Thomas Lang – Not only drums
Thomas Lang is an Austrian drummer, multi-instrumentalist, composer and record producer. He is the founding member of the Los Angeles-based progressive/avant garde metal band, stOrk, and is known for his international session work on a wide variety of genres such as rock, pop, jazz, and heavy metal, with artists such as Robert Fripp,Peter Gabriel, Robbie Williams, and Sugababes, among many others.
He is widely known for his technical prowess in drumming. Peter Wildoer described Lang as a “drummer’s drummer”, and Mike Portnoy cited Lang as a drummer he “can’t replicate”.
Planet Drum:First off, thanks for agreeing to be interviewed Planet Drum. You’ve done clinics and masterclasses all over the world, how do you manage to keep them fresh and what is it that you hope the audience will walk away with?A: It’s my pleasure, thanks for the opportunity.
Thomas Lang: It’s my pleasure, thanks for the opportunity.
I try to stay inspired and keep my presentations fresh and exciting for the audience and for myself by never following a formula or specific structure of my clinics and masterclasses. I try to play completely differently every time, I play different songs and I always let the audience lead the conversation and direct the flow of the presentation. I never prepare a presentation but instead react to questions and input from the audience. This makes the the presentations completely different every evening because drummers in different countries have different questions and interests. I just react and always answer with directness, efficiency and total honesty and always including played demonstrations if possible. This keeps it all fresh and exciting.
PD:You are so much involved with teaching and you seem to enjoy the educational aspect that you created your drumming boot camp that is having great success. How did the project start?
TL: I do enjoy teaching in a group setting and the Thomas Lang Drumming Bootcamp has become a worldwide success and won many awards. My camp has also inspired many other drummer to copy my idea and organize their own version of it. Before my camp there was no such thing as an artist hosted touring educational event and now it has become a completely new trend in the world of drumming education.
Regarding the history of the camp:
With the emergence of social media in 2007, it was now possible for my fans to follow my travels online via Facebook/Myspace/Twitter etc and see exactly where I was performing often weeks or months in advance. When I posted that I was playing in Stockholm that evening, I would get messages from drummers in Stockholm asking to meet me for private lessons before the show or the next morning in my hotel. On off-days or often before sound-checks, I started teaching private lessons backstage, or in hotel meeting rooms etc.
Occasionally students asked if it would be O.K. to bring a fellow drummer- or more than one- to join the lesson and turn it into a “mini masterclass”. Often, I ended up with not just one, but a small group of students and more frequently than not, I found himself with a group with up to 15-or more students in a hotel meeting room. Needless to say, this turned into a bit of a chaos so after 2 years of teaching in this “guerilla style” fashion, I decided to organize these camps in advance, allow prospective students to register for the camp online and name it “Thomas Lang Drumming Bootcamp”.
After teaching “Underground Drumming Boot Camps” all over the world for about 4 years , I announced the first “Official Thomas Lang Drumming Bootcamp” in Agoura Hills/California in January 2009. Since then, I have hosted more than 100 camps in cities all over the world including New York, Los Angeles, London, Moscow, Berlin, Vienna, Zurich, Warsaw, Milan, Paris, Tokyo, Beijing and many more. I have had more than 2500 students at my camps just in the past 5 years. I hosted mostly 3-day camps but also a series of special “focus camps” that were 5, 6 and 7 days long and had students practice and learn for up to 56 intense hours over a week-long camp. I have had many students attend up to 3 or 4 camps to really get into details of techniques and a creative drumming approach.
The TLDBC has won multiple awards including “Best Drum Camp”, “Best Drum Event”, Best Educational Event” (and many more) by Drums&Percussion Magazine, Modern Drummer Magazine, Drum Magazine, DrumHead, Drummer Magazine, Bateria, and Mike dolbear.com. The “Thomas Lang Drumming Bootcamp” has been featured as a radically new and innovative educational event in all international drum magazines including Modern Drummer Magazine, Drummer Magazine, DRUM! Magazine, Bateria, Drums And Percussion, Drumhead Magazine, Sticks and more. It has been featured on international television all over the world including national reports on the camp in Finland, the UK, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, and the Russian Federation. It has become the new norm and has created a whole scene of artist hosted camps all over the world. The TLDBC has also featured over many world-famous guest teachers including Luis Conte, Jon Dette, Christoph Schneider, Terry Bozzio, Gregg Bisonette, Jojo Mayer, Curt Bisquera, Dom Famularo, Virgil Donati, Stanton Moore, Jeff Hamilton, Kenny Aronoff, Billy Ward and many more. Students become friends at the camps and remain friends for years after the event, often meeting again at the TLDBC several times a year. The TLDBC has more than 2500 alumni all over the world who have formed groups, and stay in contact via social media. It has become a really amazing scene of drummers and friends all over the world and I am very proud and happy that it developed into such a global success.
PD:Can you explain what your teaching method is and how you present it to young drummers who come to the Thomas Lang Drumming Boot Camp?
TL: Every student fills out a questionnaire on the website when they register for the camp and they all give me at least 3 things they want to improve in their playing and want to learn or work on. Out of all these top-3 question by each camper I create a syllabus specifically for each camp. I then present the syllabus to the students and the camp and work through the list of questions and exercises with the students. I also keep adding and modifying the plan as we go. I use my own teaching methods. Every student plays on a practice kit and I lead the students through all the exercises from my drum set. Before my camp there was no camp where all campers were able to play with both hands and feet. Now it has become the norm but my camp was actually the first to allow students to play a full kit all day at the camp. We drum for 8 hours each day, 4 hours in the morning and 4 hours in the afternoon. Simply by doing this the results and improvement is guaranteed. Results are immediate and lasting. Students are often absolutely stunned by how much progress they are making in just 3 days with the right guidance.
PD:Have you ever had a fan ask a strange question?
TL: Yes of course. I often have strange and unusual questions but no question remains unanswered by me, no matter how strange it may seem at first. I always answer EVERY question very directly and with honesty and in detail.
PD:You have been awarded many times as Best Clinician, Best Studio Drummer, Best Pop Drummer, and so on. What is the proudest achievement in music you recall?
TL: Winning my first Platinum award as a writer and producer.
PD:During your career you played in a variety of genres and have worked with many artists covering all kind of styles. How do you approach playing different situations?
TL: I prepare myself my listening to specific styles before I learn the music in that particular style. I also choose different sticks, cymbals, drum heads and drums/tuning etc when I record something radically different from the last project I worked on. This helps me change my approach to playing and change my touch, grip, feel etc. I also listen and play the music of the particular artist I am working with or recording for as much as I can before recording it or playing with the artist live. In my recording studio I do a LOT of sessions and this allows me to play the different songs/styles in a very casual manner to really get into the feel and vibe of the music.
PD:Which other drummers do you chill out with?
TL: I have many drummer friends, basically all of them! You name it, they are probably a friend of mine! Of course I hang out mainly with drummer who live close to me here in Los Angeles. Good friends who live very close are Gregg Bissonette, Virgil Donati, Dave Weckl, Mark Schulman and art Bisquiera. When I travel I always meet very close drummer friends all over the world and of course I hang with other drummers at international drum festivals etc. I have many close friends in the world of drumming and we’re very close and a real global family. It’s a wonderful community with many great friends.
PD:What is the most played album on your iPod?
TL: “The Nightly” by Donald Fagan
PD:What type of car do you drive?
TL: BMW X6 M and BMW 535 GT
PD:What else do you get up to when you’re not drumming?
TL: I write and produce a lot of music. I spend a lot of time mixing, arranging and producing in my studio. I practice other instruments and I have a lot of business meetings and mundane business aspects to cover every day in my office and studio. I make a lot of phone calls, I answer dozens and dozens of emails every day, I plan my tours long in advance, I learn and transcribe songs for my recording sessions almost every day. I work a lot with my sponsors on organizing equipment for all the future tours, clinic tours, drum festivals and recording sessions. Just organizing all my equipment for all the different things I am doing all over the world is almost a full time job so I need help from my drum tech and 2 employees in my office who deal with a lot of the logistics and preparation and planning of tours and trips. That allows me to focus on learning music, recording sessions and on writing and producing.
PD:What would you best like to be remembered for?
TL: Being a great father, husband and general human being.
Having inspired people and having loved and spread love all over the world.
Having tried to make the word a better place defending and promoting good, civilized culture and behavior, and fighting and condemning evil, uncivilized and hateful culture and behavior.
PD:Many thanks for taking the time to answer these questions. Have you any final words of wisdom to say to the Planet Drum community?
TL: Always try to be unique and different. Try not to sound like someone else both when you speak and when you play. Think about being creative whenever you sit down to talk or to play. Always make the music the goal and not just the drumming. Be a good person and when you have the chance to spread a good message then do it. Don’t steal music and don’t illegally “share” music. Boycott streaming services who steal money from artists and musicians (Spotify, Rhapsody, Pandora etc) and stop wrong from being done whenever you experience it. Always strive to be the best you can be. Learn something new every single day. Always stay positive and try to inspire others. Always try to have fun and a good time and try to see the positive and beauty in all things, no matter how banal or mundane the situation, music or moment. Life become what you make it!
Make it awesome!
Thomas
