This week’s guest is Michael Eagle. Michael Eagle is a developer, educator, entrepreneur, and artist with a global presence as a clinician, musician, public speaker, and performer. His career in performance, education, team management and small business development has created innovative educational products and systems for companies worldwide.

As the Founder and CEO of Rhythm Monster, LLC, Michael leads an online educational company dedicated to exploring and mastering the rich world of drumming and percussion across cultures. Additionally, he owns The Studio at Beaver Mill, a premier rental space in the Berkshires renowned for fostering community, creativity, and meaningful connections.

He performs worldwide with ensembles including World Champion Bagad and Pipe Band Cap Caval, Gasse Gotter Trommel Groupe, Phantom Regiment Drum & Bugle Corps, Lead Drummer of the Grade 1 Oran Mor Pipe Band, The Berkshire Fife & Drum Corps, Hans Zimmer, Quest Love, Super Bowl XLIX, and every major venue in NYC.

Past positions include Director of Education & Development for Gallant Entertainment Inc., Pipe Band Products Specialist for Innovative Percussion, Chief Adjudicator for USBands, and faculty member at prestigious institutions such as New York University (NYU), the University of Texas, and Stony Brook University. He has also contributed to the creative and directorial leadership of numerous award-winning U.S. public school band programs.

His sponsors are Pearl Drums, Vic Firth Sticks, Zildjian Cymbals, Evans Drumheads, and Bachovich Music Publications. Please visit MichaelEagle.com and Rhythm-Monster.com for more info.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Travis McNabb! Travis Aaron McNabb (born November 18, 1969) is an American drummer and percussionist. McNabb is perhaps best known as a longtime member of the band Better Than Ezra, although he has performed session and touring work with many acts during his career. Prior to joining Better Than Ezra in January 1996, McNabb toured with acts such as Vigilantes of Love, Beggars, and seminal Oregon-based punk rock band The Wipers. Since mid-2007, he has been the full-time touring drummer with Grammy-award winning Country/Bluegrass act Sugarland.

Happy Birthday to Josh Kiggans! “My general approach is to always serve the song. I try to craft my parts in a way that will showcase the strength of a tune. Sometimes that means fast and loud and sometimes that means slow, low, or nothing at all. With social media there seems to be a lot of focus on over the top playing and a lot of notes but if you really dive into who’s working with a wide range of artists, whether live or in studio, you start to notice the common thread of “playing the song”. To me that’s the highest compliment you can get as a musician. In my playing and in crafting the parts for this record I really was striving to always put the song first.”

Happy Birthday to Randy Gloss! Randy has also worked with an extensive array of world renowned artists including: reggae superstar Ziggy Marley (on the Grammy winning album Fly Rasta); violin icon L. Shankar (Shenkar); Australian pop-star Montaigne; Carlos Niño & Friends; pianist Larry Karush; The Lian Ensemble (including the Pangea Project with Djivan Gasparyan and Swapan Chaudhuri; and the 2009 UCLALive production of Medea starring Annette Bening); percussionist Adam Rudolph’s “Go: Organic Orchestra” and world percussion group Vashti; projects with slide veena virtuoso Chitravina Ravikiran (including a concert tour of India that also featured Brazilian pianist Jovino Santos Neto and master Ghanaian drummer Alfred Ladzekpo); a Balkan/Indian collaboration with maestros Aashish Khan, Swapan Chaudhuri, Miroslav Tadic, Vlatko Stefanovski; Romanian pan flute virtuoso Damian Draghici; overtone singer David Hykes; Turkish musician Latif Bolat; Vinny Golia’s Large Ensemble; pianist Ardeshir Rohani; flautist Nicole Mitchell, pianist Dan Siegel, and South Indian percussionist Poovalur Sriji to name only some. Randy has also contributed percussion for film soundtracks by composers Danny Elfman, Harry Gregson-Williams, and Gary Chang; for television series’ such as The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh (Linda Perry); Fear Factor (Russ Landau); video games such as Uncharted 3 for Sony Play Station (Greg Edmonson); recorded music for the American Conservatory Theater; Southwest Chamber Music (Lou Harrison); and has recorded several extensive percussion sample libraries for software companies such as: Apple (Garage Band), Ilio, and Native Instruments. -Read More!

Happy Birthday to Luis Conte! His genius stems from his ability to integrate the powerful rhythms of his native Cuba with the American necessities of American pop music. His long and varied career has included numerous Hollywood film scores and mega-successful albums with Madonna, Ray Charles, Phil Collins, Santana, Shakira, Jackson Browne, Sergio Mendes, Cachao, and a multitude of other artists too numerous to mention.

Born in Santiago, Cuba, Luis spent the first 15 years of his life soaking up the rich musical heritage of “El Son” and Carnival. "Life in Cuba is all about enjoying life, and music is central to that lifestyle," Luis says. "Music is almost like food to Cuban people.” While immersed in the music of his native Cuba, Luis also developed a passion for Rock & Roll, R&B soul music, jazz, and the Beatles.

At 15, looking for freedom, Luis emigrated to Madrid, Spain. He soon had another opportunity to travel, this time to Hollywood. In California, Luis stayed with a cousin and attended Hollywood High School, playing guitar in numerous rock bands throughout his teens.

After high school, Luis met John Monteallegre, who reunited him with Cuban drums at LA City College. By the time he was 18, Luis was intensely interested in drumming and took every opportunity to play and to learn, drawing his inspiration from a deep source of rhythm absorbed during his youth in Cuba.

Since then, Luis has become one of the most respected and recorded percussionists in the world.

Happy Birthday to Nick Angelis! Nick has been involved in the drum corps activity since 1979. Throughout 15 seasons, he marched with The Satellites from Leicester, MA from 1980-87, The Spartans from N.H. '88 and '89, The Boston Crusaders '90-91, The Santa Clara Vanguard 1992, The Star of Indiana 1993, Brass Theater 1994, and aged out of The Blue Knights from Denver, CO in 1995. As a performer, he was crowned The 1992 Drum Corps International Rudimental Snare Drum World Champion, 1993 Drum Corps Midwest Champion, and was a part of the 1993 Star of Indiana World Champion Percussion section.

Nick has taught and/or written, for numerous marching bands and drum corps all around the country including: Blue Knights, Boston Crusaders, Crossmen, Spartans of N.H., Troopers (Caption Head/Arranger 2005), Spirit of J.S.U. (Co-Caption Head and Co-Arranger, 2004-05), University of Massachusetts at Amherst, three-time BOA Finalist and AAA National Champion, Kennesaw Mountain H.S. (Percussion Arranger), BOA 2004 Atlanta Regional Finalist Harrison H.S., and BOA 2005 National Semi-Finalist, Bellbrook H.S. In 1994, he performed as a soloist in Star of Indiana's Brass Theater Featuring The Canadian Brass. He was an Original Featured Star performer for The Tony and Emmy award-Winning Show, Blast! From 1999-2003.

He performed in London at The Hammersmith Apollo Theatre, opened in New York City at The Broadway Theater, and was in The 1st National Tour performing in over 40 cities. Nick attended The University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he received a Bachelor's degree in Music Education. He is currently the Assistant Band Director for the University of Cincinnati Bearcat Bands under the direction of Dr. Terren Frenz, and the Caption Head and Percussion Arranger for the Colts Drum and Bugle Corps from Dubuque, Iowa.

Gig Alerts

The iHeart Radio Jingle Ball will be coming through several major cities this winter, starting at MSG on December 13th.

The Besame Mucho Festival will be happening at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, CA on December 21st.

Educational Spotlight

Shout-out to everyone who made PASIC happen. Especially those folks over at PAS.

If you are looking to apply for next year as a clinician or other, the submission window is from December 11th - Jan 22nd 2024.

You can also “save the date” for next year’s PASIC in Indianapolis, IN from November 12th-15th 2025. It will be the 50th anniversary!

Iconic Recording

The iconic recording, chosen by Michael, is Beethoven’s 8th piano sonata. Also referred to as ‘Pathetique’. Here it is performed on marimba.

Music News

Katy Perry announces she will make a £1 donation to Music Venue Trust for every ticket sold for her forthcoming UK arena tour. -Article

The Latin Grammy winners have been announced for 2024, with winners including Juan Luis Guerra, Ela Taubert, Bizarrap, Shakira, and more. -Article

A group of nearly 400 Taylor Swift fans and other concertgoers filed a lawsuit in California state court against Ticketmaster over price gouging. -Article

John Mayer and McG are dropping a reported $60 million to buy the historic Jim Henson Studio lot (and former A&M Records HQ) in Hollywood. -Article

Michael Eagle Interview

The song leading into the interview is from PASIC 2011. "An Introduction to Contemporary Scottish Snare Drumming"

Damon met Michael offically at PASIC this year. He mentions some of the other Michael Eagles he has found on Google.

Michael was born and raised in Arkansas, but has not seen Ozarks on Netflix.

Michael got his undergrad at the University of Arkansas.

He also played football, basketball and baseball.

Shout-out to Anthony Falcone who also marched The Crossmen.

Shout-out to Chalon Ragsdale. He encouraged Michael to be a performance major and education major.

He then added composition to his degree as well.

Michael’s cousin Doug was an inspiration for him playing drums, as were the cassettes he listened to.

Michael marched the Phantom Regiment drum corps in the drumline.

Michael mentions the videos he would watch from the DCI (now, Hudson Music) company.

Michael talks about (friend of the show) John Wooton’s book, “The Drummer’s Rudimental Reference Book”

Michael mentions the Frank Arsenault album.

Michael got his masters degree from the University of Texas. Shout-out to Thomas Burritt.

Michael talks about why he chose to move to NYC. It started with a pipe band out of Arkansas. Then following up on studying with Jim Kilpatrick in Scotland, then playing with the Tartan Terrors in Toronto.

He talks about the different grades in pipe bands based on your proficiency.

Shout-out to friend of the show, Andy Beall for letting Michael know about the pipe band vacancy at NYU.

Michael has been involved with both Gallant Entertainment (sports drumlines) which is a division of BD Entertainment (sports drumlines as well as corporate and private events).

Michael mentions the impetus for Rhythm Monster.

Shout-out to friend of the show, Mark Reilly.

Michael talks about some of the facets of different marching ensembles around the USA and around the world. You can get more information from the USARD (United States Association of Rudimental Drumming).

Shout-out to Mark Wessels. Michael talks in more detail about Rhythm Monster.

Michael mentions “Mental Health Drumming Mondays”

Michael mentions the partnership with Rhythm Monster and Mark Wessels’ Fresh Approach series.

Damon makes the connection between Crazy Army, Steve Gadd using it with Chuck Mangione and even the Blue Devils playing it as well.

Damon mentions “Drowsy Maggie” as one of his favorite rudimental songs.

Damon talks about the Drummer’s Heritage Concert from this year’s PASIC.

Michael chooses the iconic recording. Michael Jackson is the honorable mention.

Michael mentions PadLab

Michael uses Pearl Drums, Vic Firth Sticks, Zildjian Cymbals, Evans Drumheads, Bachovitch Publishing, and Rhythm Monster.

Shoutout to Anthony Falcone, Chalon Ragsdale, Dr. Thomas Burritt, (friend of the show) Jonathan Haas, Jon Greene, and several others.

You can follow Michael on his Website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

The song leading out of the interview is "Hopefully Heroic" performed at the 2014 Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Indianapolis, IN by Mike Eagle, Nick Angelis, and Mike Hodges.