Machine Head: Ten Ton Hammers

1. Neil Peart (Rush) – At number one, it’s gotta be Peart! If you don’t know, just watch a show or go to YouTube; he’s the man. Rush was one of the first bands that came my direction, besides Kiss and Judas Priest, and it was really mind-blowing to me. I love his style and it’s just so challenging to play, even after all these years. There’s probably drummers out there who can do a lot more, but he brought the technical and the very tasty sides of drumming together in a very cool way. He’s still the guy I look to for inspiration on drum parts.

2. Tommy Aldridge (Whitesnake/Ozzy Osbourne) – Aldridge played with pretty much everyone in the world, but he’s just this amazing hard-hitter and a great solo drummer. 

3. Peter Criss (Kiss) – Well, Kiss was the first hard rock band I ever got into and Criss's drumming…well, it was easy. It wasn’t too far off of basic beats but he also had this jazz thing that he added that was just really cool. For older drummers, it’d probably be Ringo Starr as his stuff wasn’t too hard to play; Peter Criss, he was my generation’s Ringo Starr.

4. Keith Moon (The Who) – Something about Moon's drumming style just didn’t do it for me as a youth, but now I’m trying to be a bit more spontaneous. In the past I’ve always tried to be very regimented in playing the same thing every time but when I’m writing it’s different, and Keith Moon’s just that dude. When you listen to The Who and to different versions of the same song he rarely plays the same way. I mean, the guy looks like Animal when he plays! He seemed like either a very fun, or a very annoying, guy to be around.

5. Igor Cavalera (Sepultura/Cavalera Conspiracy) – There’s a lot of people I could probably choose for number 5, but I’m gonna go for a metal guy. The other day, I was playing along to Sepultura’s Roots album and Igor’s just this monster, this crazy monster from the Amazon. His style’s so cool, you can tell he comes from Brazil. It’s very tribal, very Neanderthal-ish in a way and I’ve had the privilege of going out on tour with that guy many times. Probably one of my favourite metal drummers of all time.