drummer

IAN PAICE! Ian Anderson Paice (born June 29, 1948; Nottingham, England) made his name as drummer with seminal heavy rock band Deep Purple. As of Jon Lord's departure in 2002, he is the only founding member of the band still performing with the group. Heavily influenced by Buddy Rich, Ian is one of the few hard rock drummers who uses swing and jazz inflections in his powerhouse style. He is also left-handed, being one of the few who play on a totally left-handed drum setup (another example is Phil Collins).

Paul Robert Thomson was born on September 15, 1976 in Glasgow, Scotland, making him the only fully Scottish member of Franz Ferdinand, the band he plays drums for. When Paul originally joined Franz in 2001, he played guitar. He switced over to drums, on one condition: that he wouldn't be blocked by the toms on his drumset. Paul teams up with his wife, Esther, to DJ as Polyester (Paul + Esther). Recently, Paul and his wife had a baby boy, named Georgie. Paul also has a record label, NEW!, which only releases material on 7" vinyl records.

From the drummer of Foo Fighters comes Taylor Hawkins & The Coattail Riders. A small side-project turned into a fully fledged album, the front man and drummer, Taylor Hawkins, describes it as "an accident." Other members include Chris Chaney on bass (Jane's Addiction, and also played with Taylor with Alanis Morissette) and an enigmatic "Gannin" on guitar.

Alex Riel was born September 1940 in Copenhagen, Denmark, and has since the sixties remained firmly established as one of the most significant and influential jazz drummers in Europe. His career began in the mid-sixties when he was the house drummer at the legendary jazz club "Montmartre" in Copenhagen. With bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen and pianist Tete Montoliu or Kenny Drew he accompanied musicians such as Ben Webster, Dexter Gordon, Kenny Dorham, Johnny Griffin, Don Byas, Donald Byrd, Brew Moore and Yusef Lateef.