Vinnie Colaiuta deep dive 🤿 Funky Cover of Paramore's 'Ain't It Fine' 💅 The Europe Drum Show 🌍

🎩 Lady Gaga's drummer hand-picks his perfect cymbal setup in the Vault

@Zildjian Company

Tosh, who holds the drum chair for both Lady Gaga and Alkaline Trio, stopped by the Zildjian Vault to hand-select his cymbal setup and put it to work. His picks landed on a 14" K Mastersound Hi-Hat, 19" K Custom Hybrid Trash Smash, 9.5" FX Zil Bell, 21" K Projection Ride, and 19" K Paper Thin. The short clip ends with a quick groove that shows exactly why each piece earned its spot on the kit.

🥢 The Buddy Rich stick that Isac Jamba actually plays

Vic Firth's short reel spotlights the SBR, a stick built to Buddy Rich's original specifications and put through its paces by jazz drummer Isac Jamba. The clip zeroes in on what sets the stick apart: a longer taper, blended tip, and added weight in the neck and shoulder for a feel tailored to jazz playing. If you've been curious about spec-driven stick design, this one is worth a close look.

🥁 Virgil Donati's 7/16 groove slowed down just enough to hurt

Virgil Donati posted a slowed-down excerpt of Panzerballett's "Typewriter II" from his set at the Europe Drum Show, and the reduced tempo makes the 7/16 groove land with unsettling clarity. What blurs past at full speed reveals itself here as a masterclass in odd-meter precision and limb independence. If you've ever wondered how he holds that time signature together live, this clip is your answer.

🎵 Watch Meinl artists crash their way through this compilation

Meinl's first crash cymbal compilation pulls together a range of its artists demonstrating how a single cymbal type can serve wildly different musical contexts. At just over eight minutes, the video rewards close listening, since the real value is in comparing attack, wash, and decay across players and setups rather than treating any one clip as a standalone moment. If you've been cymbal shopping by spec sheet alone, this is a useful reminder that feel and musical intent shape the sound as much as the alloy does.

🎙️ Chasing Vinnie's feel on that Sting classic — with just 2 mics

Vinnie Colaiuta's drumming on Sting's "If I Ever Lose My Faith In You" is the kind of playing that disappears into the song until someone points at it directly. Stan Bicknell, whose clip we featured earlier this week, goes deeper here: a full breakdown of feel, tone, and gear before playing the track start to finish, all captured with just a sE Electronics Dynacaster and VKick. If the short clip caught your ear, this is where to sit with it.

🤲🏼 Rob Brown's no-nonsense truth about building great hands with rudiments

Rob Brown cuts through the noise in this six-minute video, arguing that strong hands come down to consistent, focused rudiment practice rather than any secret technique or complex system. He breaks the concept into digestible terms that work for players at any level, reinforcing that the fundamentals are the shortcut. If your hands feel inconsistent or underdeveloped, this is a straightforward reset.

📓 Inside Vinnie Colaiuta's solos — slowed down so you can actually follow them (book)

The UnReel Drum Book pairs transcriptions and analysis of Vinnie Colaiuta's work on Randy Waldman's Concord Records release with two CDs, one featuring the original album and a second with solos slowed down for close study. Author Marc Atkinson breaks down Colaiuta's use of odd note values like quintuplets and septuplets, showing how they're orchestrated across the kit. A genuine classic for serious students, it remains one of the most detailed examinations of Colaiuta's playing in print.

Vater Vinnie Colaiuta Signature Sticks (amazon)

Vater's Vinnie Colaiuta Signature stick was developed through an unusually hands-on process, with Colaiuta logging time on the factory floor testing prototypes in live, studio, and practice settings. The result is a hickory stick with a subtle grip flare from .590" to .600" and back, a precisely calibrated taper for rebound, and a medium acorn tip that delivers a full yet defined sound. At 15 15/16" and priced at $12.99, it's a versatile option built to move between jazz and heavy rock without compromise.

🔥 ProMark's heat-tempered 5A sticks promise to outlast your regular hickory (Amazon)

ProMark's Rebound 5A FireGrain sticks use a patented heat-tempering process to harden hickory without altering the original weight or balance, giving you a noticeably more durable stick that reviewers say holds up through heavy use and long gigs. The rear-weighted Rebound design and enlarged acorn tip combine to improve cymbal articulation and snare response. Pick them up while they're on sale!

🐧 Angine de Poitrine: This bizarre band is getting lots of attention, in the form of 10 million views

A Reddit post linking to a 10 million view YouTube clip of French duo Angine de Poitrine has the r/drums community genuinely divided. The band's microtonal, looping two piece format draws comparisons to music mosquitoes listen to, yet the drumming demands near virtuoso level complexity to execute the layered loops live. The thread is worth a read if you enjoy watching drummers wrestle with the line between technical admiration and actual enjoyment.

🎶 Paramore's classic, but full funk in Chicago

Cory Wong and his full live band bring a deep funk makeover to Paramore's "Ain't It Fun" at Chicago's Salt Shed, with vocalist Tema Siegel out front and drummer Petar Janjic locking in alongside percussionist Negah Santos. The horn-heavy arrangement, handled by trombonist Michael Nelson, transforms the alt-rock original into something that feels closer to a late-night soul revue than a radio hit. If you've ever wondered what that song sounds like with a proper pocket under it, here's your answer. What a fun song to play!