Ryan Richards puts on BIMM masterclass

Funeral

Funeral

Funeral For A Friend drummer Ryan Richards put on a special masterclass on Friday and Rhythm was on hand to catch the whole thing.

Ryan spent the afternoon with students at the Bristol Institute of Modern Music, jamming through a few tracks - including Funeral For A Friend's 'Rookie Of The Year' and System Of A Down's 'Aerials' - before taking questions on everything from his progression as a drummer to how Funeral signed their first record deal - for a fiver.

Just before he took to the stage we grabbed a few words with him and he told us the event was his first ever masterclass.

Ryan explained: "It came through a friend of mine Mark Clayden who used to tour manage Funeral For A Friend. He asked me if I'd be interested in coming in and speaking with the students and having a jam.

"That's what I love doing, I love jamming and it's great to see people so interested in becoming a live musician. I don't want to call it a job, it's a path that I'd recommend to anyone and if I can help anyone in anyway or enlighten anyone to the areas of being a full-time musician that's great."

We'll be back at BIMM this Friday to catch the always-entertaining Karl Brazil put on a masterclass.

Rich Chamberlain

Rich is a teacher, one time Rhythm staff writer and experienced freelance journalist who has interviewed countless revered musicians, engineers, producers and stars for the our world-leading music making portfolio, including such titles as Rhythm, Total Guitar, Guitarist, Guitar World, and MusicRadar. His victims include such luminaries as Ice T, Mark Guilani and Jamie Oliver (the drumming one).