Ever wonder who first put the sticks in the hands of your favorite rock & roll drummer, or how they came up with beats that helped define your favorite bands' greatest hits? Now, for the first time ever, many of the greatest drummers of the past 40 years have gathered together in the pages of Beyond The Beats: Rock & Roll's Greatest Drummers Speak to share the stories of their lives behind the kit - and best-known hits - for the first definitive time in one book.

 

 

Interviewed exclusively by award-winning music biographer Jake Brown (Joe Satriani, Heart, Motorhead) in their very own chapters, the 350 page tome includes conversations with Joey Kramer of Aerosmith, Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stephen Perkins of Jane's Addiction, Taylor Hawkins of The Foo Fighters, Dino Danelli of The Rascals, Doug 'Cosmo' Clifford of Credence Clearwater Revival, Carmine Appice of Vanilla Fudge/Rod Stewart, Artimus Pyle of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Dennis "Machine Gun" Thompson of MC5, Kenny Aronoff of John Mellencamp/John Fogerty, Steve Smith of Journey, Danny Seraphine of Chicago, Steve Gadd of Simon & Garfunkel/Eric Clapton, Michael Shrieve of Santana, Matt Chamberlin of Tori Amos, Dave Lombardo of Slayer/ Testament, Simon Phillips of The Who/Jeff Beck, Lee Kerslake of Randy Rhodes-era Ozzy Osbourne, Denny Carmassi of Whitesnake/Heart/Montrose, Jeff Campitelli of Joe Satriani Band, David Garibaldi of the Tower of Power, David Lovering of The Pixies, and Simon Kirke (Free, Bad Company) among others.

 

 

Along with taking fans first-hand inside the creation of many of rock's most memorable drum beats, from Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" to Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Down On The Corner” all the way across the spectrum to Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train" and everything in-between, exhilarating and now-legendary live moments from behind the kit are revisited in 3D here: including Santana drummer Michael Shrieve’s 20-minute drum solo at Woodstock, Steve Gadd’s memory playing before 500,000 people at Simon & Garfunkel’s “Concert in Central Park,” Foo Fighters’ drummer Taylor Hawkins’ giving aspiring skin-smiths a first-hand perspective he revealed was “terrifying” looking out at a sold-out Wembley Stadium crowd and Kenny Aronoff’s dream-come-true moment 50 years after he first watched Ringo Starr on Ed Sullivan as he backed up Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr in 2014 live on CBS’s “The Night that Changed America” tribute special among many other highlights!

Beyond The Beats: Rock & Roll's Greatest Drummers Speak is due to hit store shelves nationwide in the summer of 2015.