Hello everyone! Welcome to the Drum Channel podcast with Billy Amendola and his guest Van Romaine. Van has been touring the world (and in recent years as music director) with Latin/pop superstar Enrique Iglesias for fourteen years. In between you can find him recording and performing in a band with former Deep Purple guitarist Steve Morse among others. Let’s welcome Van to the Drum Channel east coast studio where he and Billy discuss his early years, studying with studio guru Gary Chester, bands...
Jun 30, 2023•47 min
Hello again! Billy Amendola here on Drum Channel with my guest Aaron Comess of the Spin Doctors. The Spin Doctors are one of America’s greatest bands. Formed over thirty-five years ago, the band still sells out shows and makes new recordings. Let’s jump right in and welcome Aaron to the East Coast DC studio in Brooklyn, NY.
Jun 23, 2023•49 min
Hello everyone, and welcome to the Drum Channel east coast studio in Brooklyn, NY. I’m Billy Amendola and my guest today is drummer/co-founder, and long-time-band-member of the band Living Colour since 1984. He’s no stranger to Drum Channel, and has been a previous guest with host Don Lombardi and is a favorite to our DC audience. Will has won two Grammy Awards , one in 1989 for Best Hard Rock Performance by a Group and again for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1990. Living Colour also won an inte...
Jun 16, 2023•53 min
Hi everyone, welcome to this week’s Drum Podcast with Billy Amendola and his guest Lou Santiago Jr. Lou is another of what you could call one of Billy’s “students.” He didn’t need to teach him to play drums (he already had that down); Billy would proudly offer life/business advice over the years whenever asked. Lou went from being in the military, studying at The Collective in NYC, to winning the Undiscovered Modern Drummer contest in 2003 and performing at the prestigious MD Festival. (Billy an...
Jun 09, 2023•59 min
Hello everyone and welcome to the Drum Channel east coast studio in Brooklyn, NY with Billy Amendola and his two guests drummers Andrew Campanelli and PJ Howard from the eight-piece-band The Revivalists. The New Orleans band broke onto the scene in 2015 with their double platinum Billboard Hot 100 hit "Wish I Knew You." Since then, the band has had more than 800 million streams with hits such as "Change" and "All My Friends." The band will be releasing their fifth studio album Pour It Out Into T...
Jun 02, 2023•1 hr 14 min
Hi everyone! Billy Amendola here. Welcome to the Drum Channel Podcast. Today my guest is Robin Diaz. I’ve known Robin since he was very young man and I’ve watched him grow into one of the industry’s top hired guns and ghost drummers on hits you’ve heard but didn’t know he recorded. I chat with Robin about his session and live work (He’s currently recording and touring with the band LIVE), his years as a member of Daughtry, a few of the producers and artists he’s worked with over the years, and m...
May 26, 2023•47 min
Hello! Welcome to Drum Channel with Billy Amendola and his guests, percussionist Danny Reyes and drummer Chris Fryar of the Zac Brown Band. Billy catches up with long-time official band members before they head out on tour for the summer and into the fall. The band has been on top of their game for ten-plus years, selling out stadiums and charting hits on both the country and pop charts. Before joining Zac Brown, de los Reyes toured with Earth, Wind, & Fire, Don Henley, Sheryl Crow, and Rick...
May 19, 2023•46 min
Hello and welcome to Drum Channel with your host Billy Amendola. For this episode, Billy chats with his long-time-pal, Rich Redmond. Since moving to Nashville from Connecticut more than twenty-five years ago, Rich is best know touring and recording with multi platinum country rocker Jason Aldean for nearly two decades. He has recorded over 30 #1 radio hits and has performed to millions of fans in iconic venues across the globe. He’s also an actor, author and motivational speaker. Recently, Redmo...
May 12, 2023•39 min
Hello Drum Channel family! I’m Billy Amendola, and my guest today is best known as a TV star. Nate Morton has been a drummer in house bands on television for most of his twenty five plus year career. Nate and I go back almost as long. We first met when he was filming Rockstar: Supernova in 2006. That’s also when he first met drum tech and snare builder, Steve Morrison when Steevo was Tommy Lee’s tech on the show. The relationship led them to eventually work together on the popular TV show The Vo...
May 05, 2023•51 min
Hi Everyone! Welcome to an exclusive Drum Channel Podcast with drummer/singer/songwriter/actor/and super-cool-dude John Cowsill. John visited the East Coast Drum Channel Studio to chat with his buddy Billy Amendola about his early career with his family band, The Cowsills, his years with and now without The Beach Boys, his new music projects with his wife Vikki Peterson, and more. Enjoy.
Apr 28, 2023•47 min
Hi everyone! Welcome to show three of “Did You Know?” This special episode of Billy’s Bubble features Liberty and Billy sharing stories, humor, and the history of session greats Panama Francis and Hall of Fame drummer Earl Palmer. Let’s listen to a few songs together that Panama & Earl recorded, the artist they recorded with on those classics, and more. Enjoy!
Apr 21, 2023•50 min
Hi everyone, welcome to Drum Channel. I’m Billy Amendola, and joining me at the DC east-coast studio is Brianna Sig of the Philadelphia-based rock band Soraia. Brianna and the band were in town for a promo tour to support their new single “Bloom,” and Brianna graciously stopped in before soundcheck to chat about being a band member, her early years, and more.
Apr 14, 2023•22 min
Billy’s guest on Drum Channel Brian Tichy is one of rock music’s most in-demand-hired guns. Playing drums since he’s eight years old and teaching himself guitar four years later, Tichy went on to attend Berklee College of Music. Shortly after graduating Brian went on to record and perform with Sass Jordon, Whitesnake, Foreigner, Slash’s Snakepit, Billy Idol, and front his own project BALL, in which he sang played and recorded every instrument on the album. He has written music for television and...
Apr 07, 2023•58 min
Hi everyone! This week the Drum Channel Podcast features Stanton Moore. The New Orleans native and founding member of the band Galactic visited Billy Amendola at DC’s east coast studio to chat with his long-time buddy about drums and drumming, how he survived the pandemic, building a business team, and the famous New Orleans music venue Tipitina and more. Happy listening!
Mar 31, 2023•1 hr 7 min
Hello everyone! Welcome to Drum Channel . I’m Billy Amendola, and my guests in this segment are notable, versatile players and educators. Please welcome two of the finest Daniel Glass and Jason Gianni. We talk to Daniel about his early days, his band Royal Crown Revue, his trio, and more. Jason, a long time teacher and session musician tells us about his television and radio recordings, the Collective in NYC and so much more. Welcome Daniel Glass & Jason Gianni to Drum Channel . Enjoy!...
Mar 24, 2023•54 min
Our guest today Corky Laing recently celebrated his seventy-fifth birthday on January 26th, 2023. The Canadian drummer is not slowing down; he’s actively busy recording and performing all over the world. Never resting on his laurels, Laing never stopped playing, and to this day, he continues to front his new band, record and write a new album, “Finnish Sessions,” and squeeze in live performances. Corky will always be known as a member of the 70s superstar-legendary band Mountain, which also feat...
Mar 17, 2023•45 min
Hello, my friends; welcome to Drum Channel. Billy A. here with my guest Joan Jett’s Michael McDermott. In 2022, Mike was part of the most successful arena tour we’ve seen the likes of in years. We also discuss his previous band, The Bouncing Souls, and how becoming a Blackheart emerged. McDermott and Jett are currently back out on the road sharing a tour with Bryan Adams. Let’s listen in. Enjoy!
Mar 10, 2023•45 min
Hello everyone, welcome to the Drum Channel Podcas t! I’m Billy Amendola and my guest is Tucker Rule. You may know Tucker from the hard-rock-emo-band Thursday, formed in 1997 in New Jersey. The band has been considered an influence on the music scene in the 2000s, and is credited as forerunners of the emo/screaming vocal sound. But, that was then and this is now and Tucker's new project L.S. Dunes is a mix of a who's who of friends from popular bands. L.S. Dunes debut album, Past Lives was relea...
Mar 03, 2023•27 min
Hello everyone, welcome to Billy’s Bubble on Drum Channel . For this segment, we're going to talk with Clubhouse Studio Owner, Paul Antonell. Paul, no stranger to the studio, found his passion for recording at sixteen years old and has gone on to work with Parliament-Funkadelic, Shawn Mendes, Post Malone, and Natalie Merchant, to name a few. Paul built his state-of-the- art-studio on isolated historic farm grounds a few miles outside of Rhinebeck, NY. The renovated barn has a full kitchen and fi...
Feb 24, 2023•52 min
Hi everyone! Billy Amendola and my guest today on Drum Channel east is still feeling the excitement of his past gig less than a week ago. His phone and messages have been blowing up with congratulations and show of support non-stop and we’re excited he found the time to fill us in on what it was like to play the 2023 Super Bowl Half-Time Performance with Rihanna. We talk about his set-up, gear, and keeping emotions in check under a high-pressure gig. We also go back to his beginnings and what le...
Feb 17, 2023•25 min
Hi everyone! Welcome to Drum Channel! I’m Billy Amendola, and my guest Dan LeRoy, has written what I would say is the most definitive book on the history of the drum machine and its importance to songwriting and musicians, and how that sound became acceptable to become the music heard around the world. In this segment, we’ll discuss his book “DANCING TO THE DRUM MACHINE“ (How Electronic Percussion Conquered The World). Dan dug deep with research, and the results are astounding! The book includes...
Feb 10, 2023•39 min
Hi everyone, Billy Amendola on Drum Channel with my guest Jim Bonfanti who is the drummer from one of my favorite bands and one of the forerunners of the 70s power pop sound, the Raspberries. Jim and I discuss his band experience in 1967, before the Raspberries, in a band initially called The Mods and transformed into The Choir. The band enjoyed success on the radio with a song called “It’s Cold Outside,” which to many, is considered to be a forerunner of the garage rock sound era. In 1970, Bonf...
Feb 03, 2023•1 hr 5 min
Hello everyone and welcome to Drum Channel. I’m Billy Amendola and my guest today is drummer/teacher/entrepreneur Ralph Rolle. Ralph’s day job for the past seventeen years has been playing with legendary producer/artist/guitarist Nile Rodgers and Chic. For twelve years in the the mid-nineties, Rolle spent time on TV as the drummer in the house band for “Showtime at the Apollo,” with music director Ray Chew. Ralph’s performance list includes artists: Sting, Bette Midler, Bono, Elvis Costello, Van...
Jan 27, 2023•1 hr
Hello everyone! Billy Amendola here on Drum Channel with my guest Corey Coverstone. Corey shares exclusive, personal news for Dirty Honey fans; he has recently decided to part ways with the popular band. It’s not easy walking away from a situation you’ve dreamed about and then accomplishing it, perhaps a bit too quickly, and having the courage to let it go. We talk about his decision, what he’s looking forward to accomplishing being off the road, and more.
Jan 20, 2023•33 min
Holly Knight is one of the most successful songwriters of all time. Her top-selling book, ”I AM THE WARRIOR; MY CRAZY LIFE, WRITING THE HITS AND ROCKING THE MTV EIGHTIES,” is a tell-all personal and professional story of her incredible life. She was inducted into the Song Writers Hall of Fame in 2013 and was voted in Rolling Stone’s Readers Poll as one of the five best songwriters and at the time, the only woman on the list. Holly and I talk about songwriting, programming, a handful of the hundr...
Jan 13, 2023•56 min
Hi everyone! Join Billy Amendola on this week's Drum Channel podcast with his guest, one of the hardest working drummers of the past few decades, a very in-demand “Hired Gun,“ and good friend Brian Frasier Moore. Billy & Brian travel back to his past years touring with superstars Madonna, and Justin Timberlake, his company BMF, his many TV appearances as part of a killer house band, his words of wisdom to our younger generation, and his current gig and upcoming 2023 tour with P!nk. Let’s tun...
Jan 06, 2023•35 min
Hello everyone! Welcome to the Drum Channel Podcast with Billy Amendola and his guest Slim Jim Phantom of the Stray Cats. Billy and Jim’s conversation tells the origins of the band, who was credited for bringing the Rockabilly vibe back into the mainstream and then taking it to another level, the era of the MTV days, his solo music and non-music projects, how he became known as “the king of the sunset strip,” and more. Enjoy! For more, in 2015, Jim wrote a book titled “My Life As a Rockabilly Re...
Dec 30, 2022•47 min
Welcome to Drum Channels' “Billy’s Bubble” show this week. I’m Billy Amendola, and every once in a while, I like to step “out of the box” with music lovers and how they combine their love of music and their work. Most of us here play drums/music, but we also live outside of playing, and we must. We’re all so passionate about music that sometimes we forget to live our lives. I hope you find something to relate and take away with our guests for this two-part show. We kick off part one with Schuyle...
Dec 23, 2022•49 min
Welcome to Drum Channel. I’m Billy Amendola, and my two guests today are solo artists, session players, songwriters, band members, and hired guns; they’ve been working musicians for a few decades now. Please welcome drummer and recent book author Rich Scannella and a drummers dream bass player/guitarist/singer, Kasim Sultan. We can’t run down all the credits they both have; but, a few of the main ones come up in this in-person conversation recorded at DC East Coast studio. Rich, tells us about h...
Dec 16, 2022•49 min
Hi everyone, welcome to Drum Channel! This episode features Billy’s guest, drummer, and composer Antonio Sanchez. Antonio, known for his years of work with guitarist Pat Metheny is also a composer, most notably for the score of the 2014 film Birdman . (featuring Michael Keaton) The score earned Sanchez a nomination for a Golden Globe and won a Grammy. No stranger to our DC audience, we catch up with Antonio to talk about his early days coming from Mexico, to attending Berklee and the New England...
Dec 09, 2022•43 min
