The Drummer's Perspective Podcast

In this episode, I chat with the incredible Jason Heerah! We discuss his unique approach to blending drumming and singing, and how he adapts to a wide range of musical settings. Jason also opens up about life on the road, sharing how he stays grounded while touring. We also touch on balancing the demands of a music career with family life.  Enjoy!

In this interview, I sit down with renowned Australian drummer Johnny Salerno to explore what it takes to be a truly versatile player. We dive into his approach to adapting across genres and handling the fast-paced nature of jumping from one gig to the next. Johnny also shares practical insights on time management, mindset, and maintaining professionalism in a busy schedule.  Enjoy!

Gordon Rytmeister is without a doubt one of my biggest inspirations, not only as a player, but as a career musician as well. Gordos versatility and adaptability to almost any musical situation has been something that I have always been in awe of. Aside from his amazing skills as a drummer, he's been able to stay at the top of his game in a career sense for decades now, and is continuing to play so...

Steve Lamante has been the drummer for the Australian and International tours of "Hamilton" for the past 3 years. In this chat, we speak about Steves path to getting the gig on such an incredible show, the joys and challenges of playing a musical theatre production and what he thinks are some of the most valuable skills to have as a drummer in order to succeed in todays industry. Enjoy!  You can f...

Ben Ellingworth is the current drummer for the incredible G-Flip. For the past 5 years, he has been touring and recording with G all over the world, and in this chat, I speak to Ben all about the ins and outs of the gig. Everything from how he got the gig, how the show is put together and rehearsed too what he thinks are the most important elements to work on in your playing to be able to play a g...

Patty Danao is without a doubt one of Australia's best up and coming drummers. Currently he's holding the drum chair on 2 amazing gigs, Jessica Mauboy and with the jazz legend, James Morrison. In this chat, I speak with Patty not only about how those gigs came about for him, but just how he goes about changing his approach between the 2 extremely contrasting, yet equally challenging gigs. He also...

No one has influenced me more not only a drummer, but also as a person, as my Dad Steve Todd. He has had an extremely successful career as a professional drummer for over 40 years, and in that time has seen so much change and development in the music industry and drumming in general. In this conversation we chat about a wide range of topics, from his time as a full time session musician in Adelaid...

Memorising a piece of music can be challenging, but memorising an entire show requires a different level of learning. Over the years, I have needed to memorise a wide variety of shows, and be able to recall and execute the intricate details at times under a lot of pressure. In this video, I share with you my approach to memorising a shows worth of music as I currently go through the process of lea...

Sydney based Jack Robert is absolutely killing it on the Australian festival touring scene. Having played with a super impressive list of artists already, his most recent gigs have been with Tkay Maidza and Thundamentals. In this conversation, I speak with Jack about some of the “ins-and-outs” of playing on major festivals, how he adapts his playing depending on the gig and size of venue, his appr...

If you know anything about Cirque du Soleil, and more specifically the drums and percussion within it, you'll know that Kit Chatham is an absolute legend in that world! He has been a part of 4 different creations for Cirque du Soleil shows, as well as playing and touring in more than that again. Apart from being an incredibly versatile and adaptable drummer and percussionist, Kit has had so much e...

If you were one of the millions of people who tuned in to watch the ABC TV Australia New Years Eve show live from the steps of the Opera House, you would have seen Brendan Tan absolutely killing it as part of the house band! Playing with a huge array of artists in an even bigger range of styles, learning over 30 tunes, all live to air is no small feat. This is Brendans second year playing the New...

Alex Flood is fast becoming a trailblazer on the Australian drumming scene. He's released 3 solo albums, in which he composed and produced, and is now touring nationally and internationally under his own name. In this interview, we discuss Alex's creative process when writing music, how he balances his solo career with freelance work, as well as how the role of social media has influenced and shap...

Kosta Theodosis is known for his incredible energy as a drummer. He has recently returned from a tour with Delta Goodrem all through Europe and Australia. Prior to this, Kosta has also played with artists such as Conrad Sewell, Robbie Williams, The Kite String Tangle, Amy Meredith and many more. In this conversation, Kosta shares his experiences of what its like to tour with some of the best pop a...

Emma Ford was born and raised in Australia, studied drums at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, became an active member of the Australian musical theatre community, but is now living, working and playing drums on Broadway. She has played numerous shows both in Australia and on Broadway, including In The Heights, Moulin Rouge, Pippin, Paradise Square and became the first woman in the world to play...

Touring as a musician, and being paid to do it is one of the greatest privileges you can have as a performer. Not a day goes by where I am not extremely grateful to have a full-time touring job playing drums. Having said that, being on tour, especially for a long period of time, can be a challenging and difficult environment to be in for many reasons. In this video, I want to share with you what I...

Benjamin Northey is one of the most well respected, in demand and versatile conductors in Australia. He has worked with every major symphony orchestra in the country, as well as numerous performances as a guest conductor overseas. Due to his incredible versatility and background, Benjamin has had the chance to conduct countless orchestral performances that also include drums and rhythm sections. H...

Any time we play, we always want to aim to be as relaxed as possible. This can be much easier said than done sometimes, however there is one super common issue that many drummers and musicians have, that can be easily fixed to help them play more relaxed. The best part is, it takes literally no practice to execute it at all!!

Gerry Pantazis is someone who I would consider to be the quintessential "all-rounder". He's worked in pretty much every conceivable musical situation, with an amazing array of artists from Bachelor Girl to Tommy Emmanuel to Larry Carlton just to name a few. He's also performed on countless TV shows, and recorded a huge variety of albums and soundtracks both commercially and from his home studio. I...

Finding time to practice can sometimes be a real challenge. Say you do find yourself with a spare 10, 15 or 20 minutes to practice, how do you make sure that you get the absolute most out of that time, without wasting minutes fumbling around and trying to think of things to work on? In this weeks video I share with you my top 3 tips to help you get the most out of your practice when you only have...

Chong Lim's list of credits is astounding. Not only has he been the long time musical director and keyboard player for the legendary John Farnham, Chong has served as an MD and producer for some of Australia's biggest events, including the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games and the AFL Grand Final to name just a few. He has also been the musical director and keyboard player for multiple TV series,...

Books are of course a limitless resource of information for us to learn, be inspired and change the way we think. The 5 books that I discuss in this video have not only changed the way I think about drums and music, but in many ways about life in general. No matter where you are in your drumming journey, I know that at least one, if not all of these books will be able to help your development in s...

Darryn Farrugia is an absolute legend of the Australian drumming scene. In his long and extremely varied career as a musician, he has played with artists such as Tom Jones, Tina Arena, Lou Rawls, The Commodores, Curtis Steigers, Trisha Yearwood, Ruby Turner, Larry Adler, Joe Cocker, Michael Feinstein, Ray Davies (the Kinks), Ernie Watts, B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt, Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter, Randy Crawford...

Gareth Thomson, originally from Melbourne, Australia started his musical journey as a drummer, playing with bands like on Toast, Kylie Auldist and Seth Sentry, but has now transitioned more into the world of mixing and producing. He represents so much of what I love to showcase on Drummer's Perspective, and that is drummers and percussionists using their drumming knowledge as a foundation to succe...