Drummer Spotlight - Monthly featured drummers that are a continual inspiration to me and my playing

Thomas Pridgen - my introduction to Gospel Drumming.

I got into The Mars Volta in about 2003/4. Watching Kerrang! all day at my dearest friend, Caspian’s house. Volta and System of a Down are probably the only two bands I found on Kerrang! that I still listen to.
I’ve loved everything they’ve released, but when The Bedlam in Goliath was released, it changed things in me. Octahedron further cemented that.

In about 2010, I was living in my friend’s kitchen and working the bar at the best music venue in Hastings, TUB - which was 1 minute away. Next door to TUB was a strip club, above that strip club was a little studio that some local legends built to record an album. They offered the space to me for £50 a month and I could go in there and play drums whenever they weren’t in there.
This was the first time I’d had a place to play, first time I’d had a job. Sure the living situation wasn’t great. But a studio, your bed and your work all within a minute of each other? Fantastic.

I spent around a year rehearsing in there with friends and smashing along to The Bedlam in Goliath and Octahedron before or after work whenever I could. It was the most progression I’d made on the instrument and it is thanks to Pridgen. The parts he plays on those records were way above my ability level at the time, that damn metric modulation at the end of Ouroboros - but slowly, it started coming together.

I’ve always said Pridgen is my favourite drummer, his style, his chops, the way he moves and plays about. It formed the way I play to this day. He levelled me up as a musician in every way.

Thomas Pridgen - my introduction to Gospel Drumming, Gospel Chops, Progressive Drumming. A new way to play. A new way to feel while playing. Thank you. Cinnamon Toast Crunch.