Drummer Phil Collins is the subject of Drummer First, a documentary premiering on YouTube next week.
Despite his status as one of the best selling music artists in the world, Phil Collins is, first and formost, a drummer. He says as much in new documentary Drummer First, which premieres on the Drumeo YouTube channel next week.
Musicians appearing in the documentary include Nic Collins, Chad Smith, Mike Portnoy, Leland Sklar, Tommy Aldridge, Eloy Casagrande, Billy Cobham, Matt Cameron, Daryl Stuermer, Luis Conte, Dom Famularo, Simon Phillips, Todd Sucherman, Jonathan Moffett, Jordan Rudess, Brann Dailor, Liberty DeVitto and Chad Wackerman.
Drumeo has carved out a bit of a niche among drummers and aspiring musicians, producing videos where drummers from famous bands react, play along to or compose their own original drum parts for various songs. Michael Jackson’s drummer Jonathan ‘Sugarfoot’ Moffett playing along with metronomic precision to Smooth Criminal, and Megadeath drummer Dirk Verbeuren hearing The Killers’ Mr Brightside for the first time are particularly good, if you fancy delving into some perfect percussive performances.
Collins began as the drummer for prog rock giant Genesis, eventually replacing Peter Gabriel as their frontman, a rarity for a drummer. He went on to compose some fiendishly complex drum parts for jazz fusion band Brand X alongside guitarist John Goodsall, bassist Percy Jones and keyboardist Robin Lumley. He also, of course, went on to have a phenomenally successful solo career, playing arguably the most iconic drum break in history in the song In The Air Tonight. He also played drums on Bob Geldof and Midge Ure’s classic Christmas song Do They Know It’s Christmas?. Feature length documentary The Making of Do They Know It’s Christmas? is streaming on BBC iPlayer and is well worth watching.
Collins also had a small cameo role in Steven Spielberg’s Hook.
Drummer First will be available to watch on the Drumeo YouTube channel from the 18th December.
Watch the trailer below:
