“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

  Hailing from North Wales, Catfish and the Bottlemen have been making waves for quite a while but ever since the release of their debut album, The Balcony, in 2014 the band has proven to be one of the finest acts British Indie Rock has to offer since the likes of Oasis. In the drum

  With one of most extensive CV’s in the country, Gareth Brown easily earns his place in the top 10 of UK session drummers. His work includes artists like Lily Allen, Pixie Lott, Rihanna, Kelly Rowland, Jazmine Sullivan, The Specials,  Blue, Tiziano Ferro, Mica Paris, Will Young, The Light House Family, Lorenzo Jovanotti, Shirley Bassey, Donna Summer, Sister Sledge,

  If your CV includes names like Robbie Williams, Tina Turner, Rod Stewart, Will Young, Ronan Keating, Richard Ashcroft, Demi Lovato, Killing Joke, Dido, Johnny Hallyday and Natalie Imbruglia - just to name a few - you know you’re doing something right. If you have also played on over 50 number one’s and 90 Top