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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 Aaron's drum sound and the recording process for "Pocket Full of Kryptonite” their hugely successful breakthrough record, and much more!

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 style as one of the preeminent funk drummers and one of the most important drummers of our time. David also discusses about his new book, “DG’s Notebook My Path To The Groove - Ideas From A Beat Collector” his first drum set he used on the early TOP records, his drum sound and much more!

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 Mark Griffith. It’s the most comprehensive book on Steve Smith ever, from growing up in Whitman, Massachusetts, to attending Berklee College, to his first major tour with "John-Luc Ponty" in 1976, joining “Journey" in 1978, forming "Vital Information" and firmly establishing his place in history as one of the greatest drummers of all time. Other topics in the book include all of Steve’s drum sets throughout the years, an in-depth look at all his gear and the companies he endorses, many for 45 years. Steve and John also discussed his Drum Solo Record, “Fabric Of Rhythm” a bonus download in the book, Steve's upcoming Vital Information 4-CD release “The Complete Columbia Collection” and much more!

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 drum chair for "Steely Dan," which he’s held for almost 20 years. Keith also talks about working with Sting, John Mayer, James Taylor, Toto, and much more!

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 talked about developing his style for playing his signature Texas Shuffle, his critically acclaimed group “Arc Angels” and his long association with guitar great, Kenny Wayne Shepherd. John and Chris also remembered their mutual friend, the late great Mitch Mitchell.

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 Charlie Watts, and much more!

In this episode, John caught up with his longtime friend Tommy Igoe, where they discussed Tommy’s 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 stories and lots more!

John DeChristopher has had a fun and informative discussion with his old friend Russ Miller. They talked about how Russ got his start in Miami, how they met in 1990, and his move to Los Angeles, where after paying his dues, he established himself as a top session musician. They also talked about his company Gruv-X, his product designs for Mapex Drums and Zildjian, and his latest project, HITKOR.

In this episode John DeChristopher and David Frangioni, CEO & Publisher of Modern Drummer discussed their recent collaboration of "Live From My Drum Room" becoming the Modern Drummer Podcast, their 40 year history, what inspires them as drummers, their experiences working in the Drum Industry and much more!

John DeChristopher Live From My Drum Room With Joe Franco! talked about Joe's long and successful career including The Good Rats, Chilliwack, Twisted Sister, Widowmaker, Jack Bruce and creating his home studio, “Beat Street." they also discussed his legendary book, "Double Bass Drumming," the definitive book for double bass drum playing.

The Neil Peart Scholarship, in collaboration with Neil’s wife Carrie & Modern Drummer, is proud to present the first recipient of the Neil Peart Spirit of Drumming Scholarship, Maxx Rinkus. The scholarship, originally announced at the 2020 Modern Drummer Festival by Carrie Nuttall-Peart, provides Maxx with 52 weeks of drum lessons from world-class drum instructor Dom Famularo, along with a 1 year subscription to Modern Drummer All Access, plus a selection of classic Rush album releases from Universal Music Enterprises. In this video, Maxx is presented with the scholarship by Carrie Nuttall-Peart, Modern Drummer CEO David Frangioni, Educator Dom Famularo and Dennis Wolfe of Universal Music.

Welcome to this week's Modern Drummer Podcast. Celebrate the holiday week with a Throwback Thursday show (with new material) about the 2021 Modern Drummer Festival. (Where to get tickets, when it’s debut streaming - it begins at 12:01 am on December 25th.) As a bonus, we end this podcast/year with a little help from our friends, Jet Velocity Holiday All-Star Band, led by singer/songwriter Jason Ebs and featuring one of our 40-festival drummers Gregg Potter, along with Janea-Chadwick-Ebs, Cathy Rich, Teddy Andreadis and more. “Now that it’s Christmas time, everyone’s feeling fine!” The MD 2021 festival starts streaming on December 25th and with your ticket purchase, you can watch anytime and as many times for three months. Enjoy! We look forward to a healthy, safe and Happy New Year!

Welcome to this week’s Modern Drummer Podcast with Billy Amendola and his guest Clint de Ganon. This special podcast is brought to you by Vibes high-fidelity earplugs. Clint, one of the busiest behind the scenes drummers/composers has a diverse resume. Known for his professionalism work ethic has kept him a first call studio recording/performer/composer for over thirty-plus years. Not your typical Broadway Drummer, de Ganon has done his share of impressive plays. Carole King’s “Beautiful,” “Hairspray,” “Footloose,” and more. He’s recorded the music for hundreds of TV shows including the popular Amazon Prime series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Clint shares how he survived the pandemic, being prepared for any gig at a moment’s notice and doing the music for the new Steven Spielberg blockbuster “West Side Story.” (which he also appears on screen in a cameo). Performing and or recording with Stevie Wonder, Manhattan Transfer, Tom Scott, Hiram Bullock, Will Lee, Paul Shaffer, John Tropea, Art Garfunkel and way too many to name has kept Clint’s phone ringing for years and we’re sure for years to come. Enjoy!

Hello everyone! Welcome to this week's Modern Drummer Podcast. This week Billy Amendola and David Frangioni speak openly about the current state of the Modern Drummer brand. Joining us in conversation are world educator Dom Famularo and M-Network TV/Film producer Thom Mozloom. It’s a candid fly-on-the-wall conversation that explains what’s happening in the world of MD. We are also proud to “officially” announce the 2021 Modern Drummer Festival to debut stream on December 25th on the Modern Drummer Website. Would you please go to: https://www.moderndrummer.com/festival2021/ for details, VIP packages, tickets, and more? Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays season! We look forward to spending Xmas with you! We can’t think of a better gift for the musician in your life. We can’t stress enough how much we appreciate our readers and supporters, and we look forward to a safe, healthy, and happy 2022. Enjoy!

Welcome to this week's Modern Drummer Podcast featuring Gina Schock of the Go-Go’s. Gina and MD’s Billy Amendola have a relaxing afternoon in Brooklyn discussing the effect of her first concert at eleven years old igniting her dream of becoming a musician and leading her on a path of success. Gina also discusses her first book, Made in Hollywood: All Access with The Go-Go’s. A coffee table book packed with stories and photos collected by the drummer over her 40-year career. “I’m excited to share this with everyone because these photos have just been sitting in drawers and under the beds and closets and all over the place,” says Schock. “It’s nice to have them all in one place so that everybody will be able to see them.” Recently the Go-Go’s were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame by actress Drew Barrymore. “When I was about seven I discovered the Go-Go’s. I went out and bought their album Beauty and the Beat. And as the vinyl twirled, my whole world changed.” The Go-Go’s were the first all-female band to have a Number One album in the Billboard 200 when Beauty and the Beat hit the top spot in 1982. The quintet — Belinda Carlisle, Charlotte Caffey, Gina Schock, Kathy Valentine, and Jane Wiedlin also performed during the 2021 ceremony. Let’s listen in!

Hi! Welcome to Part 2 of MD’s Podcast with Earl Young & Billy Amendola. Listen and watch this legend continue with his valuable words of wisdom as a young enthusiastic 80 year old, with 65 + years of experience playing and entertaining. We continue where we left off of part one with Earl breaking down the three sounds he helped create with TSOP, MSFB, and the Salsoul Orchestra (featuring musical director Vince Montana) Sit back, relax and enjoy!

Welcome to this week’s Modern Drummer Podcast with Billy Amendola and August 2021 MD cover artist Earl Young. Tune in to watch/listen to part 1 as Billy and Earl talk about how The Sound of Philadelphia (TSOP) was born—Earl’s early days learning drums, going in the studio with the rhythm section Baker, Harris, Young, and how the trio began working with Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff, and Thom Bell - three of the most successful producer/songwriters of all-time. Parts of Earl’s interview can be read in his cover story in both print/digital editions of MD but, we had so much to cover that we wound up talking for hours and having enough material for the magazine and two episodes for the MD Podcast. Earl’s career is astounding because most people know him as the recording drummer/singer/performer of the Grammy award-winning group The Trammps. To this day, the group is still selling out shows around the world. Earl also happens to be one of the most recorded Disco/R&B/Soul drummers of all time. Earl created a whole new sound he innovated called disco. At one point, TSOP/MFSB/Salsoul turned out hit after hit after hit and had songs on the radio in the 1960s & 70s that are now “Soul/R&B/Disco classics.” Enjoy part 1, and please come back for part 2. “Burn Baby Burn!”

Welcome to this weeks Modern Drummer Podcast with Billy Amendola and Doobie Brothers drummer Ed Toth. (with special “pop in guest,” radio personality, actor, & film maker Al Banderio). Al mentions the upcoming Rocky IV movie he is in, which features a new directors cut theatrical release on November 11th. Ed Toth, who was a member of the 90s million selling group Vertical Horizon, has been touring with the Doobies now for sixteen years. He joined original Doobie Brother’s drummer Michael Hossack from 2005 to 2010, and doubled drums with Tony Pia from 2010 to 2016. After Tony’s departure, the band decided to just keep it at one drummer. Ed has held down the fort for the rest of 2016, 2017, and in 2018, famed percussionist Marc Quiñones from the Allman Brothers joined on percussion. Ed says; “Marc and I have a really cool thing happening and he is a joy to play with!” The band with Michael McDonald is currently wrapping up their 50th anniversary tour for 2021 and have plans to tour again in 2022. Ed explains the often confusing revolving drum chair in a Doobie Brothers drummer timeline and so much more! Lets listen in and enjoy!

Welcome to this week's Modern Drummer Podcast with Billy Amendola and his guest Josh Freese. If you’re not familiar with his enormous body of work, please look up his discography, and it’ll make your head spin. Since a very young age, Josh has been a touring musician, a first-call studio musician, a singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist, and a band member as both a leader and hired gun. He recently finished up touring and doing dates with Devo and The Offspring, in between playing on hit albums and songs, and he’s getting ready as we speak to head out back on the road with Sting. He is a member of the Vandals (since 1989) and Devo (since 1996), he played drums for Guns N' Roses from 1997 to 2000, A Perfect Circle from 1999 to 2012, Nine Inch Nails from 2005 to 2008, Weezer from 2009 to 2011, and recorded over 400 records. In December 2010, Freese toured with Paramore on their South American tour. In fall 2016, he returned to playing full-time with Sting, whom he toured and recorded within 2005. In 2021, he toured with The Offspring. It’s mind-boggling. Let’s listen in and discover or be reminded why Josh is one of the greats. Enjoy!

For today’s podcast, we are running a #TBT with Andy Newmark and producer Jack Douglas to remember John Lennon on what would have been his 81st birthday on October 9th.