THE PERCUSSIONISTS

You simply can’t have failed to notice the explosion in the world of percussion that has happened in the last decade. Unless you’ve been living on Mars, of course, but even then we reckon a cajon or two must have made it that far into deep space. The rapidly-growing availability of percussive treats has allowed kit players to experiment with some stripped-back sounds via that aforementioned cajon or maybe a shaker or two. However, the role of the dedicated percussionist has remained a position steeped in supreme ability, vast musical knowledge and an innate ability to pick parts to not just stay out of the way of the singer, guitarist, keys player (the list goes on) but also to make sure their rhythms perfectly complement the kit player. Sometimes the percussionist leads as well, especially outside of Western culture where it is the most senior instrument. Percussion as a side player is more of a Western popular music thing, and it’s a demanding role, so Rhythm realised that we needed to find a bona fide percussion superstar to do this almighty topic any justice. Well, we really came up trumps there, because we didn’t just find one… we locked four of the UK’s top percussion experts in a room and didn’t let them out until they’d shared stories and imparted wisdom galore on the role of a percussionist, the must-have gear for those starting out and how to find a path as a pro percussion player in these increasingly tough times. Ladies and gents, it’s an honour to present to you Miles Bould, Pete Lockett, Lea Mullen and Fergus Gerrand.

Rhythm: The obvious place to begin, how did you start out as percussionists?

Lea: “I started out as a drummer and then got a job in a large music shop in Manchester – that’s when I started meeting lots of people and became aware of percussionists.”

“I just always wanted to hit things! I went to two concerts when I was young – Queen and the other one was Buddy Rich. Those two things set me on the road to ruin [laughs].”