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jon bermuda schwartz
Description
The official web site of drummer Jon "bermuda" schwartz.
Bermuda has been the drummer with "Weird Al" Yankovic
since 1980, and is seen and heard on all of Weird Al's albums,
videos, and concert and television performances.
Born in Chicago in 1956, drums came into Jon's family from Wm. Ludwig Jr. as a gift to Jon's older brother in return for some advertising work their father did for the drum company. After a family move to Phoenix, Arizona, Jon inherited the kit and began taking formal lessons in 1965. He also listened and played along to the radio hits of the day, as well as albums including everything from Gene Krupa to Elvis, Latin orchestras, and especially the Beatles.
Another family move took the Schwartzes to Los Angeles in 1968, and it was then that Jon decided to be a professional drummer. He continued to take lessons, joined his school's advanced band class and a local junior marching band, and later drummed in a precision marching band where he brushed up on his rudiments. In high school, Jon was in the theater arts band playing for school productions of the Music Man, Hello Dolly, My Fair Lady and The Sound Of Music, and had even managed to join another high school's stage band for a semester.
Other early accomplishments include Jon's first recording session (at age 13) with studio guitarist Al Casey, playing with youth orchestras, performing at California state and national junior band competition finals, teaching beginning and intermediate students, and his first group (formed in 1971) winning the 1974 L.A. County Battle of the Bands at the Hollywood Bowl. And some of the home recordings made by Jon and fellow school band members received airplay on the Dr. Demento show, which would later lead to a turning point in Jon's career.
By his late teens, Jon already had a good feel for working with other musicians in a variety of situations and musical styles. 1975-76 were quiet drumming-wise, and Jon attended a local college, left home, and landed in retail management for about a year until he joined his first top-40 band in 1977. Jon was beginning to live his dream and make a living playing drums. The band had a steady 6-night a week gig and worked together for over a year, and Jon started to pursue other groups and session work ...
Bermuda has been the drummer with "Weird Al" Yankovic
since 1980, and is seen and heard on all of Weird Al's albums,
videos, and concert and television performances.
Born in Chicago in 1956, drums came into Jon's family from Wm. Ludwig Jr. as a gift to Jon's older brother in return for some advertising work their father did for the drum company. After a family move to Phoenix, Arizona, Jon inherited the kit and began taking formal lessons in 1965. He also listened and played along to the radio hits of the day, as well as albums including everything from Gene Krupa to Elvis, Latin orchestras, and especially the Beatles.
Another family move took the Schwartzes to Los Angeles in 1968, and it was then that Jon decided to be a professional drummer. He continued to take lessons, joined his school's advanced band class and a local junior marching band, and later drummed in a precision marching band where he brushed up on his rudiments. In high school, Jon was in the theater arts band playing for school productions of the Music Man, Hello Dolly, My Fair Lady and The Sound Of Music, and had even managed to join another high school's stage band for a semester.
Other early accomplishments include Jon's first recording session (at age 13) with studio guitarist Al Casey, playing with youth orchestras, performing at California state and national junior band competition finals, teaching beginning and intermediate students, and his first group (formed in 1971) winning the 1974 L.A. County Battle of the Bands at the Hollywood Bowl. And some of the home recordings made by Jon and fellow school band members received airplay on the Dr. Demento show, which would later lead to a turning point in Jon's career.
By his late teens, Jon already had a good feel for working with other musicians in a variety of situations and musical styles. 1975-76 were quiet drumming-wise, and Jon attended a local college, left home, and landed in retail management for about a year until he joined his first top-40 band in 1977. Jon was beginning to live his dream and make a living playing drums. The band had a steady 6-night a week gig and worked together for over a year, and Jon started to pursue other groups and session work ...
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Date
Mar 1, 2006
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Other links at Drums & Percussion > drummers, percussionists
1. jim walent
Jim Walent's Official Web Site.
drummer:
I've been playing drums for about 23 years.
I've studied privately for about 3/4 of that time. But not always
in that time signature. (musician humor)
Over the years,
I've studied privately with John Smith (Really), Tim Egan, Charlie
Blanchette, Ed Kaspic, Steve Wilkes, and Dave DiCenso.
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High school including a big band orchestra called Swing Teens.
I attended Berklee College of Music from the Fall of 92' through the
Spring of 93' At Berklee I studied with Steve Wilkes, Larry Finn, Alan Hall,
and Ed Kaspic.
I am versed in most styles of music and can adapt to
almost any situation musically and personally ...
drummer:
I've been playing drums for about 23 years.
I've studied privately for about 3/4 of that time. But not always
in that time signature. (musician humor)
Over the years,
I've studied privately with John Smith (Really), Tim Egan, Charlie
Blanchette, Ed Kaspic, Steve Wilkes, and Dave DiCenso.
I played in various bands in and out of school from elementary through
High school including a big band orchestra called Swing Teens.
I attended Berklee College of Music from the Fall of 92' through the
Spring of 93' At Berklee I studied with Steve Wilkes, Larry Finn, Alan Hall,
and Ed Kaspic.
I am versed in most styles of music and can adapt to
almost any situation musically and personally ...
Category:
2. thomas lang
My name is Thomas Lang. I was born 05. 08. 1967 in Vienna, Austria
and I started playing the drums at the age of 5.
I grew up in a little town called Stockerau in Lower Austria, about 25 miles outside of Vienna.
My parents Kurt and Helga were very supportive of my early ambition to become a drummer and allowed me to attend the local music school for drum and piano lessons.
My first drum teacher was a gentleman named Johann Hengst who was a classical percussionist and played with Viennese orchestras.
He taught me to play traditional grip and to read music.
Although at the time it all seemed very boring and tedious, I really benefitted from his lessons in many ways.
I only had a snare drum for about a year when I started playing, but gradually, I increased the size of my kit over the years by requesting additional parts on every Christmas and birthday wish list.
I got into pop and rock music right away and Ringo Starr was a big influence in my early drumming days. I used to play along to 50’s and 60’s rock n’ roll tapes and early Beatles songs for a few years before I was first introduced to heavy rock by some local musicians I used to jam with.
We played Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Free covers and after about two years started trying to get local gigs. We never succeeded, so my first gig was playing the bongos with the local choir where my mother was a member. I was 10 or 11 years old and I got a pair of sticks for my performance…it was great fun and very exciting.
After a few more years of jamming and gigging with local bands and studying with various teachers, I began attending the conservatory in Vienna where I studied with Walter Grassmann.
There I was introduced to jazz and fusion and was trained to play in Big Band style and to read proper charts and lead sheets.
I was not able to really get into the style of music I had to study and play, so I left after about four years. During my time at the conservatory, I met a lot of other young, ambitious musicians and I started playing loads of regular club-gigs in and around Vienna.
At that time I spent all my modest income on trips to drum and music schools in America, private lessons and on equipment.
My parents were also still supporting my various trips and endeavours morally and financially. Apart from providing me with a very comfortable rehearsal-space in the cellar of their house until I moved out, they have always been supportive of my pursuit to become a musician. Without them, and their constant constuctive criticism, I would not have learned from my many mistakes.
I started working with bigger acts and touring around Austria and Germany and one thing led to another. I slowly worked my way through the European pop, rock and jazz scene and was booked to work on increasingly popular productions. During this phase, I worked with up to 15 different bands and artists at the same time, squeezing as much work as possible into my schedule. I always tried to stick to my strict practice plan and I religiously followed a constantly evolving daily practice routine. I try to stick to this method of discovering and developing new ideas to this day.
In addition to practising, the growing amount of gigging and touring gave me a pretty good idea of what to work on and how to apply my experiences creatively.
The recording work I was being hired for, formed a crucial part of my development and I learned a lot by listening to my own inefficient and clumsy playing.
I also came to realise that I needed international exposure, not just to get my name out there but to absorb international musicians’ influence. Having travelled to England throughout my youth, I knew that London had more musicians per capita than any other capital city in the world so off to London I went.
When I first moved to the U.K., I taught drums at the Musician’s Institute and the London school of Music from 1995 to 1996.
Now, my schedule does not allow me to pursue teaching anymore, but I still give private lessons occasionally because I believe there’s a lot to be learned from my colleagues’ and students’ different and interesting approaches. Unfortunately, I hardly find time to practice myself these days, so I keep the teaching to a minimum, but I have increased the number of master classes, clinics, seminars I give and have participated in more and more video productions to share my ideas.
Over the last ten years, I have recorded hundreds of albums and toured extensively with a host of bands and artists worldwide.
I tried to always learn and grow as a man and musician and see opportunity and potential in everything I encounter along the way.
In 1995, I recorded my first solo-album entitled “Mediator”, and that same year, I recorded a two-part instructional video series complete with a booklet (“Ultimatives Schlagzeug”). It was the first instructional German language drum video ever produced and after being made available via the Internet for a few years, it is now sold in drum shops across the world!
I’m now producing not only my own CDs and videos, but I’m also co
writing for and co-producing various artists around Europe.
I have been permanently based in London, England since 1995 and have a second home in Vienna, Austria ...
and I started playing the drums at the age of 5.
I grew up in a little town called Stockerau in Lower Austria, about 25 miles outside of Vienna.
My parents Kurt and Helga were very supportive of my early ambition to become a drummer and allowed me to attend the local music school for drum and piano lessons.
My first drum teacher was a gentleman named Johann Hengst who was a classical percussionist and played with Viennese orchestras.
He taught me to play traditional grip and to read music.
Although at the time it all seemed very boring and tedious, I really benefitted from his lessons in many ways.
I only had a snare drum for about a year when I started playing, but gradually, I increased the size of my kit over the years by requesting additional parts on every Christmas and birthday wish list.
I got into pop and rock music right away and Ringo Starr was a big influence in my early drumming days. I used to play along to 50’s and 60’s rock n’ roll tapes and early Beatles songs for a few years before I was first introduced to heavy rock by some local musicians I used to jam with.
We played Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Free covers and after about two years started trying to get local gigs. We never succeeded, so my first gig was playing the bongos with the local choir where my mother was a member. I was 10 or 11 years old and I got a pair of sticks for my performance…it was great fun and very exciting.
After a few more years of jamming and gigging with local bands and studying with various teachers, I began attending the conservatory in Vienna where I studied with Walter Grassmann.
There I was introduced to jazz and fusion and was trained to play in Big Band style and to read proper charts and lead sheets.
I was not able to really get into the style of music I had to study and play, so I left after about four years. During my time at the conservatory, I met a lot of other young, ambitious musicians and I started playing loads of regular club-gigs in and around Vienna.
At that time I spent all my modest income on trips to drum and music schools in America, private lessons and on equipment.
My parents were also still supporting my various trips and endeavours morally and financially. Apart from providing me with a very comfortable rehearsal-space in the cellar of their house until I moved out, they have always been supportive of my pursuit to become a musician. Without them, and their constant constuctive criticism, I would not have learned from my many mistakes.
I started working with bigger acts and touring around Austria and Germany and one thing led to another. I slowly worked my way through the European pop, rock and jazz scene and was booked to work on increasingly popular productions. During this phase, I worked with up to 15 different bands and artists at the same time, squeezing as much work as possible into my schedule. I always tried to stick to my strict practice plan and I religiously followed a constantly evolving daily practice routine. I try to stick to this method of discovering and developing new ideas to this day.
In addition to practising, the growing amount of gigging and touring gave me a pretty good idea of what to work on and how to apply my experiences creatively.
The recording work I was being hired for, formed a crucial part of my development and I learned a lot by listening to my own inefficient and clumsy playing.
I also came to realise that I needed international exposure, not just to get my name out there but to absorb international musicians’ influence. Having travelled to England throughout my youth, I knew that London had more musicians per capita than any other capital city in the world so off to London I went.
When I first moved to the U.K., I taught drums at the Musician’s Institute and the London school of Music from 1995 to 1996.
Now, my schedule does not allow me to pursue teaching anymore, but I still give private lessons occasionally because I believe there’s a lot to be learned from my colleagues’ and students’ different and interesting approaches. Unfortunately, I hardly find time to practice myself these days, so I keep the teaching to a minimum, but I have increased the number of master classes, clinics, seminars I give and have participated in more and more video productions to share my ideas.
Over the last ten years, I have recorded hundreds of albums and toured extensively with a host of bands and artists worldwide.
I tried to always learn and grow as a man and musician and see opportunity and potential in everything I encounter along the way.
In 1995, I recorded my first solo-album entitled “Mediator”, and that same year, I recorded a two-part instructional video series complete with a booklet (“Ultimatives Schlagzeug”). It was the first instructional German language drum video ever produced and after being made available via the Internet for a few years, it is now sold in drum shops across the world!
I’m now producing not only my own CDs and videos, but I’m also co
writing for and co-producing various artists around Europe.
I have been permanently based in London, England since 1995 and have a second home in Vienna, Austria ...
Category:
Mike Orris Jr,official website, drummer.
Mike Orris, Jr. was born on July 16th, 1985 in Reno, Nevada. His early childhood was filled with inspiration from his Father who would practice in front of him on an old Ludwig drum set. His aspirations grew more and more for the instrument and by the time when he was forced to live with his Aunt and Uncle when he was a young child, the drums came right along with him. At the age of nine he had the drums set up in a converted garage in the back of his parent's house. With no schooling and a natural feel for music Mike progressed rather quickly and was playing with an extreme metal band by the time he was ten years old.
As well as his love for drumming Mike found an interest in playing the guitar and the bass and quickly came to understand the instruments and began writing music. His first performance with an original band was when he was thirteen years old and since then he has been performing, recording, and achieving his goals. At the age of thirteen Mike began to practice on a regimented schedule and learned the fundamentals that he skipped over in the previous years which included diversifying his capabilities and styles, learning rudiments, listening to great drummers and musicians, etc. He states that his knowledge and skill of other instruments has definitely helped his playing in all aspects because he can feel, sense, and understand where the other musicians are coming from within a musical situation. He believes that it makes his playing flow more easily and more freely when playing with others ...
Mike Orris, Jr. was born on July 16th, 1985 in Reno, Nevada. His early childhood was filled with inspiration from his Father who would practice in front of him on an old Ludwig drum set. His aspirations grew more and more for the instrument and by the time when he was forced to live with his Aunt and Uncle when he was a young child, the drums came right along with him. At the age of nine he had the drums set up in a converted garage in the back of his parent's house. With no schooling and a natural feel for music Mike progressed rather quickly and was playing with an extreme metal band by the time he was ten years old.
As well as his love for drumming Mike found an interest in playing the guitar and the bass and quickly came to understand the instruments and began writing music. His first performance with an original band was when he was thirteen years old and since then he has been performing, recording, and achieving his goals. At the age of thirteen Mike began to practice on a regimented schedule and learned the fundamentals that he skipped over in the previous years which included diversifying his capabilities and styles, learning rudiments, listening to great drummers and musicians, etc. He states that his knowledge and skill of other instruments has definitely helped his playing in all aspects because he can feel, sense, and understand where the other musicians are coming from within a musical situation. He believes that it makes his playing flow more easily and more freely when playing with others ...
Category:
4. jack pedler
Jack Pedler, drummer:
Jack was on drums with Buxton Kastle when the young Daniel Lanois met the group It was Dan's first recording ever. Jack gained further recognition with Canadian acts such as Ray Materick, Teenage Head, and the Dave Rave Conspiracy.
Ever restles, Jack travelled to NYC and joined Coyote Shivers ( producer of "Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet"). They toured extensivley, opening for KISS, as well as recording both the critally aclaimed Coyote Shivers debut album and a song on the sound track for the hit teen movie "Empire Records".
Lifetimes of experience gained on the road and performing down in Manhattan's anti-folk scene inspired the prophetic album "Fairyland It Ain't". Lyrics that frighten and thrill combined with dynamic, energetic tunes dazzeled the president of Mutiny Records. Jack was quickly signed ...
Jack was on drums with Buxton Kastle when the young Daniel Lanois met the group It was Dan's first recording ever. Jack gained further recognition with Canadian acts such as Ray Materick, Teenage Head, and the Dave Rave Conspiracy.
Ever restles, Jack travelled to NYC and joined Coyote Shivers ( producer of "Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet"). They toured extensivley, opening for KISS, as well as recording both the critally aclaimed Coyote Shivers debut album and a song on the sound track for the hit teen movie "Empire Records".
Lifetimes of experience gained on the road and performing down in Manhattan's anti-folk scene inspired the prophetic album "Fairyland It Ain't". Lyrics that frighten and thrill combined with dynamic, energetic tunes dazzeled the president of Mutiny Records. Jack was quickly signed ...
Category:
5. will dower
Will Dower: Australian drummer.
Pictures on site: early years, clubs, acts sessions, television, ...
Pictures on site: early years, clubs, acts sessions, television, ...
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