The Year In Drums: Part Two

2010 was a hell of a year for drumming, with passings of several well-loved sticksmen, the return of a host of drum gods and, of course, we celebrated our 25th birthday. Here, we look back at the key moments of the year.

May saw what would have been John Bonham’s 62nd birthday. We raised a glass to the drum legend by looking back at his finest moments.

Taylor Hawkins headed to the UK in May with the Coattail Riders for what will surely go down as one of the shows of the year. He also had a few friends on hand to make a surprise appearance. It. Was. Awesome.

The month also saw us catch up with Alkaline Trio’s Derek Grant. The modern-day punk master showed us around his kit, which includes a monster kick drum.

The Mike Portnoy saga continued as the bearded drum hero announced that he would tour with Avenged Sevenfold. Where did this leave Dream Theater we all asked. Well, on hold until his return, surely. They couldn’t continue with Portnoy now, could they?

Jobeky put on its superb drum show for the second year, with one room dedicated to gorgeous kit (just check out our gallery feature to see our pick) and another full of awesome clinics. An unbelievably good job all round.

As the summer rolled around, some gorgeous gear dropped into our laps. We had Tama unveil the stunning Speed Cobra and DW launched these beautiful snares.

We whiled away the barmy summer evenings with some cracking clips, like this one from Vince Neil drummer Zoltan Chaney. Tommy Lee eat your heart out?

Download came and went, with the Rhythm team out in force for the rock event of the year, but the month will be most remembered for some tragic news.

On 7 June former Stereophonics drummer Stuart Cable was found dead in his South Wales home. The sticksman was a hugely popular member of the drumming community and will be hugely missed.

With the summer in full swing, Steel Panther’s Stix Zadinia stopped by to give us his guide to surviving the festival season. Those not easily offended can check out his mixture of hilarious and downright bizarre wisdom here.

We were again inundated with new gear, such as DW’s Pacific Mainstage Series, Highwood’s Hallmark snare and The Dube. The latter is the brainchild of former footballer Dion Dublin, and we caught up with Dion and session ace Karl Brazil to get a demo of the percussive cube.

There was also plenty of time for some star interviews, as The Like’s Tennessee Thomas told us there aren’t enough female drummers and Ronnie Vannucci gave us an insight into when we can expect a new record from The Killers.

In August the drum world went crazy. In preparation for our 25th anniversary we put the call out to find the greatest drummer of the last 25 years. One week, and more than 100,000 votes later, we had a winner – Joey Jordison, beating Mike Portnoy, Gavin Harrison and Neil Peart. Joey was thrilled at the honour, calling it “bigger than a Grammy”. Cue much discussion on the greatest ever sticksmen from just about all media outlets from around the world.

Another drummer featured in our poll was Nicko McBrain and during the month he spoke out about Maiden, saying that new album – the rapturously well-received Final Frontier – would not be the metal legends’ last.

The future isn’t quite so clear for The Black Crowes, with drummer Steve Gorman telling us that the band’s farewell tour won’t include Europe, as they just haven’t had any worthwhile offers.

Yet more uncertainty loomed large with the threat of demolition to Ringo Starr’s house, until a group of fans turned up and saved the day, that is.