#401 Mark Schulman- Drummer, Public Speaker, Author, Producer and More!
This week’s guest is Mark Schulman. Mark has enjoyed an unprecedented career for over more than 30 years as a first call drummer for world-class rock and pop artists. He was voted ‘Top 3 Pop-Rock Drummers’ in the Modern Drummer Reader's Poll in 2014 and was the featured cover artist in the May 2019 issue of Modern Drummer. Mark has done four record breaking world tours with P!NK and continued to work with her for 15 years.
Mark’s resume reads like a “Who’s Who” of international Rock n’ Roll royalty including acts such as Cher, BILLY IDOL, FOREIGNER, SHERYL CROW, STEVIE NICKS, BEYONCE’ and so many other world–class artists. He has drummed with VELVET REVOLVER at Ozzfest and for a crowd of 225,000 at Glastonbury Festival with SIMPLE MINDS. Mark has appeared on nearly every American, European and Australian variety show including The Grammys, David Letterman, The Tonight Show, Conan O’Brian, Jon Stewart, American Idol, Paul O’ Grady, X-Factor, Wetten Das, The Arias and more.
Schulman is a classically trained cellist and as a teen, played with the Los Angeles Junior Philharmonic. He played cello on the 2009/2010 P!NK tour! He is also a music producer, trained audio engineer and studio co- owner of WEST TRIAD RECORDING STUDIO in Venice, California. As an active educator, Mark taught at the LOS ANGELES MUSIC ACADEMY and as one of the world’s most sought after drum clinicians hosting clinics in countries around the world. Mark produced his first DVD in his studio entitled, ‘A Day in the Recording Studio; A Do-It-Yourself Guide to Recording Great Drum Tracks for Drummers and All Musicians’ distributed by Hudson Music. The MARK SCHULMAN SIGNATURE SNARE DRUM is one of the best-selling signature product in the history of GRETSCH.
R.I.P.
R.I.P. to Sérgio Mendes, a musician who emerged with Brazil’s bossa nova movement in the 1960s and became an ambassador for that country's music around the world, died Thursday in his adopted hometown of Los Angeles. According to his family, the 83-year-old had been suffering from long COVID in recent months. -Article
R.I.P. to Mario (Machito Jr.) Grillo . He was the son of the legendary band leader Machito. Mario followed in his father’s footsteps as a musician and bandleader. He also played with his father until Machito passed, and then took over the band and carried on his father’s legacy.-Article
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday to Chris Berry! Chris has performed or recorded with AJR, Iggy Pop, Hot Chip, Yeasayer, Holy Ghost!, Joakim, Roosevelt, The Juan Maclean and many more!
Happy Birthday to Little Johnny Rivero! Conguero, percussionist, producer, songwriter and bandleader Little Johnny Rivero has performed all over the U.S., Canada, Europe, Africa, Asia, Caribbean and the South Pacific. Born in New York City to Puerto Rican parents, Rivero, as young boy, was drawn to Latin jazz and the sounds and rhythms of the rumbero players in the NYC area. At age 10, Johnny began practicing percussion and joined his school band. Soon after, he took dance lessons, which eventually led to performances on stage with the bands of the era at such famous venues as the Manhattan Center, the Colgate Garden, the Copacabana, and the Palladium. At age 14, Rivero joined Orquesta Colon, the youngest Latin band in New York City, and recorded two albums with them.
In 1973, Rivero moved to Puerto Rico with his parents, and joined La Sonora Ponceña in 1974. After playing bongos with them for a year and a half, he switched to congas, which rekindled the love he had with the instrument as a small child. Rivero attributes the rhythms and professional conduct he learned from Quique Lucca and his son, Papo Lucca, as qualities that have made him what he is today. During the 16 years Rivero played with La Sonora Ponceña, he traveled worldwide and made 18 highly respected albums with them. - Read more
Happy Birthday to James Williams! He is an experienced drummer with a demonstrated history of working in the music industry. Skilled in Drum Set, Studio Recording, Music, Music Production, and Ableton Live. Strong arts and design professional with a Master of Arts - MA focused in Jazz/Jazz Studies from AP Hogeschool Antwerpen.
Happy Birthday to Roland Dénes. Roland is the timpanist for the Budapest Festival Orchestra. Roland was born in Szolnok, in 1974. He started his music studies in his hometown, then continued them in Budapest under Gábor Madarassy. In 1989 he was admitted to the Béla Bartók Secondary School of Music, where he studied with Oszkár Schwartz. In 1993 he won a prize at the National Percussion Competition and started his studies at the Franz Liszt College of Music, where he earned his degree in 1997. From 1996 until 2006 he was a member of the BM Duna Symphony Orchestra. As of 1998 he has been involved in the productions of the BFO. From 2009 he regularly gives master classes in Hungary (Franz Liszt Academy of Music, College of Music, Pécs) and abroad (University of Maryland, USA, Columbus, USA). As of 2011 he has been invited to work with foreign orchestras (Berlin Konzerthaus Orchester, l’Orchestre Symphonique de Radio France). Since 2010 he has been an official representative of the Fromme Company in Vienna. He has been a regular guest artist at the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra since 2015.
Gig Alerts
Lollapalooza Argentina, Brazil, and Chile have announced their 2025 lineups, with Olivia Rodrigo, Justin Timberlake, Alanis Morissette, Tool and more! -Article
The lineup for the 2025 edition of the Stagecoach country music festival has been announced, with headliners Zach Bryan, Jelly Roll, Luke Combs and more! -Article
Friend of the show, Michael Spiro, will be leading a percussion event called Spirology on September 26th at 12.30pm. Bay Area percussion maestro Michael Spiro, a 10-time Grammy Award nominee, created Spirology as a vehicle to explore the relationship between Afro-Cuban folkloric music and Cuban popular music. Combining the sacred chants of the Lukumí bata drums with the oldest form of Cuban charanga, the danzón, Spirology brings together some of the region’s finest Afro-Cuban and charanga musicians. Spiro brings unimpeachable authority to the project. In 2019 an album he co-led, Mabagwe-a Tribute to the Elders, was nominated for a Cubadisco award (the Cuban “Grammys”) in the traditional Afro-Cuban category, an unprecedented achievement. With a repertoire of Cuban jazz and sacred Afro-Cuban incantations, Spirology draws on the deepest roots while cultivating a brilliant array of Latin jazz blooms.
Educational Spotlight
The educational spotlight for this week is the full roster of artists at this year’s forthcoming PASIC.
Also, friend of the show, Stefon Harris, will be performing with his group Blackout at one of the evening concerts (most likely on Friday night).
Iconic Recording
Mark said, “Anything by Jacob Collier” for this week’s iconic recording. Damon chose the song “Box Of Stars Pt.2 (Feat. Metropole Orkest, Suzie Collier, Steve Vai & VOCES8)” from the album ‘DJESSE VOL. 4’.
Damon also found a rhythmic breakdown of the various parts of the song.
Music News
Kendrick Lamar will perform at the Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show at The Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, LA, on Sunday, February 9, 2025. -Article
Bandcamp Fridays are returning as a way for the platform to give back to artists. The platform says the promotion has resulted in millions of fans paying over $120 million directly to labels and musicians they love. -Article
The Justice Department, along with 39 state and district attorneys general, filed a civil antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation and its subsidiary Ticketmaster for monopolizing live events and other unlawful conduct that thwarts competition in the live event space. Speaking at the Bank of America conference on Wednesday, Live Nation CFO Joe Berchtold was nonchalant about the potential outcome of this legal action. -Article
Mark Schulman Interview
The song leading into the interview is, “Feels Like The First Time” by Foreigner from the album with the same name (as the band).
Damon and Mark were on the same bowling team for DW family night during NAMM 2020 right before the world shut down.
Mark was born in L.A. and currently resides in Marina Del Rey. He spent four years in Portland, OR. Damon mentions the bike trail in SoCal.
Mark’s brother Randy played violin. He took cello lessons, but switched back to drums by age 9.
Mark talks about fall back plans and his view on them.
Mark talks about 350 deals and some of the business side of music.
Mark can record for you from home.
Damon talks about work flow in a studio.
Mark and Damon talk about how they like to record and have the tracks prepared.
Shout-out to Widex. Mark has lost some of his hearing and now uses their products.
Damon brings up Daniel De Los Reyes and his hearing troubles.
Damon also mentions these in ear monitors from Sensaphonics.
Damon and Mark talk about getting your hearing checked and recommendations from an ENT (ear, nose and throat doctor).
Damon talks about the cilia in your ears.
Mark and Damon talk about keeping gigs. Mark used to play with Pink and now friend of the show, Brian Frasier-Moore does.
Mark wrote a book called, The Attitude Equation.
Mark talks about other qualities you need to be in a band and being a drummer.
Damon talks about the camaraderie in the percussion family.
Mark does public speaking now. He has a seminar he calls “Hacking the Rockstar Attitude.”
He talks about the program he does with his girlfriend Heather, “The Everyday Rockstar.”
Mark also has an All Star Band called The All Star Royal Jam.
Mark talks about building your network.
Mark chooses the iconic recording. He also mentions Aron Mellergårdh of Dirty Loops.
Shout-out to Bruce Becker, Dom Famularo, Jim Samuels, Heather Crider, his daughter Zade, and his brother Randy.
Mark uses Gretsch Drums, Sabian Cymbals, Vic Firth Sticks and Mallets, and Remo Drumheads.
You can follow Mark on his Website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
The song leading out of the interview is a duet between Mark and friend of the show, Pete Lockett.
