Working Drummer

As a studio musician, Brandon has performed on over 100 recordings including Grammy nominated and winning releases by John Mayer, Sugarland and Shawn Mullins. As a member of the multi-platinum-selling rock band Train, Brandon toured the world, indulging in his life-long rock and roll fantasy of performing a keyboard solo on a smoke-emitting Moog synthesizer. These days, in addition to touring with...

Nick Buda was the featured artist on just the second ever Working Drummer podcast back in January 2015 and we are happy to have him back to talk about what he’s been up to and see what more we can learn from this super pro player. Early in his career, Nick toured with such diverse artists as Edwin McCain, Hank Williams Jr., Jedd Hughes, Maia Sharp, Emily West, Col. Bruce Hampton and the Codetalker...

Dave Elitch first gained notoriety touring with the American progressive rock band The Mars Volta in 2009-2010. Since then he has lent his talents to Miley Cyrus, Justin Timberlake, M83, The 1975, Juliette Lewis, Big Black Delta, and many others. An established LA session player, Dave has performed on various records, syncs, and film scores for major motion pictures, including “Trolls" and “Logan....

Joe Gilder is a musician, songwriter, and producer living in the Nashville area with his wife Pam and 3 kids.  Joe started Home Studio Corner back in 2009. Over the years, he's created thousands of pieces of content — videos, podcasts, articles, training courses, and more — all with the goal of helping home studio folks make better music. In addition to Home Studio Corner, Joe's worked for Sweetwa...

Frank Zummo is currently the drummer of the rock band SUM 41, EDM Artist Kayzo, and has recently begun releasing music and doing live performances under his own name. His schooling started with Dom Famularo and continued at the Drummer's Collective in Manhattan. In 2004, Zummo co-founded the award-winning drum ensemble Street Drum Corps, which became his biggest project to date, resulting in count...

Tommy Harden has been in Nashville since the early 90's. The first gig he landed was 4 months after moving to town with the Grammy award winning Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers. He then went on to tour with Ricky Skaggs, playing drums in the coveted Kentucky Thunder band as well as touring with Reba McEntire for 14 years. Tommy has played on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, The Tonight Sh...

Mike Jackson is a multi-talented musician, composer and overall creative with over 30 years of experience in the fields of music, commercial composition as well as video and audio production. He has composed music for a diverse range of clients and formats like CD-ROM game titles such as Spy Kids® and Totally Spies®, WGN's Footnote and CMT.    While serving as staff composer at one of the nations...

Megan Coleman was born in the heart of Detroit. She grew up in church, learning from the rich culture that is Detroit Gospel, Jazz and RnB music. She always had a passion for music and had the chance to start exploring that both in church and in school when she started playing drums in Jr. High. She continued to grow in love and passion for music, but wanted instead, to pursue Medicine. In the mid...

Chad Melchert is one of Canada’s most pre-eminent live and session drummers who is also an acclaimed drum teacher. This native Canadian calls Edmonton (Morinville), Alberta, home but despite his Canadian residence Melchert has toured all over the world and played with artists from all types genres including Gord Bamford, Brett Kissel, Adam Gregory, Aaron Goodvin, Duane Steele, Hemingway Corner, Gi...

Jake Sommers attended The University of the Arts in Philadelphia (UArts) as a music performance major. He was fortunate to study under Marc Dicciani, Jimmy Paxson (Ben Harper, Stevie Nicks, and Natalie Maine), Gerry Brown (Stevie Wonder and Diana Ross), Marcus Baylor (Yellowjackets), as well as Erik Johnson. He graduated from University of the Arts in May 2013 with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Musi...

Shawn Zorn is a drummer from Memphis, TN who now splits his time beween Nashville and Memphis. He has performed or recorded with artists such as Twin Forks, Allen Mack Myers Moors (featuring Zach Myers of Shinedown) Amy LaVere, Will Sexton, Cory Branan, Mike Doughty (Soul Coughing), Anthony Raneri (Bayside), Dashboard Confessional, Susan Marshall, Luther Dickinson, John Paul Keith, and more. He is...

In 2021, drummer Dave Moraata become the newest member of the band Saving Abel. Originally from a small Mississippi town (Philadelphia), Dave eventually made his way to Nashville, Tennessee in 2017. In between raising a young family and holding down a full time job, Dave took every opportunity to introduce himself to the rock scene in Nashville through jam nights, tribute shows and subbing gigs fo...

Sam Merrick has been in the drum chair for the touring production of Hamilton since January 2018. Prior to that, he was a busy freelancer in New York, working a bartending job for some of that time, and playing a wide range of gigs from weddings to Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings. When the pandemic shut down Hamilton, he relocated to the Washington, DC area and set up a home studio where he has done...

As a drummer/percussionist, producer, engineer, arranger, songwriter, conductor and composer Chuck Palmer has performed and recorded with a myriad of artists including Foreigner, AG, Gil Goldstein, RJD2, Frank Ocean (Channel Orange), Dave Eggar, Esperanza Spalding, Norah Jones, Cellogram, Dr. Ralph Stanley, The City And Horses, John Patitucci, Earwig, Five For Fighting, Amber Rubarth, O.A.R., Wawa...

Cameron Tyler has been based in Las Vegas since 2017, where he is involved with numerous shows including Cirque du Soleil's Ka. He spent the first chapter of his career in Los Angeles learning the ropes of touring and recording, but relocated to Vegas in search of more affordable housing and studio space, and more creative autonomy as a drummer and producer. In this episode, Cameron talks about: W...

Bobby Jarzombek is currently the drummer for progressive metal band Fates Warning, vocalist Sebastian Bach, and country music legend George Strait. He has also recorded and toured extensively with the Halford band, featuring legendary Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford as well as the long-running New York City metal institution Riot. Bobby made his recording debut with Juggernaut on "Baptism Under...

George Sluppick is an American drummer born in Memphis, Tennessee, specializing in blues, funk, soul and R&B music. In 1986, he graduated from Overton, a prestigious creative & performing arts high school. Growing up in Memphis, he shared the stage with many legends, including BB King and Rufus Thomas and just one year after his high school graduation at age 19, he went on the road with blues guit...

Joe McCarthy has led a diverse career as drummer/percussionist, bandleader, producer and educator in a myriad of settings from symphony orchestra to bebop, big band, afro cuban, theater and beyond. Joe is the founder, leader, producer and drummer of The New York Afro Bop Alliance Big Band, winner of the 2008 Latin Grammy for Latin Jazz Album of the Year, and nominated in the same category for the...

Stephen Chopek is a musician living and working in Atlanta, GA. Prior to releasing his first solo album in 2012, he spent over 10 years drumming on tour and in the studio with Charlie Hunter, John Mayer, and Jesse Malin among many others. He had just returned home from a tour playing drums with former Soul Coughing frontman Mike Doughty when an explosive songwriting streak hit him. While in the th...

August 7th, 2021 the first annual Music City Drum Show was held in Nashville Tennessee. Music City Drum Show was created to unite the drumming community in the Greater Nashville area and beyond. Organized by drummer Landon Hall, the Music City Drum Show was focused on drum displays, sales, networking, and clinics. Big thanks to all who participated in our "Front line war correspondence recording"....

Aaron Serfaty was born in Caracas, Venezuela. He began playing drum set at the age of fifteen and started to play professionally at seventeen. He did extensive work as a session and touring drummer from 1980 until 1991 with local and international artists. In 1991 he moved to Los Angeles to study Jazz and African American studies at the California Institute of the Arts. Aaron has also taken lesson...

This episode features six amazing drummers with a wide range of experience, discussing the many unique aspects of gigging in Nashville's downtown tourist district known as lower Broadway. Some have referred to it as "The Honkytonk Industrial Complex". This scene is not for everyone but, for those who are willing to slug it out in the trenches of lower Broadway and perform for a mostly over served...

As the touring drummer for Childers, Rod Elkins is the heartbeat of a rhythm section that includes Elkins’ high-school friends and college bandmates who’ve been playing together for the past 10 years. That band, The Food Stamps, has performed sold out concerts around the world, including a headline debut at Red Rocks Amphitheater, concerts at the Ryman Auditorium, The Grand Ole Opry, Mountain Stag...

Blake Fleming is a percussionist known for his involvement with several influential experimental bands and has recently written his first book, The Book of Rhythm, an unprecedented collection of 5,096 meticulously organized rhythms for all instruments. His drumming has been written about in such major publications as The New York Times, NPR.com, Spin, Rolling Stone, MOJO, Modern Drummer, DRUM!, Da...

Joe Bergamini maintains a diverse career as a drumming performer and educator. Joe is constantly behind the kit for everything from prog rock to Broadway to his touring gig, The Doowop Project. He stays equally busy as the drum editor for Hudson Music, where he has overseen the creation and production of countless books and videos featuring many of the world's greatest drummers. He is also an auth...