The Montréal Drum Fest has hosted Chad Wackerman. He was here in 1997, for example, roughly eight years after he'd made his name with Frank Zappa, the eccentric guitarist/composer who hired only the finest drummers. Chad covered the gig, adding his fluid time feel to the mix. Chad has scored some real “cherry” gigs, including Allan Holdsworth, John Patitucci, Steve Vai, The Buddy Rich Memorial Concert, James Taylor, and Terry Bozzio—that's right, Bozzio and Wackerman played Drum Fest as a duo.

You loved him. So we suggested to Chad, “Next time, bring the family.”

 


Frankly, we were concerned about flying some tribe of Biblical proportions all the way from the Australian outback but Chad had moved back to LA—and a full schedule of concerts, educational initiatives, solo CDs, gigs with The Chad Wackerman Trio, and rehearsals with brother John and brother Brooks, the siblings you will meet today.

John Wackerman can go legit orchestral or he can make it friskier and riskier. He's overflowing with mallet facility and his snare drum technique isn't shabby either, thanks to studies with the legendary Murray Spivak and Chuck Flores. John can pretty much do it all—catch cues on a motion picture scoring stage, perform duets with the greats (Gadd, Smith et al) for a special album project, cut a freelance record date for double scale, then then drive across town to play a club for fifty bucks.

Brooks Wackerman is not the black sheep of the family. He simply...sees things from a different vantage point and places the beat accordingly: in your face. Brooks is the drummer for Bad Religion (and thus didn't mind if we needed to book him on the Sabbath) and he's been party to Korn and company, The Vandals, Suicidal Tendencies, and Tenacious D. His sound is punchy, his style is edgy, and his music not your basic LA freeway-listening. Brooks is a big reason his trio hits big wherever they go.

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