Virgil Donati

An interview to Virgil Donati at Sound Wave Festival 2011 in Italy, Monte San Giovanni Campano powered by Alatri in Blues.Virgil Donati was born on 22 October 1958 in Melbourne, Australia of Italian descent. He got his first drumset at age 2. He started playing soon after with his father’s showband, and kept on doing these shows until he was around 6 years old.He joined his first major rock band and signed with his first major record label at the age of 15. The band was first called Cloud Nine, but was later renamed Taste, with whom he recorded 3 albums. Soon after at age 16, Donati left school focusing mainly on the drums, but also piano. At age 19 Donati travelled to the U.S. to study with Philly Joe Jones, and at Dick Groves School in Los Angeles. He also took lessons from snare drum specialist Murray Spivack.

Virgil Donati, australiano di nascita, ha iniziato da piccolissimo a suonare la batteria ed è diventato un batterista riconosciuto a livello internazionale. In Australia, Virgil Donati si è affermato tra i migliori batteristi, sia turnisti che live, iniziando la sua carriera con i Loose Change e gli On the Virg, con i Southern Sons (un gruppo pop-rock) e molti altri tra i quali Tina Arena, Tribal Tech, Scott Henderson, Branford Marsalis. Nel 1996 si trasferisce stabilmente in America dove ha un’intensa attività produttiva. E’ stato per anni alla corte di Steve Vai, inoltre ha suonato con artisti come Planet X, CAB, Scott Henderson, Steve Walsh, Tribal Tech, Frank Gambale, Derek Sherinian, Mark Boals, Dave Stewart, Mick Jagger, Josh Stone, e altri ancora.