Features

38 Chad Smith

On the Chili Peppers’ first studio album in five years, the clown prince of funk-rock brings the heat. By Patrick Flanary

33 2011 Drummies

Who’s the Drummer Of The Year? Which Latin percussionist won? Which kit is most coveted? The readers have spoken ...

52 Jason McGerr

The Death Cab driver’s beats are so dead on you forget they’re there — and that’s the way he likes it. By Andrew Nusca

63 Vintage Paper

You’ll start to see drum catalogs in a whole new light after reading this. By Rob Cook

Hand Drum!

71 Mike Dillon

Once the domain of West Coast cool jazz, the vibes get a new level of respect from the Garage Á Trois mallet man. By j. poet

75 Product Test Roundup

New stuff from Tycoon, Pearl, Remo, and TreeWorks.

75 Lessons

Taku Hirano takes us to Bahia with the samba reggae; Richie Garcia goes all bandari on congas and djembe; Glen Caruba expands the vocabulary of the talking drum.

Plugged In

83 Pro Tools Shortcuts

Essential speedy keystrokes for the engineer’s best friend. By Jake Wood

Sound Lab

90 DW Performance Series Drum Set By Brad Schlueter

Drum Parts

101 Danny Thompson

Face To Face’s drummer defies expectations on “The Invisible Hand.” By Eric Kamm

Practice Pad

106 Wally Schnalle plays hi-hat whackamole; Danny Gottlieb knows your weakness (bass drum and cymbal unisons), and does his darndest to correct it.

110 DRUM! 20th Anniversary

We’ve been fêting the momentous occasion all year but now we break down the last two decades of DRUM! with a timeline of our highest and lowest points.

Vibe

23 Bud Gaugh

Sublime is back (with Rome) and the band’s pocket has only gotten deeper.

29 Howard Grimes

The Bo-Keys skinsman and Stax house drummer helped pioneer soul grooves.

Everything Else

7 Perspective

10 Feedback

12 Notation Guide

14 Single Strokes

20 Showcase

95 DRUM! Picks

114 Wiretap