“Rock compares to jazz like killing someone with a baseball bat vs. putting a pillow over their mouth”. Ian Matthews has both ways down like few others. Coming from a jazz background he swapped the thin sticks for some proper wood and has been the power house behind British Indie Rock band Kasabian for the
Photo by Ed Peers Starting as a young boy from Lancashire with a dream, Joe Clegg has earned his stripes the hard way. From a short time at music college and early touring experiences, Joe struggled with set backs that almost made him give up on his dreams. But family support, hard work
If we look at drummers out there today, we see lots of fast guys, tons of ‘choppy’ guys and some tasty groovers, but when was really the last time you saw a new exciting drummer? A drummer want to listen to as closely as you can, to not miss any idea, any little detail or
“Astonishing and emotionally powerful…” Brian Eno. Born in Switzerland and brought up all over the world, Jojo Mayer was always exposed to a wide range of musical and cultural influences. His father, being a bass player himself, awoke his interest in music and introduced him to jazz. Years later, curiosity and wanting to strive
I remember very clearly standing in the front row at the Music Messe in Frankfurt as a little boy, absolutely mesmerised by the flying hands and feet of Thomas Lang. The speed, precision and independence was simply mind-blowing. But there is much more to Thomas Lang than just the ‘Drum-inator’ we know from his solo
Not often have I met a drummer who has such an extensive and diverse biography: music education, orchestral percussion, jazz, pop, musical theatre, producer, actor, arranger, clinician, art consultant… Jason Sutter can do it all. On top of that he’s one of the most in demand rock drummers America has to offer, having worked for
What fascinates us about metal music. The heavy guitars? The screaming vocals? Sure that’s nice, but what would metal music be without heavy, fast, frantic drums?! One of the masters of that field is Jon Dette. We all have those first albums we started playing drums too, but Jon managed to go from teaching
In a time where most music just seems a tiny bit too polished to make it radio friendly, one Brighton based band delivers an answer. Since their debut album ‘Statues’ hit the market in 2016, prog-rockers Black Peaks success has been on a straight incline taking them from playing Brighton's little bars straight to Wembley
The first time we interviewed Jost Nickel for mikedolbear.com was in 2012, when he appeared at Meinl Festival alongside Benny Greb and Onkel as ‘Drio’. A lot has changed since then; although Jost is still one of Germany’s top musicians, most notably playing for chart busting singer Jan Delay for the last decade, he
Another name for the list of ‘UK’s hardest working drummers’ is Steve ‘Smiley’ Barnard. Besides having a busy touring and recording schedule he also works as a songwriter, producer and runs his own ‘Sunshine Corner Studio’. After having been the first live drummer for Robbie Williams solo career, Smiley's career exploded and got him
