10 Drummers

Well…keeping with my latest theme, I’m going to go ahead and name 10 drummers. Again, this is favorites, not neccessarily “the best”. Some may question why I don’t have one name on here…Joey Jordison, from Slipknot. I like and respect his music and playing ability, but I don’t think of him as one of my favorite musicians. If you’ve ever seen the Slipknot DVD where they are interviewed unmasked, you might know what I’m talking about. He comes off as very pretentious. But, that’s a different story. Anyway, hope you enjoy this list…

10. Nick Oshiro (Static-X/Seether) - Gotta love drummer with sweet dreadlocks. I liked Nick’s work with Seether’s first album. Then he moved onto Static-X, which was already one of my favorite bands. He doesn’t really play anything ungodly amazing, but he’s very solid and I enjoyed watching him play and meeting him at Ozzfest. [favorite work - Cannibal]

9. Josh Freese (the Vandals/a perfect circle/guns-n-roses/ashes divide/offspring/lost prophets/Nine Inch Nails/Black Light Burns/seether/Rob Zombie) Ok, in all honesty…I could have listed more, a lot more. This guy has contributed drum tracks to a ton of albums. He’s been a part of some of my favorite bands. Besides, look at all the front-men he’s had to put up with (mainly axl). [favorite work - APC - Passive]

8. Jeff Fabb (In This Moment) - I love the female-fronted band In This Monent. Jeff is a big reason why, he lays down some sweet metal beats, and he’s got pretty quick feet. He also was a pretty nice guy when I met him at a show. [favorite work - Daddy's Falling Angel]

7. Tre Cool (Green Day) -This guy is just fun. He plays these big beats and he’s always fun to watch play. He can also be credited for playing in Green Day’s “Spinoff” bands. [favorite work - Holiday]

6. Tommy Lee (Motley Crue/Methods of Meyhem/solo) - One word: Rockstar. The resident “old guy” on my list fits the mold of rockstar in everyway. Enormously successful band, lots of tattoos, a criminal record, a drug problem, and oh yeah…married Pamela Anderson and Heather Locklear. He was also one of the first drummers to do the whole rotating drumset thing. [favorite work - Home Sweet Home] 

5. Alex Rodriguez (Saosin) - One listen to any Saosin song and you’ll realize that this guy’s hands fly. I imagine he must just destroy high-hats. He does some very subtle fills that are very cool. And, although his playing is busy, it never seems like he’s over doing it. [favorite work - Voices]

4. Matthew McDonough (Mudvayne) - Mudvayne has arguably the best rhythem section in metal today. Matt and Ryan Martinie are just nuts. They play brutal and do it with unusual time signatures on top of it all. I’m glad they ditched the make-up for now though. [favorite work - Forget to Remember]

3. Chris Adler (Lamb of God) - Yeah, I’ll probably include everyone from Lamb of God on my lists. I think they are great musicians. He’s so good, he’s almost not fun to watch. He doesn’t even look like he’s moving sometimes. But, I still love listening to his rhythms. [favorite work - Hourglass]

2. The Rev (Avenged Sevenfold) - This guy combines fun with skill. He does the whole spinning sticks thing - who doesn’t love that. Definitly another guy you wanna watch play. He also handles the backing vocals for the band. [favorite word - Almost Easy]

1. Travis Barker (Blink 182, Boxcar Racer, Transplants, +44) - Travis rules. When he was added to the line-up, Blink 182 became 1000 times better. Everything he does is gold to me. It’s not just that I like his rhythems and beats, but also his playing style. He is easily one of the most fun drummers to watch play. After having his leg put in a cast, he proclaims…”Well, for the up coming tour, I’ll just have to play everything with my left foot” and he did! Then he broke his hand during the shooting of “When Your Heart Stops Beating” - no problem, he just played the tour one handed! For more fun, check out these videos of his “remixes” to popular rap tunes.