Five drummers to check out from June's Rhythm

Currently the drummer on the hit West End show Billy Elliot, Tim is one of our panel of experts presiding over the first of our two part Theatre Drumming feature. Tim has previously worked with a host of artists such as Will Young, Beverly Craven, Marc Almond and The Divine Comedy before finding himself in love with the West End drumseat.

On what skills you need most to hold down a big theatre gig, Tim recommends you have, “A good attitude, the ability to take notes and direction, and enough social skills to be able to get on with people, sometimes in a pressured situation.”

Read more from Tim and the other theatre drummers in the June issue of Rhythm, out now!

A brace of pop princesses - Leona Lewis and Kylie Minogue – currently benefit from the drumset skills of Tom Meadows. Tom was raised on the jazz greats and, having also embraced electronics, now plays arena pop to massive audiences.

“It wasn’t ‘bang, here you go, you’re doing a stadium’. It was an apprenticeship sort of thing, where you prove yourself here and then move on,” Tom recalls of his route to the top of the pop drumming tree. “Just by being trustworthy, open to doing whatever it is you’re being asked to do and easy to get along with, you will progress up.”

Read more about Tom’s gear, career and sage advice in this month’s Rhythm!

Mark Richardson is the hard-hitting physical presence behind the kit for Skunk Anansie. Back in the ’90s, Skunk enjoyed huge success off the back of their debut album //Paranoid & Sunburnt”, back when the recording industry was throwing money at its artists.

“We did photoshoots for the album cover for £100,000, videos for £100,000, and all of a sudden you had £2m’s worth of debt that nobody knew or care about,” he recalls. In 2013, however, with the changes in the industry and a lot less cash being thrown about, band members – drummers included – have to do a lot more than just play an instrument. Mark himself does the band’s photography, video filming, editing and uploading.

Read more about how Mark and his band do business in these tough economic times in this month’s Rhythm!

The Yardbirds are a truly legendary ‘60s band, having featured mighty guitarists Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page – but the man who kept it locked down on hits such as ‘For Your Love’ was Jim McCarty. Jim is the subject of the prestigious Rhythm Interview slot in this month’s mag, in which he tells us about working with those guitar legends, the band’s famous ‘rave up’ crescendos and more.

One of funk drumming’s true legends, Greg talks to Rhythm about the recording of the Sly & The Family Stone classic ‘Underdog’ in this month’s Rhythm. “I think musically and rhythmically it was just ahead of its time,” he says. “Nobody was doing stuff like that. It’s come about now here you hear intricate funky rhythms like that… it wasn’t the norm.”

Read more from Greg on the track’s recording in this month’s Rhythm!