iDrum magazine: Never miss a beat 128 May 2014 Edizione posteriore

Welcome to our May issue, which sees us paying tribute to one of the most influential drummers of our generation, the legendary jazz-rock-funk-fusion pioneer Billy Cobham, as he celebrates his 70th birthday. Billy’s incendiary playing – fusing blistering technique with endless creativity – means he is highly revered by many of today’s top players, and we hear from a host of them, including Peter Erskine, Narada Michael Walden, Vinnie Colaiuta, Gary Husband, Simon Phillips and Mark Mondesir, about what Billy means to them.
Elsewhere, we also catch up with Omar Hakim, who gives us an exclusive track-by-track insight into his new album We Are One, iconic two-tone band The Selecter’s sticksman Winston Marche discusses his role in the band, and Josh Eppard reveals how he approaches the technical challenges of playing Coheed and Cambria’s progressive beats. We also have a special report from the recent THUMP festival, where a host of drumming talent descended on Soho’s Pizza Express to deliver four nights of jazz, funk, Latin and much more.
In the review section we take a look at Sabian’s new range of precious discs, Hendrix Drums provide us with a brace of new stave shell snares, Regal Tip’s new signature sticks and brushes from Marilyn Manson powerhouse Jason Sutter gain our attention, while we also have the second part of our look at Paiste’s Formula 602 Modern Essentials, this time focusing on the various crashes, splashes and effects from the Vinnie-influenced series.
We also have not one, but two superb competitions: D’Addario provide us with a host of goodies from Evans, Pro Mark and Puresound, while we also have a pair of weekend camping tickets for this year’s Download Festival.
All of this plus our usual mix of news, reviews, tuition and features, including our brand-new feature in association with our friends at Mad, Bad and Dangerous, makes for a crammed issue, so sit back, grab a coffee, relax and enjoy!