Matthew Brown named Young Drummer of the Year

Matthew Brown, a 16-year-old drummer from Hackney, London, is UK's Young Drummer of the Year 2013. He won the grand final yesterday, Sunday 3rd February.

Held at Leamington Spa's Royal Spa Centre, the drum event saw Matthew and nine other finalists (whittled down from 400 entries) perform in front of a panel of star judges which included Richard Jupp, Robin Guy, Ash Soan and Donavan Hepburn.

All finalists had to perform a solo piece and two other pieces with a band. It was a hard-fought battle, but in the end Matthew was named the winner.

The other finalists of Young Drummer of the Year 2013 included:
Sien Gwilym Roberts from Wales

• Paul Youngs from Lowestoft 
• Callum Edwards from Ayrshire 
• Euan Leslie from Dumfries 
• Nick Georgiou from Glasgow 
• Peter Rayner from Chelmsford 
• Oscar Ogden from Lancashire 
• Nathan Greene from Birmingham 
• Nathan Wallington from Dorset

The annual Young Drummer of the Year competition, organised by Mike Dolbear, is sponsored by Mapex, Paiste and Vic Firth.

Watch one of Matthew's entry videos here:

 

Russ Miller joins the Mapex artist family

The Mapex Drum Company welcomes Russ Miller to their family of artists. Russ, who endorsed Yamaha until now, is internationally known as one of the top drummers of today. As a multi-platinum recording artist, he has played on multiple Grammy award winning recordings with combined sales of over 26 million copies.

Russ Miller's musical versatility has led him to work with an incredible list of over fifty international artists from legends like Ray Charles, The Fifth Dimension, Natalie Cole, Tina Turner and Bobby Caldwell through modern stars, Nelly Furtado, The Psychedelic Furs, Hilary Duff, Steve Perry, Andrea Bocelli, Daniel Bedingfield and Meredith Brooks.

As a star of the Los Angeles studio scene, the Modern Drummer Magazine Readers Poll has repeatedly voted Russ in the top 5 studio drummers in the world, including 2010, when he was voted the #2 session drummer.

Russ also has authored two books: 'The Drum Set Crash Course', and 'The Drum Set Crash Course Tuning Edition' from Alfred Publications. A 7-time Modern Drummer reader's poll winner, Russ' solo projects were also voted the #1 educational books and videos in the world (2001-2004). Says Russ:
"I have been playing drums professionally for quite some time, ...and most of my endorsement relationships have lasted well over 20 years. But after seeing the direction that Mapex is headed in, I felt it was time for a change to a brand and a team that has their eye on the future. What Mapex does so well is the delivery of all aspects of the instrument. The sound, the presentation, the quality …the finishes are impeccable, piano like lacquer…that's what I am looking for in a company. We innovate together and that is really important. I am really happy to be associated with Mapex."

Michael Robinson, KHS Director of Marketing, states:
"Several of us on the Mapex team have known and respected Russ for a long time. His knowledge of the instrument and design experience is a perfect fit with where we want to take the brand. The fact that he's a great guy and is easy to work with make it that much better."

Christian Netzell rejoins Volturyon

Original drummer Christian "Crille" Netzell has rejoined Volturyon. The Swedish metallers have issued the following update about their skinsman's return:

"We are very happy to announce that Crille has rejoined Volturyon as a permanent member on drums. During the session time in the band he felt more and more that it was time to rejoin forces and start kicking ass again. The rehearsals for the new album is going very well and we are hungrier than ever to make this third album our best album so far!"

Christian Netzell, who also plays drums with In Mourning and Spasmodic, left the group in April 2012.

Hit Like A Girl 2013 celebrates female drummers

Developed to support, promote and inspire the growth of female drummers, the Hit Like A Girl drumming contest for women and girls attracted nearly 400 contestants and more than 400,000 online votes from around the world in 2012. This response has allowed organizers to plan for an even bigger event in 2013.

Hit Like A Girl 2013 will begin accepting online video entries at hitlikeagirl2013.com on Friday, February 1, 2013. Entries will close on Sunday, March 31, 2013.

A panel of world-renowned drummers including Meytal Cohen (independent), Hannah Ford (Prince, Bellevue Suite) and Dawn Richardson (4 Non Blondes, Tracy Chapman) will then select and judge the finalists.

In addition to offering drum and accessory prizes valued at thousands of dollars, Hit Like A Girl 2013 has been expanded with the participation of corporate sponsor School Of Rock and divided into under and over 18 age divisions to create more interest and a more even playing field.

Submitted videos can be drum covers, solos or performances with a band or pre-recorded tracks and will judged on factors such as technique, musicality and overall effect.

Additional details will be announced as they become available. To learn more and view the top women’s drumming videos from last year, visit hitlikeagirl2013.com.

Hit Like A Girl 2013 is led by Drum! Magazine with Drum Workshop, TRX Cymbals, Evans, Vater Percussion, and SKB Cases as participating sponsors, along with media sponsors Drum Channel, Alfred Music, Tom Tom Magazine, and the Enter Music Network.

Rock on female drummers :P

Pearl Solicits Beats From Drummers Worldwide

You have to hand it to Pearl for coming up with one of the coolest promotions in recent memory. With the launch of Project 108, the mega drum company is inviting drummers from around the world to send in videos of themselves playing four bars at 108 beats per minute. Accepted submissions will be combined with videos of such Pearl endorsers as Scott Johnson, Todd Sucherman, Terence Higgins, and Omar Hakim to create a seamless patchwork of grooves and chops. The only proviso is that all vids must feature drummers playing Pearl drums. Hey, you can’t blame them – they came up with this cool idea, after all!

Interested? Go here to get started.

Nice project from Pearl ;) Check their site for videos and rules!

Gregg Bissonette's first ever Groove Camp

World-renowned drumming superstar Gregg Bissonette (Ringo Starr & His All Starr Band, David Lee Roth, James Taylor, etc) will host his first ever Gregg Bissonette Groove Camp in Thousand Oaks, California on March 15th-17th.

Presented by MUSO Entertainment, known from organizing the Thomas Lang Drum Boot Camps, the Gregg Bissonette Groove Camp (GBGC) will offer a limited number of students a total of 24 hours of hands-on, intensive playing alongside one of the world's most prolific and respected drummers.

The GBGC offers three, eight-hour days of hands-on drumming in a small-scale classroom setting featuring instruction in a variety of techniques and musical drumming styles including: pop, rock, jazz, metal, latin, country, punk, reggae, big band, blues, hip hop, linear funk and old school funk among others.

Sponsors include: Mapex, Zildjian, Vic Firth, Remo, LP, DW, Shure and Samson.

Please visit www.muso-mart.com for pricing and additional information. Be one of the first five students to register and receive Gregg's latest dvd 'Yesterday * Today * Tomorrow'.

Dirk Verbeuren talks about new Soilwork album

Soilwork drummer Dirk Verbeuren has given an exclusive interview to bloody-disgusting.com, mostly talking about the band's upcoming double album 'The Living Infinite', but also his thoughts on social media and his favorite drum fills, among other topics.

The drummer says he is stoked about the recording session for 'The Living Infinite' at Fascination Street Studio in Varberg, Sweden. Looking back at the process, Dirk says he worked pretty hard for about eight days in a row:
"Well, nine days technically. I started on the evening of the first day and ended on the afternoon of the last day. I think I got everything done and so far no one has told me that I have to come back in! [laughs]"

Speaking about 'The Living Infinite', Soilwork's first double album, Dirk says:
"It's definitely a bit intimidating when you think about it just because recording a regular album can be pressure and there usually ends up being some pressure in the studio to get everything done. So the idea [starts laughing] of making it harder for ourselves was kind of interesting at first. But I guess we all had time to kind of, you know, get used to that idea and prepare for it. It was still kind of a germ until we realized that we did have a ton of material."
Dirk has recorded about 24 dvds worth of drum footage. He is planning to sit down in the next few weeks and edit something together so he can give fans a taste of the drums for Soilwork's next release.

For the complete interview, including Dirk's thoughts on social media and his favorite drum fill that he has recorded, please visit bloody-disgusting.com.