The Great Drummer Shakeup

Why are so many rock drummers on the outs lately?

Happy Friday!

Summer is finally starting to arrive here in Chicago. More sun, higher temperatures, more sweat. Chicago isn’t the only place feeling the heat either. Across the globe drum thrones are starting to get a little toasty. If you actively follow any variety of rock music you might have already seen headlines about drummers exiting bands at an alarmingly high rate recently, crescendoing in recent weeks. These lineup shakeups range from drummers exiting huge names like The Who and Foo Fighters, slightly less famous though no less notable bands like Primus and In Flames, all the way down to cult heroes like Cynic and Paradise Lost¹.

I wasn’t initially planning on tackling this subject, until I saw Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater posting about it on Instagram. I found it especially funny that Portnoy, whose return to Dream Theater sent drummer Mike Mangini packing back in 2023, was commenting on the job security of other percussionists. With my mind thus turned chronologically backwards, I recalled the three-way trade that sent Jay Weinberg out of Slipknot and into Suicide Tendencies (not literally, of course…), elevated Eloy Casagrande from Sepultura to Slipknot, and shuffled Greyson Nekrutmen from Suicidal Tendencies to Sepultura (…again, not literally, bilingually speaking). I also recalled Nicko McBrain’s surprising-but-maybe-not-THAT-surprising departure from Iron Maiden last year. When I zoomed out from the present flurry of lineup changes it was clear that we’re in the midst of a larger trend.

So what gives? Why are so many bands moving on from their drummers these days? Well, first I think it’s worth noting that there are plenty of explanations for each individual change that do not coalesce into a grand narrative. Tim Alexander quit Primus of his own accord, as did Casagrande from Sepultura when he got the call from Iowa. Same goes for Iron Maiden’s Nicko McBrain, who ceded the inevitable victory to Father Time. Dream Theater and Paradise Lost both brought back previous drummers, taking the edge off the whole affair for fans. Jay Weinberg was out of commission with an injury, and Slipknot have a history of treating health issues as a fireable offense. Zak Starkey seems to be trapped in boomer brainfog limbo. As for Josh Freese, Cynic’s Matt Lynch and In Flames’ Tanner Wayne, who can say?

Reasonable answers are available, but heck, let’s recklessly extrapolate anyway >:). What we’re seeing here is a widespread belief that the grass has never seemed greener or more plentiful for rock bands seeking high quality drummers. It’s never been easier to pop online and see someone you’ve never of playing “Dance of Eternity” backwards with one hand while spinning plates with the other. I wrote that last sentence as a joke earlier this week and then today saw an Instagram Reel of a guy playing “Bleed” while solving a Rubik’s Cube with his left hand. My sense of humor cannot keep apace with the rate of innovation in the field of wacky stunt drumming. It takes enough work as it is to keep up with the less audacious demands of modern drumming. As I’ve mentioned a few times this year, drummers have never been better in the aggregate on a mechanical level. The best practices of grip, posture, control over stick heights, and metronome-trained timing are as wide spread as they’ve ever been thanks to the internet. If your current drummer isn’t working out, there’s no better time to roll the dice on a replacement.

Look, it’s the NBA Finals this week so the basketball comparisons aren’t going anywhere. The ever-raising floor in the drum world reminds me of how certain NBA skills that used to be the provenance of uni-tasking specialists are now considered essentials for any player type. You have to be able to shoot a certain percentage of 3s if you’re a shooter at all, you’ve got to be at least a little be switchable on defense, etc. The result is that players are more modular than they used to be. Swap around a few pieces and you can still run your offense roughly the same way as long as the superstar talent (in this analogy, the singer or key songwriter) remains.

Another consequence: if everyone has the same skill set, what are the qualities that separate one drummer from another? The answer lies in all the stuff that’s missing from a video of a person playing drums on the internet. Sure they can play some bonkers stuff, but how quickly did they learn it? Was that the one take where they got it right, or can they do it reliably night after night often in irregular conditions? They can play it by themselves but can they do it with other people? Are they a good hang on the tour bus? Do they show up on time and answer emails promptly? These “soft skills” can be the real difference maker for any musician looking to get and then keep the gig, but they don’t make for eye-catching viral content.

Finally, it goes without saying that I am available and ready for any and all of these vacant positions. Hit me up!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Listening Diary ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Listen to this year’s running diary on Apple Music.

“The Intrepid Fox” by Freddie Hubbard (Red Clay, 1970)

Whew, whole lot of shout outs this week. When your friends recommend you music, follow up! Shouts out to Lamniformes session bassist Sam Fallas-LoMento for pointing me to this record during rehearsals last summer, sorry that it took so long to check it out. Absolutely unbeatable starting five on this record. I’m mostly familiar with Lenny White’s playing with Return to Forever, so it’s cool to hear him in a more traditional bebop setting. Everyone plays great, duh, but I’m especially fond of Herbie Hancock’s solo here, the way he & White play off each other and the way he calls and responds between his two hands.

“Scatterbrain” by Jeff Beck (Blow By Blow, 1975)

Shouts out to Ben from the Lamniformes Intramurals Music League for submitting this tune to the instrumental round. I’m going to be honest with you. I had no idea this is what Jeff Beck’s music sounded like. I always saw his name alongside guys like Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton and assumed he made unlistenable blues lawyer rock. This is great!

“Hang Out” by Jasper Van’t Hof (The Selfkicker, 1977)

Shouts out to Ryan from Ferrn for suggesting this in the private Ferrn Discord. The mustache and ponytail say most of what you need to know about this. Keyboard centric fusion. The recording quality is a little rougher than you might suspect, which I find charming. Good evidence that you don’t need super slick production to make super slick music. This tune does “Steve Harris’s One Weird Trick” of playing a static harmonized line over a i-VI-VII baseline, I am powerless to resist.

“Hostile Silent Raptures” by Coprofago (Unorthodox Creative Criteria, 2005)

Shouts out to Langdon Hickman for recommending this Chilean band to me in the Death // Sentence Discord. Here’s an interesting wrinkle in the history of Meshuggah’s increasing influence on modern metal. Djent is mostly bands from the 2010s trying to sound like Meshuggah did in the 00s, whereas here we have a band in the 00s trying to sound like Meshuggah in the 90s. Faster, bouncier, with a more pronounced (i.e. less sublimated) jazz fusion inflection, this track shows an alternate history to the genre’s current state.

“Reach Warp Speed Using Old Technology” by Psudoku (Psudoktrination, 2025)

I first heard Psudoku back in college and until last week had no idea that this wacky ass grind “band” were still at it. Time hasn’t changed much, the one man space grinder is still making psychedelic, surprisingly melodic, and utterly unconventional music on what sounds like the same gear he was using back in ‘09. Warp speed using old tech indeed.

\ \ \ \ \ Micro Reviews / / / / /

Here are five micro reviews of albums from my vast Rate Your Music catalog. Long time Lamniformes Instagram followers will recognize these from my stories, however they’ve been re-edited and spruced up with links.

55:12 by Gregor Samsa (2006) - Post-Rock

Real ones know. If you’ve heard this album before you probably know your way around WinRAR and have vivid memories of tracking down MediaFire links on Russian blogspots. You also probably spent a lot of time as a teen gazing out the window feeling *wistful* while those files downloaded. This lost gem of the ‘00s post rock scene is worth tracking down. Halfway between Low & A Silver Mount Zion, this mysterious Virginia group combine softly sung slowcore with string-led post rock crescendos. Even at their loudest Gregor Samsa never crank on the distortion, instead relying on the strength of their melodies for their emotional payoffs. For such an obscure release 55:12 is remarkably well produced with lots of tasteful effects and a great balance between instruments. Not Kafka-esque in the least, this record is a must listen for any fans of sentimental and mostly instrumental indie rock from the pre-streaming era. I’ve never felt more understood than when Daniel Lee told me that my album Sisyphean reminded him of this band while we were recording cello for the record.

Vaudville Villain by Viktor Vaughn (2003) - Rap

My first introduction to the world of DOOM as a teen. Not sure why I started here and not with Doomsday or Madvillany, but that’s just the file sharing era for you. Despite not having the name recognition of those other records, Vaudeville Villain isn’t a bad place to start as it functions as a twice-veiled origin story for the rapper as told through the lens of Dr. Doom’s own comic book beginnings. Undoubtedly this dorky conceit is what drew me and many other like-minded white boys into DOOM’s orbit, but what’s kept me coming back 20 years later is the staggering quality and density of the music itself. DOOM albums are a great investment in your musical life, all these years later and I’m still picking out new turns of phrase or noticing new details in the production. With repeat listens the nerdy references and old-time-y language peels open to reveal DOOM’s mastery of narrative and comedic timing. “Anybody who ain’t get it ain’t supposed to” is the mantra.

Octet; Music for a Large Ensemble; Violin Phase by Steve Reich (1980) - Minimalism

After catching the minimalism bug from Koyaniqatsi the next logic step was Steve Reich. Reich’s style, his emphasis on interlocking rhythms that change gradually over time, was the perfect brain-food for a music school bound drummer. The repetition encourages you to “rotate” the loops, exposing new angles and hooks. The first and last piece on this record are the keepers. “Violin Phase” is not my favorite use of Reich’s famous phasing technique. idk dog the motif just gets annoying after a while. I think part of what appealed to me in this music is how it used acoustic instruments to achieve effects like delay and phasing that I previously expected only from “produced” music. Listening as an adult I’m struck by how much focus and dexterity it takes to play music this repetitive this cleanly, but I also worry that this systematic approach to composition and the inoffensive “productivity software” vibe makes it an easy target for automation.

None Shall Pass by Aesop Rock (2006) - Rap

I suppose no one will be surprised to learn that I stumbled on Def Jux early in my rap fandom. YouTube served up the animated music video for this record’s title track in all its pixelated 320p glory and they had me. Back then (and now) I had only a vague sense of what Aesop Rock was talking about, but I was taken by how it sounded, the burbling river of syllables flowing over the crags of his Long Island whine. Especially at this point in his career, Aesop’s style was not geared toward legibility. This is busy music. Not only is it hard to follow what he’s saying (all that precise diction only makes it harder to parse out, oddly) but you have to contend with turntable scratches, bubbling synths, an avalanche on drum samples and vocal chops… it’s a lot! Obviously I love complicated and detailed music, but I go back and forth on whether the complexity helps or hurts here. Is it worth all the effort to realize “wait this guy is rapping about pirates??” In the aggregate, yes. The stories of suburban dirtbag hijinks and white collar drudgery balance out the terminal late aughts twee of nautical metaphors and jokes about Pluto. That the John Darnielle feature goes harder than it has any reason to says it all. From one verbose east coast Ian to another, job well done.

Ege Bamyasi by Can (1972) - Prog Rock

An album I mostly associate with Thomas Pynchon in the wake of the “Vitamin C” drop in Inherent Vice permanently altering my brain chemistry. If you know me at all you know that is good company for Can to be stocked alongside. Can are the example par excellence of what can be accomplished with great drumming and an open mind. Not quite a rock record, not quite jazz, Ege Bamyasi often feels less like a collection of songs than something that happened while microphones were turned on and tape was rolling. The moments where the band do snap into normalcy come across as practically accidental compared to the free-wheeling improvisation that surrounds them. A record that makes anything seem possible, essential for any musician fresh out of college and intimidated by the horizon. Don’t worry about creating the future, Can already beat you to it.

1. I’m sure Joseph Schafer will send me an angry text about how Paradise Lost deserve to be included in the same tier as In Flames, and had the world been more just and fair could have even cracked the top line. Love you, Joe!