One of my favorite radio shows has a feature they call Mt. Rushmore.  Mt. Rushmore is a monument carved into a mountain in South Dakota with 4  Presidents faces.  On the radio show though, they have a weekly topic and discuss their top 4.  I thought that it would be something that could work well in a blog format, so here it goes.

This Weeks Topic: 4 Drummers You Should Know

In most bands, the drummer is either the wildman, (Tommy Lee) or the cool guy (Neil Peart).  Once upon a time I  played the drums, umm, I attempted to play the drums.  I wasn’t very good, but I did manage to play in a band for a short period of time and played 2 gigs.  The band broke up after that and the drummer became a drum roadie / light guy / electrician /manager.  I have always loved the drums and in this weeks Mt. Rushmore I want to share with you some of the drummers I really like along with a youtube video of them doing their thing.  This is by no means my favorite drummers, as there are quite a few of them that don’t have solo’s of them on youtube.  Besides, it would be nearly impossible for me to narrow it down to 4.  This is just a list of 4 of the drummers you should know in no particular order.

1. Seth Hostetter – Children 18:3

I have only seen him play live once at a GMA showcase, and not only does this band rock and put on a great show, but Seth puts on a show all by himself.  He keeps great time and does all of the visual razzle dazzle that kept my attention the whole time.  He definitely is a visual timekeeper.

2. Shawn Benson – Theocracy

Theocracy is a band that is hard to put a label on, except to say that they rock, and rock hard, and rock well.  Their Mirror Of Souls cd is just a musical masterpiece and Shawn Benson’s drumming skills shine throughout the record.  The pieces tend to be a little long so I didn’t want to put up a long video (Although I encourage looking at them), so to give you a taste of Shawn’s mad drumming skills, here is a solo from Theocracy’s 2009 European tour.

3. Andy Campbell – Down From Up

I’m not quite sure how I first found out about this band, but I am sure happy I did.  Andy is a regional winner in Guitar center’s national drum off, and on Down From Up’s first record, it’s easy to see why he got so far in the contest.  His drumming is outstanding, and this song showcases his skills.

4. Nate Morton – ROCKSTAR, The Bonnie Hunt Show, Cher

A couple of years ago, CBS had a show called Rockstar that aired during the summer.  The premise of the show was a 8 (or 10, I don’t remember) week audition to be the singer of INXS.  The second season was to be the singer of Supernova, a band featuring Tommy Lee from Motley Crue and some other famous guys.  For the most part, the show was aweful,  but the house band the singers played with was pretty good, except for the drummer.  Nate Morton was the drummer for that band and he was incredible.  In fact, I really only watched the show to watch Nate groove.   He has done some pretty impressive gigs and has his own series of videos about drumming.  He’s incredible, check this out…

That is my Mt. Rushmore.  There are some others that I would love to add, but there’s only room for 4.  Who is your Mt. Rushmore for drummers?  Leave a comment and let me know.

P.S.  If you like the movie Drumline, check this out!