Welcome to British Drum Icons, the latest feature to be added to our ever expanding website. This new sub-section of the site is dedicated to the celebration of British drummers who have been admired by many and been an influence to some of the biggest names in the industry.
In our constant search for new drumming heroes we often tend to forget those who blazed a path for others to follow. People like Clem Cattini, Brian Bennett and Bob Henrit were among a phalanx of drummers who came out of the melting pot of skiffle, when British rock music was at its infancy. They are the “without whom brigade” who laid the trail for Ringo, Moonie and Bonzo to follow. If you think you haven’t heard these guys play, think again. Put together, their work is a fantastic and rich slice of music from the early days of rock ‘n’ roll and they are all still going strong today. They were and remain true innovators who have played with rock and pop’s royalty.
We will start off with a few great drummers and will be adding more in time to make this a complete record of some of the greatest British drumming heroes. This first set of interviews were done by Mark Forster, who is regular contributor of feature interviews to mikedolbear.com, a news journalist of some 20 years and the inspiration behind the piece. So here they are, in no particular order.
Paul Robinson
Paul Robinson and I were supposed to get together at Drummer Live but in the event, the racket there wasn’t conducive to recording an interview and he came around to my place for a couple
Eric Delaney
Classic Eric Delaney I arranged to meet Eric Delaney at Tom’s Drums in Denmark Street and believe it or not the great man was early while I turned up fashionably late. In the
Geoff Dunn
Geoff Dunn I have been aware of Geoff’s name for 25 years now but we had never met. The first drum clinic I ever went to in London was 25 years ago to
Warren Cann
Warren Cann He's the drummer behind one of the most recognisable beats in music history. He’s also one of the pioneers of electronic drums, a visionary who saw the potential behind the odd-looking
Steve White
Steve White Steve White – looking ahead and moving forward Steve White is one of the most respected drummers in the U.K. and is renowned worldwide for having held the position of drummer
Don Powell
Interview with Don Powell - Slade by Steve Grantley We had been thinking of including Slade drummer Don Powell in our Great British Drum Heroes section for some time. As Steve Grantley, drummer with Stiff
Bill Bruford
We recently caught up with Bill Bruford and threw a few interesting questions his way. What resulted was a facinating look into the mind of a British Drumming legend! What''s the job of a drummer
Nicko McBrain
The Mighty Nicko McBrain Early in 1981, a youthful and acned Mike Ellis arrived at a north Wales venue to be greeted by a monstrous Sonor kit already set up on stage and
Brian Downey
Brian Downey, London, March 2007 There’s little doubt that Thin Lizzy had an enormous impact on the world during the 1970’s and 1980’s and few rock aficionados could have failed to have been
Rat Scabies
Rat Scabies Rat Scabies is an enigma who I first bumped into 32 years ago in Henrit’s Drumstore at a time when he and his punk mates were aggressively and enthusiastically changing the
John Coghlan
John Coghlan is best known for his work with Status Quo but apart from a self imposed drum free period, he''s been playing constantly since leaving the band. Bob Henrit went and had a chat
Kenney Jones
Kenney Jones Kenney Jones - 40 years of Rock'n’Roll Ringo, Charlie, Keith, Mitch, Ginger… and Kenney. When the Small Faces charted in March 1965 with ‘What ‘cha Gonna Do About It’, little did
