Live From My Drum Room! ®

Send me a text and please visit www.livefrommydrumroom.com John’s guest was Donn Bennett, drummer, educator and founder of Donn Bennett’s Drum Studio in Seattle, WA. Donn talks about how he went from a teaching studio to opening his retail store, how he got into collecting vintage drums, creating “Donn’s Drum Vault” - his incredible collection of rare and vintage drums and his "Artist Collect...

Send me a text and please visit www.livefrommydrumroom.com My guest is my old pal Matt Sorum, drummer for Guns N’ Roses, The Cult, Velvet Revolver, Kings Of Chaos, Billy Gibbons and numerous side projects. Matt and I discuss Matt’s long and successful career, with lots of great stories including his audition for David Lee Roth in 1985, joining Guns N' Roses, and Matt’s newly released autobiog...

Send me a text and please visit www.livefrommydrumroom.com This is an interview from Bart van der Zee's excellent Drum History Podcast! I'm sharing it to my podcast platforms with Bart's permission.  Be sure to check out Drum History Podcast! https://www.drumhistorypodcast.com/ About this episode:  John worked for Zildjian for 24 years in a number of roles from sales all the way up...

Send me a text and please visit www.livefrommydrumroom.com John’s guest is Aaron Comess, drummer and founding member of the "Spin Doctors.” In this episode Aaron talks about growing up in Dallas, his early influences, his teachers, attending North Texas State, then Berklee College in Boston for a year, and eventually moving to New York and forming the Spin Doctors. John and Aaron discussed Aa...

Send me a text and please visit www.livefrommydrumroom.com John’s guest is the legendary David Garibaldi! David and John discussed his incredible career with Tower of Power, and his concept for creating some of the most iconic and timeless drum beats in history, including his signature groove for TOP’s timeless classic, “What Is Hip.” David talks about his influences for creating his own unique st...

Send me a text and please visit www.livefrommydrumroom.com I had the extraordinary pleasure of being a guest on the Cheron Moore Extraordinary Drummers Show! It's nice to be on the other side of the Zoom camera for a change! Thanks, Cheron! 😁 🙏 https://livefrommydrumroom.com www.youtube.com/c/JohnDeChristopherLiveFromMyDrumRoom

Send me a text and please visit www.livefrommydrumroom.com In this episode, Steve Smith and John DeChristopher do a deep dive into Steve’s Modern Drummer Legend Series Book available now as a digital download and as a print book on May 20, 2022. All of Steve’s Modern Drummer Cover/Feature interviews are included in his Legend Series Book, starting in 1981, to a recent in-depth interview with MD’s...

Send me a text and please visit www.livefrommydrumroom.com John’s guest this week is the one and only Keith Carlock! In this episode, Keith and John recall their first meeting in 1997 at the beginning of Keith’s career. Keith talks about playing the 55 Bar in New York with guitarist Wayne Krantz, where he caught the attention of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, ultimately leading to him landing the...

Send me a text and please visit www.livefrommydrumroom.com In this episode, John caught up with his old friend Chris Layton and talked about his early drumming influences, moving from his home town of Corpus Christi to Austin, TX at age 20. Becoming entrenched in Austin’s music scene, which led to meeting legendary guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan and forming, “Double Trouble.” Chris talks about devel...

Send me a text and please visit www.livefrommydrumroom.com In this episode, Chad talks about moving to Los Angeles in 1988 to attend music school and joining the "Red Hot Chili Peppers”, the new RHCP record and upcoming tour, the supergroup “Chickenfoot” and other projects, and his MD Legends Book which is now available. Chad and John shared some stories about their friends Hal Blaine and Cha...

Send me a text and please visit www.livefrommydrumroom.com I caught up with my longtime friend Tommy Igoe, and discussed his incredible career, including writing the drum set book for the Lion King, residencies with his bands "The Birdland Big Band" and "The Tommy Igoe Groove Conspiracy," Endorsements, Education and his hugely successful Groove Essentials series, some funny sto...

Send me a text and please visit www.livefrommydrumroom.com A fun and informative chat with my old friend and spectacular drummer, Russ Miller. We talked about how Russ got his start in Miami, meeting in 1990, and Russ' move to Los Angeles, where after paying his dues, he established himself as a top session musician. We also talked about his company Gruv-X, his product designs for Mapex Drums...

Send me a text and please visit www.livefrommydrumroom.com In this episode John DeChristopher and David Frangioni, CEO & Publisher of Modern Drummer discussed their recent collaboration of “Live From My Drum Room” collaborating with Modern Drummer, their 40 year history, what inspires them as drummers, their experiences working in the Drum Industry and much more!  *Live From My Drum Room licen...

Send me a text and please visit www.livefrommydrumroom.com Joe and I discuss his long and successful career including The Good Rats, Chilliwack, Twisted Sister, Widowmaker, Jack Bruce and creating his home studio, “Beat Street." We also discussed his book, "Double Bass Drumming," the definitive book for double bass drum playing, and more!   https://livefrommydrumroom.com www.youtube...

Send me a text and please visit www.livefrommydrumroom.com My guest is legendary Hard Rock/Metal drummer, John Tempesta! We discussed John's incredible 30+ year career including Exodus, Testament, White Zombie, Rob Zombie and The Cult, which he's been a member of since 2006.  https://livefrommydrumroom.com www.youtube.com/c/JohnDeChristopherLiveFromMyDrumRoom

Send me a text and please visit www.livefrommydrumroom.com My guest is Rob Shanahan. We discussed Rob's incredible career and journey from growing up in a small town in Minneapolis, to becoming one of the most in-demand music photographers in Los Angeles, as well as his drumming and in recent years, becoming a keynote speaker.   https://livefrommydrumroom.com www.youtube.com/c/JohnDeChristoph...

Send me a text and please visit www.livefrommydrumroom.com A fabulous chat with the legendary Aynsley Dunbar! Aynsley and I discussed his incredible 50+-year career, including Jeff Beck, Frank Zappa, David Bowie, Journey, Jefferson Starship, Whitesnake and more!  Be sure to check out Aynsley's recent 2025 TrackTalk episode!  https://livefrommydrumroom.com www.youtube.com/c/JohnDeChristopherLi...

Send me a text and please visit www.livefrommydrumroom.com My guests are Cathy Rich and Gregg Potter. As we approach 35 years since his passing, we discussed Cathy's Dad, the legendary Buddy Rich. Cathy shared stories about the man whom is considered by many to the greatest drummer of all time. Cathy and Gregg shared lots of great Buddy stories, and many laughs were had throughout the show! ...

Send me a text and please visit www.livefrommydrumroom.com A great chat with my old friend and former Drum Industry and Zildjian colleague, Joe Testa! Joe is the Vice President of Artist Relations at Zildjian and Vic Firth, and has an extensive background in the Drum Industry, including Warner Brothers Video and Yamaha Drums.  https://livefrommydrumroom.com www.youtube.com/c/JohnDeChristopherLiveF...

Send me a text and please visit www.livefrommydrumroom.com A fun chat with my old friend, the legendary Vinnie Colaiuta! We discussed Vinnie's years at Berklee College of Music and living in Boston, before moving to Los Angeles where he turned the drumming world upside down! And lots of great insights from Vinnie.  Be sure to subscribe to his podcast "Breakfast With Vinnie" and plea...

Send me a text and please visit www.livefrommydrumroom.com My guest today is Shane Kinney, owner of Drum Center of Portsmouth. Shane discusses his philosophy for making his drum shop one of the best and most successful shops on the planet. Some truly great insights from one of the drum industry's top retailers. Give a listen and you'll know why Shane is such an incredible success story. ...

Send me a text and please visit www.livefrommydrumroom.com A fabulous conversation with the great Gerry Brown! Gerry talks about growing up in Philadelphia and meeting his childhood friend Stanley Clarke and their musical path together. Moving to Europe. Playing with Larry Coryell and Chick Corea. Getting the gig with Lionel Richie and moving to Los Angeles. Playing with Stevie Wonder and Diana Ro...

Send me a text and please visit www.livefrommydrumroom.com A fabulous chat with my old friend, the great Anton Fig! Anton is best known for being the drummer on the David Letterman Show for nearly 30 years, but his list of recording and performance credits is staggering. We talk about his time at New England Conservatory, moving to New York and recording with Ace Frehley and later Kiss and many ot...

Send me a text and please visit www.livefrommydrumroom.com A great conversation with my pal Jason Bittner. Jason talks about the recent sold-out Shadows Fall reunion show, touring with OVERKILL, and the importance of learning and playing different styles of music. He also talks about his friendship with Neil Peart and shared some great stories about Neil.  https://livefrommydrumroom.com www.youtub...

Send me a text and please visit www.livefrommydrumroom.com My guest was my dear friend Denny Tedesco, Director of the award winning documentary, "The Wrecking Crew" and son of legendary studio/Wrecking Crew guitarist, Tommy Tedesco. Denny and I discussed "The Wrecking Crew" his dad, Tommy Tedesco, Hal Blaine, and more. We also discussed his latest documentary, "The Immedia...