The day started off with one of the PMT guys dressed as Ozzy Osbourne running out onstage and trashing a drum kit with a huge pair of drum sticks. Ozzy was soon joined by co-host for the day, Iron Maiden's Nico McBrain, who after a short bit of banter introduced the day's first drummer, Alex Thomas.

Alex has made his name mainly from playing with Manchester's Badly Drawn Boy. Playing open handed on his righty kit, Alex played along to some BDB tracks as well as demonstrating his heavier side with some very heavy tunes. After playing a couple of tracks he went into a solo during which he kept an ostinato going with his feet whilst playing against that with his hands. He also conjured up a thunderous tribal beat before moving into some double bass drum work.

Although slightly nervous (and out of breath!), Alex made everyone laugh with his humour whenever he stopped to address the audience.

Next up and fresh from his appearance the previous week at Drummer Live, was Dan Foord of Sikth. Starting off with a short solo, Dan was then joined by Sikth guitarist Dan Weller and together they played through some of their band's songs.

Their third track together was a new one and saw Dan banging out quarter notes on a crash while catching them straight away, creating a big punchy effect. With a skilful, clean and precise technique, Dan manoeuvred through a few more songs before concluding to great applause.

Last up for this part of the show was Craig Blundell who, apart from playing with Mike and the Mechanics, had also recently completed a clinic tour with fellow Mapex endorser Greg Bissonette. Craig opened up by playing along to a track and then headed straight into a solo. And then things changed a bit. Getting up from his kit and taking a microphone in hand, he then asked the audience for the meaning of the term ‘coordination‘.

When he couldn’t get a reply, he jumped from the stage and ran up into the crowd, embarrassing a few unsuspecting people along the way before finally getting an answer. He then moved on to get the audience into some basic coordination exercises from their seats albeit with some humour thrown in. Craig rounded his section off by playing to a melody of 100 of his favourite songs which included some Michael Jackson, Aerosmith and Beavis & Butthead. Funny and charismatic throughout, Craig was very well received and was in my opinion a great lift to the show. Well done to whomever did the scheduling.

After a short break Frank Tontoh took to the stage demonstrating his electronic/ acoustic set up with some Craig David songs including the hit ‘Rewind’. He was then joined by Karl Van Den Bossche and Satin Singh on timbales and congas for a Latin percussion jam which was, in a word, fantastic. Well done to Frank on his first clinic outing.

Mark Brzezicki was up next and to my mind, there is no one who plays quite like him. I love watching him play as he was one of my earliest influences when I started out and so catching him again here was really nice. Accompanied by some tracks, some of which he wrote/programmed himself, Mark demonstrated how to best serve the song in the manner that keeps him so in demand. Not speaking too much - but when he did it was with honesty and humour- Mark also included some solo work in his set. Top stuff.

Gary Husband is a man whom I haven’t really heard much of playing wise but watching him play from a few feet away was quite an experience. Although physically not a big guy, he was absolutely huge behind the kit. Now I understand why he is so highly regarded.

I am genuinely curious as to how a man who has played with one of the highest selling artists of all time for the better part of thirty years got second billing on this show, but anyway, Liberty De Vito took to the stage with his new Mapex set up which he was over here to promote. Wearing a baseball cap and playing the kit set side-on to the audience, Liberty played some Billy Joel for the crowd in his hard grooving style. At one point he pulled a young lad out and had him on the kit as well - enlightening stuff from the only American drummer of the day.

Mark Richardson of Feeder is best known for his hard-hitting style of playing and it was exactly that which he ably demonstrated by playing through some heavy music on his blue Yamaha kit (featuring their new Sub Kick by the way) as he brought the show to a close. Big man, big sound.

Now, grumpy old man slot - Right from the start there were some problems with the initial sound during Alex Thomas' set that meant his kit didn't come out evenly through the PA and then later on some of the drummers had to sound check in front of the audience which, while possibly insightful for those gathered, came across as a little unprofessional. I also found the Ozzy n’ Nico show a little hard to wear after a while, ‘nuff already guys.

Quibbles aside though, the venue was good, the trade stands always seemed to have people around them and the audience obviously enjoyed themselves a lot. Amongst the crowd I recognised some faces from the night before (the Thomas Lang gig in Coventry) as well as some notable players (Jon Brookes, Ian Palmer and Russell Gilbrook amongst others). Although I was a little ’drummed out’ by the time I went home, I did enjoy myself and felt much better off from having gone. Well done and thanks to everyone at PMT as well as all the players involved.

David Bateman
October 2004