Re: The "Drummer" thread
I don't have as many influences as some of you guys, but here they are.
Tommy Stewart - He was the orriginal drummer of Godsmack. Back when I started playing drum set, I was a big fan of them, and so his drumming was a huge influence. I am very "heavy" on the bass, and my drum teacher agrees it's mostly from listening to Godsmack. When I say heavy, I don't meant that I hit hard, rather I play it a lot. Like, the focus of my grooves often is in the bass. I don't really know how to explain this well though, so sorry if this doesn't really make sense.
Mike Portnoy - Of course, the drummer of Dream Theater. My drum teacher really likes them, and got me into them as well. Most all my "progressive" drumming and a lot of the different cymbal work I do is influenced by him. I got into Dream Theater about half a year after starting to play drum set. I pretty much stuck with them as the main band I listened to for a good two years I guess.
Chris Adler - The drummer of Lamb Of God. Up until this point (about 2 years), I had still been listening to mostly Dream Theater. My drum teacher--who has actually been a huge influence himself--was friends with a junior in my high school (I was a freshman at the time). This junior was trying to form a metal band with a few other people, but needed a drummer. He asked my drum teacher if he knew anyone, and my drum teacher reccomended me. So, eventually I started playing with them. I imediately began to love the style of music we played (metalcore/metal). One of the bands they talked about a lot at that time was Lamb Of God. They were the first metal band I got into, and Adler was a huge influence. His style and simplistic (for the most part) grooves were definately something I sort of followed and added into my drumming. Eventually this led to me listening to much much more metal.
Those are really the three drummers I think have influenced me the most. There are so many other drummers who have given some inspiration to me, but those are the three that stick out to me.
Lately, I've been listening to a somewhat different style. I had been listening to a lot of new wave metal (I believe that's what it's called), but now I've been really into a lot of various death metal. I've been getting much influence from bands like Necrophagist, Bloodbath, Cephalic Carnage, Between The Buried And Me, and Thurisaz. Even Meshuggah, though I've only recently gotten into them.
Hmm, well that post turned out a little longer than I expected.