Okay, now's the time for the "Fun Drummers." The one's you love to play with, sometimes the tempo speeds up/or they tire eaily & the tempo goes down.

Regardless, these are the creative, hard hitters (or even intentionally sparse) drummers who just have the "right feel" for their craft and more importantly, the definitive sound of their band.

(once again, in no particular order)

Tim Drummond (Neil Young)
John Kiffmeyer (Green Day)
Bill Ward
Bob Pollard (guided by voices)
Kevin Fennell (guided by voices)
Charlie Watts (never hits the hi-hat and the snare at the same time, Rolling Stones)
Keith Moon
Grant Young (soul asylum)
Chris Mars (the Mats)
Meg White
Stuart Copeland (yes, he is on both lists...ever see them live 'back in the day?'
Dale Crover (deserves to be on both lists)
Larry Mullen Jr. (thee signature sound of early U2)
Elaine Harris (Trip Shakespeare)
Maureen Tucker (VU)
Jeremiah Green (m. mouse)
Sara Lund (Unwound)
Mickey Hart & Bill Kreutzmann (although not a deadhead, they cannot be denied for definitive sound enhancement for their band)
Ringo (I am still on the fence about this pick)
John French (added for no other reason that the Avatar of Patty is awesome)
Reni (Stone Roses)
Matt Cameron (See Stewart Copeland & Dale Crover)
God (drummer also known as Mr YYZ) Neil "2112" Peart
Matt Cameron -soundgarden era
Vinnie Colaiuta -you know
Steve Gadd
John Bonhamm -Zep
Eugene Krupa
Chad Wackermann -Zappa Bay-Bee!
Dave Weckl -Geebuz holy mary he is the fucking MASTER!
Billy Cobham (the original ass kickin' black dude in my book)
Stewart Copeland -Great off-timer coupled with andy summers melody = lucky Sting
Lars Ulrich
Phil Collins
Danny Carey
Mitch Mitchell
Rich Hoak
Bill Bruford
Charles Hayward
Josh Freese
Mac McNeilly
Carl Palmer
"Thee Man with No Name" (aka Pink Floyds drummer) (known by few as Nick Mason)
Britt Walford
Joe Morello
Dale Crover!!! (listed twice because he is worth it)
Binko (music theory honorable mention)
John McEntire (yes, the sea & cake guy. really smooth player)
Seamus (forum member, by order of the board)
Doug Scharin (work with CODEINE)
Loz--Ride
David Grohl (Wool/Scream, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age)
George Hurley (fIREHOSE)
Greg Saunier
Chris Frantz (Talking Heads)
RADIOHEADS DRUMMER WILL NOT BE ADDED UNTIL PROVEN WORTHY (any suggestions or tracks of worthwhile mention will be honored.)
Budgie (Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Creatures, The Slits, Big in Japan)
The guy from Oxford Collapse
Martin Atkins (Ministry) good choice, sorry I missed it.
the guy from Dirty Three
Vinnie Paul--Pantera
Tony Hajjar--Sparta
Jose Pasillas--Incubus
Jerry Gaskill--King's X
Dino Campanella--dredg
Gregg Bissonette
Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth) ^






Let me have 'em!

Jeremiah Green (early modest mouse, or is he back in the band now?)
dude is pretty sweet.

He might be more mathematical than I know, but-- Stewart Copeland.

Re: Jeremiah Green

Yeah, dude is the highlight of LCW tracks like "Styrofoam Boots." One of my favorite drummers, and the fact that that early shit brings him out so much is one of the reasons that Modest Mouse always worked best for me as a vicious indie rawk trio.

Keith Moon is the definition of this.

Gary Young. Terrible drummer, he hit the cymbals like Animal from the Muppets, but there was a sense of fun to his style that was irreplaceable, despite the two classic albums that followed his departure. Plus, he handed out cabbage and mashed potatoes to concertgoers, which, in itself, is pretty awesome.

Yeah, he was awesome. I dig his drumming a whole lot. People always get caught up in the whole "crazy old guy hippy who did drugs and fell off his drum platform and did handstands and shit" and they don't notice how cool a lot of his playing actually is. He has all these trademark fills that are all over the early Pavement stuff. That shit is instantly memorable; the "Fame Throwa" intro, the fill at the beginning of "The Lonesome Era," the fill that leads out of the guitar intro in "In The Mouth of a Desert"... dude actually had a really distinct playing style.

for those who care, jeremiah green is back in the band. has been since late 2004 i believe.

Sara Lund (Unwound)
Simon Smith (The Wedding Present)

I've always liked drummers that sound like they're constantly driving the momentum forward through snare rolls or such.

peter brady (brady bunch)

Mickey Hart & Bill Kreutzmann
Ringo

Didn't he do 'Plant Man'? That was pretty much the best thing ever to a stoned teen like what I was.

And where does Grohl fit in? He's obviously technically insane, but he brings such a whallop to proceedings. A drummer friend of mine would go on about how his drum rolls didn't emphasise a particular beat and he thought that was really basic but cool.

Also: Justin Greaves is pretty much my favourite drummer in the world, so I might as well mention him here. Most fun fills I have ever heard.

Quality poster right here.

And yeah, she's amazing. My favorite drummer ever. Totally distinct playing style, right here. More people should copy her. I love drummers who can play a fill every 3 seconds or so and still have it sound great.

And her doppelgänger, Georgia Hubley*.









* or not.

John French. (Known in some circles as Drumbo.) Part of the reason why the French, Frith, Kaiser and Thompson CDs are so much fun. (Well, besides Richard Thompson singing in Okinwan.)
Cheers,
Janine

Damon Che of Don Caballero.

really? i thought i remember him playing with them shortly after Good News came out... but I just do not hear his drumming on the new one. oh well, dude used to really bring the goods to the band.

Matt Cameron.

If there was one guy I would love to play with, it's him. I'm actually not big on Soundgarden, but this guy can play anything. There is so much subtlety and texture to his drumming:a subtle ghost note here, a gradual dynamic change there, an unexpected flam or accent... When I think of Matt Cameron, I actually don't think of him as a super technical drummer who can play in any time signature effortlessly--I think of his sublimely musical drumming.

I first really noticed him when my brother was playing some Pearl Jam DVD that had that "Matt Cam" drummer camera angle option on it. The boy grooves like a motherfucker and never overplays. But when he needs to pull out the stops, he can. His drumming is almost melodic--so damn musical.

I would also throw in Reni from the Stone Roses. I don't think he has quite the range and flexibility of Matt Cameron, but he's another guy that just defines the feel of a song with his drumming.

Just to piss everyone off. I don't care - he's a God.

You certainly won't piss me off.

Looking over this thread, I think it might be a better idea to limit this to drummers who are not known for their technical proficiency, but do contribute with their unique or quirky styles. Because the more I look at the other list, the more I'd be inclined to include every one of those technical drummers in this thread. There weren't really any Yngwie Malmsteen-type guys (all technique and speed, no feel) on that list that I could see.

I mean, Bonham is a groove king, and has, in my opinion, one of the best rock "feels" of any rock drummer. He should certainly be on this list if we're using "feel" for the music as our sole criterium. There's very few drummers that can pull off the simple, rock steady beat of a song like "Kashmir" and still somehow make it groove and make you want to get up and shake your ass.

But if we're going for drummers that are maybe a little sloppy, maybe can't do all those crazy sextuplet fills and play fours over threes (or more) while balancing a drum stick on their nose, then certainly drummers like Ringo and Mo Tucker would come to mind as being prime candidates to head this list. Or possibly Keith Moon, depending on whether you find him technical or sloppy. I would lead toward the latter, but I could be convinced of the former. He's that crazy sort of genius that I can't tell whether he's technically very sound but just beats the hell out of the drums and makes them sound a bit sloppy, a bit rock n roll, or if he's all heart with rudimentary technique.

Meg White would be another one. Love her or hate her, she has a very distinct sound which is very much a part of the charm and shape of the White Stripes's music. Personally, I think she works well to offset the ornate and busy guitar meanderings of Jack White. Janet Weiss of Sleater-Kinney would probably also be a good candidate for feel making up for shortcomings in technique.

Anyhow, just some thoughts.

And some pretty good ones, at that.

This is kind of how I viewed the thread--looking for drummers who sound kind of self-taught. Drummers who hit things kind of when they're not "supposed to"--crash cymbals struck randomly/excessively; oddly placed fills that may or may not end on the right beat; audible signs of "poor" technique caught on tape, etc. Thes are drummers whose little technical quirks stand out in an endearing way, perhaps.

Now, if I could get rid of all of this work I have to do so I could think of a few...I still think Georgia Hubley is a good one for the list.

In that case, Greg Saunier from Deerhoof should be here.

Chris Frantz (Talking Heads)

Yeah, those last two would make sense...just getting into Deerhoof, myself. I've always liked Frantz.

Easily my favorite current drummer. So much fun to watch.

Seamus is a drummer with a great feel (I endlessly pour praises on Seamus because he is awesome).

The drummer to feel is obviously Meg White.

How about Phil Selway out of Radiohead? He never bowls you over with his skills, but I don't think he's ever played a bum note on record.

but what drummer has? If you have bad drum hits in a studio recording, somethings seriously wrong.

I know next to nothing about drumming. But I know that dude from the National has an ability to make huge hooks out of a drum part. He steers their tunes with huge shifts in his dynamics. I don't think anyone would be paying attention to them if they had a guy back there who just kept time.

Sorry if that wasn't clear. I didn't mean mistake. I meant that he always plays the perfect thing for the song. There's never anything that's out of place.

And his long-time nemesis...the Black Dot (or is that one in the same? Might as well have an evil nemesis...life's much more interesting that way).

How about Phil Rudd? I'm tempted to throw him in here.

And where does Martin Chambers fit into all of this? I'm tempted to say he's kind of a "feel" guy, but he's got some pretty serious chops, too (and I ain't just talkin' mutton). God damn, is that first Pretenders record awesome. Every time I go back to it, it inspires me with its pure rock goodness. Every single track on that one rules the school.

Darn straight, he's amazing.

Do you know Tad Hutchinson for Young Fresh Fellows?

Negative.

Pick Withers from those early Dire Straits albums= Dire Straits, Communique, Making Movies,

has anyone mentioned Damon Krukowski from Galaxie 500 yet? I always enjoyed his drumming especially on On Fire. He was sloppy but used a lot of minimal variation that keeps my interest. Definitely had a feel for the vibe that was intended in the group. The magic in the band would have been missing without him.

The intro to "Strange" is hilarious.

I think the production on his drums has a lot to do with the "magic." That's a really memorable cymbal sound.

Rob Ellis (PJ Harvey, Laika, lots of other stuff)
Budgie (Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Creatures, The Slits, Big in Japan)

Both very carnal.

Listening to this band alot lately. I will note the drummer tomorrow on my ipod and I'll check it's carnal nature.



Saw pretenders at Metro in the mid-90s. This guy was an incredible drummer. I ended up backstage (because I was playing metro regularly at the time) and I met Chambers. He was a cool guy. Very nice.

yeah, the dude from deerhoof kills. I love his shit, literallly and playing-wise.

also Yoshimi-P if not mentioned. how can you not love the boredoms tranced out punk-tribal drum-wack-off-fest. (I guess they do alot of multi percussion so whatever, counts for me)

The guy from Oxford Collapse is probably the sloppiest drummer I've heard/seen in recent years. I tend to doubt that the drums were his primary instrument, but it really doesn't ruin any of their stuff.

Just FYI...

Tim Drummond is actually a bass player. If you're looking for the guy who played drums on the Harvest album, then the guy you're after is Kenny Buttrey (RIP), who also played drums on Blonde on Blonde.

Martin Atkins

for his amazing work with Public Image Ltd., and later with Ministry and Killing Joke.

The Pretenders first two releases are priceless...Chambers was actullay asked to play with Guns N Roses.....

Not sure if he's been mentioned, but the guy from Dirty Three. The recordings don't do him justice. He was easily the best live drummer I've seen that fits this bill of "feel" drummers. His movements and grace were amazing, fluid, and unorthodox.

Chad Smith -- RHCP

Chad Sexton -- 311 (OH NOES!)

Matt Sumpter -- Matthew

Fuck yeah, one of my favorite drummers. Love that "Boredoms beat" that's all over stuff like "Super Going" and "Seadrum." I could listen to that shit for days.

Brian Chippendale, Steven Drozd, Scott Asheton (the drums on Fun House sound better than any drums on any album ever), etc.

B-Chip as I call him to his face when I never met him, is a killer maniac. the guy who plays in hella basically destroys a drum set too but alot of people seem to not like it whatsoever because of the total lack of a time signature. whatevs, suck a dick.

Yeah, those dudes rule. Weasel Walter, too.

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Gotta love this virtuosic brutality shit.

I haven't read this whole thread so sorry if these are dupes:

Vinnie Paul--Pantera
Tony Hajjar--Sparta
Jose Pasillas--Incubus
Jerry Gaskill--King's X
Dino Campanella--dredg
Gregg Bissonette

a late edition:

Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth)

While he's not the flashiest drummer, he always manages to add the right texture, shifts directions well, and compliments the SY meltdown jams perfectly.