up their European/US tour, their first lengthy tour in decades.    David has a documenta...

Hello, it’s me, Billy Amendola, on “Billy’s Bubble here on Drum Channel.  My guest today is music director Ray Chew. Ray was a child prodigy since the age of six, he was a first-call studio and touring musician since the mid-seventies, and he’s been on TV producing and leading house bands for over two decades.  He’s worked with Melba Moore, Ashford & Simpson, Luther Vandross, Roberta Flack, Donny...

Hello everyone, Billy Amendola here in NYC on the Drum Channel Podcast.  Today, my guest, Daxx Nielsen, who joined the superstar band Cheap Trick over a decade ago, talks with us about his experience with the legendary band, sharing a tour opening with Rod Stewart, his early years with his original band Harmony Riley with his brother Miles, and more.  Let’s welcome Daxx to Drum Channel. Enjoy! 

Hello, everyone, and welcome to Drum Channel East. The Bronx is in the house today! My guest Tony Cintron, is best known as both a percussionist and drum set player. A native New Yorker Tony has recorded and toured with many of the best in the industry playing R&B, smooth-jazz, Latin-jazz, salsa, gospel, pop and rock.   One of Tony’s first big gigs out of New York City was with legendary vocalist...

Hello everyone, welcome! I’m Billy Amendola and my guest today live in the studio at Drum Channel East is Billy Idol’s Erik Eldenius.  Erik stopped by on his day off of touring with Idol to chat about his career, working with Billy for the past twelve years, (on a recommendation from producer/songwriter/drummer Keith Forsey), his first taste of success as a band member of Adam Cohen’s band Low Mil...

Hello everyone, welcome to “Billy’s Bubble” here on  Drum Channel. Joining Amendola for this week's cover story features one of the most popular hit-making young producers, musicians, and songwriters Pete Nappi.  Billy first met Pete in 2016 at an off-tour show in Brooklyn, New York for iHeart radio station Z-100. Nappi was drumming and producing his LA-based trio, Ocean Park Standoff, who had jus...

Hello everyone, Billy A. here, and my guest is drummer/producer/composer Tal Bergman.  Tal has worked with Billy Idol, Chaka Khan, B.B. King, Dave Mason, Roger Daltrey, Sammy Hagar, Simple Minds, Joe Bonamassa, Billy Gibbons, Herb Alpert,   Chris Botti, Terence Trent D’Arby, Peter Cetera, Heart, Belinda Carlisle,   A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul and LL Cool J .   to name a few.  Tal is also an A...

Hello Drum Channel family! Billy A here and my guest today is Steve Rucker.  Steve is known these days as one of the most respected educators on the planet. Since 1979, Rucker has been the Director of Drum-set Studies at the University of Miami, Florida. Steve’s also a well-known touring and recording artist, mainly as the drummer in The Bee Gees for the second part of their triumphal comeback.  W...

Hello, it’s me, Billy Amendola, here at Drum Channel East with my guest Joey Cassata. I   I first became aware of Joey and his band ZO2 with the Z brothers Paulie and the late David Z., from their IFC comedy TV series Z Rock.    The trio recorded a few albums, and went on  tour opening for their childhood idols.  Joey is also a member Trans Siberian Orchestra for thirteen plus years. He’s written...

Hello everyone, welcome to Drum Channel. I’m Billy Amendola, and my guest for this segment is Brian Dunne. Brian is currently on tour backing both Daryl Hall and Todd Rundgren.    Dunne is also the house drummer for the TV show “Live from Daryl’s House.” Let’s welcome Brian to Drum Channel. 

Hello everyone and welcome to Drum Channel. Billy Amendola here at DC East studios with my guest Rocky Bryant.  Rocky is one of those players who has performed and or recorded with numerous amount of superstars but remains in the background, not one to rest on his laurels, his goal is to do his job and he does it well; in any genre. He’s both a hired gun on the road as well as a recording artist,...