He's not a young guy...it's hard to say but I'd guess he's in his 40s. He's in great shape however old he is, and he's a very powerful drummer. He's really good too...smooth, accurate and technically-advanced, plus he does all sorts of stick-tricks...spins, flips and tosses, without missing a beat, and he puts a lot of feeling into his playing. He can play all styles authentically, which most drummers can't do. In this case his age is an advantage. His experience shows.
After about the third video, and the third completely different cymbal setup, I knew he was either a trust-fund baby or a Paiste endorser. Those things ain't cheap. Paiste made "colorsound" cymbals back in the 80s, which had a special coating that came in different colors. They went out of style for a while, but they've been available as a special-order and continued occasionally in lower-line models. Like everything else they've come back, in a series that's one notch below their flagship model, the legendary 2002 series.
He had complete sets in several different colors. They'd be red in one video and white in the next. He also had several sets in the regular, uncolored models. For the record he has lots of different drum kits, and that shit ain't cheap either. One video showed him unboxing two big boxes of cymbals that Paiste had custom-colored gray, to match one of his kits. He got several-thousand dollars' worth of cymbals for free. Not only that but they put his logo on them, and they only do that for big-name drummers. He obviously flew under my radar.
I checked-out a few more of his vids. Although he's far from the fastest or most-technical drummer, he grooves more than most of those type guys, and I'll take that any day. He's a kickass drummer. His shtick is taking classic songs from all eras going back to the 40s or so, and doing drum arrangements to them. He usually inserts some of his crazy fills, doing all his slick stick shit the whole while, and it's bonkers. He's fun to watch.
I like his playing, and he seems to be a decent guy. His personality, like his drumming, is a bit up-front if you will, but he's not an asshole. I'd take a lesson or two from him. We'd certainly be "Paiste-buddies." Then I began to wonder...could he possibly not be "one of the club?" Could he possibly not be a Satanist, either seriously or by virtue of the fact that they are Satan-worshippers by default, in that they certainly don't worship God? I doubted it but I was hoping. And BTW, any time an artist says they're a "Christian," 99.9% of the time it's bullshit. Their god is the god of this world.
Just as I was wondering, the video I was watching ended, or so I thought. For no apparent reason, and with no announcement or anything, and in only one of a couple-dozen videos I watched, he'd added a ten-second tag to the video. It showed him sitting cross-legged in the middle of a pentagram and a "Magic Circle," lit by candles. He stared unblinking into the camera, as if to say "I guess you got your answer, buddy." I read you. I pretty much figured. It's sad. Eternity is a long, long time, brother. Meantime I guess, rock on, dude...while you can.
They say "If there's a Rock & Roll Heaven, you know they got a hell of a band." I don't know about that. They also say "There's still time to change the road you're on." Might want to heed that advice. It's only Rock & Roll.
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