Growing up as I did in an orthodox Bengali family, my knowledge of music was, till my early teens, within the boundaries of Rabindra Sangeet and Eastern classical. It was only when a family friend almost whacked me with his guitar for not having heard of The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix, that I fell head first into the world of rock and roll. And boy, am I glad I went there! My loudspeakers started blasting music which alarmed my father, and then, I almost gave him a heart attack when I asked to learn the drums! Though he refused, I’ve loved the sound of drums and percussion ever since, more than a guitar riff. From Jeremy Hummel of Breaking Benjamin, Rob Bourdain of Linkin Park, Ringo Starr of The Beatles, Nick Mason of Pink Floyd, to Frank Ferrer of Guns ‘n’ Roses, the drummer of any band intrigues me more than the secrets of the Knights Templar.

The reason is simple. The drummer typically stays hidden from the crowd, lurking behind his drum set, seemingly aloof from his band mates. He doesn’t talk much, doesn’t want to steal the limelight from the vocalists and the guitarists, who are usually more sought after. However, once the band gets the show on the road, this dark horse starts producing his own brand of music, the rhythm which is the framework for the guitarists and vocalists to build their songs on.

Today, we have a huge number of talented drummers from different genres, who have made their mark in the Indian music scene in a short time. In this article, I’ve written about eight of them, in no particular order.

• John Thomas of Motherjane: One of the first things which struck me when I listened to Motherjane was how effortlessly they managed to blend Carnatic elements into their rock music, resulting in an earthiness that is rarely found in other fusion groups. The second, of course, was the drummer. John Thomas, who founded the band back in 1996, is not afraid to use the cymbals, which feature abundantly in each Motherjane track. He’s a big fan of rolls, not so much of kicks, but keeps a good mix of both. In Fields of Sound and Chasing The Sun, there’s a heavy Carnatic classical influence, and Thomas uses the chenda, a native percussion instrument, along with the drums. This gives a whole new flavor to the songs. However, one thing which I disliked was that Thomas is pushed to the background for the most part, and I had to strain myself to hear the drums. In their single Jihad, though, Thomas thrills, with angry and aggressive drumming and good kicks.

• Ryan Colaco of Kryptos: He’s the drummer of the first Indian metal band who completed a cross country tour of Europe, and he is a killer. With fantastic co-ordination, strong kicks and clean beats, there’s not much to be said about this member of the already famous band Kryptos. Except that he doesn’t use a double bass pedal, so all the fast angry bass kicks are done with only one foot. Some foot, I say. One thing I love about Kryptos is that they don’t let the other instruments and vocals drown the drums, and I can clearly hear (and headbang to) the hits and beats, even during those ferocious guitar solos. Plus, Colaco’s timing is spot on. Not that I was surprised; after all, the man plays insanely fast beats, with one foot, without going off beat, AND sounds fabulous when he does it. Clearly, a problem with timing is something he doesn’t have to worry about.

• Mrinal of Divine Raaga: A Hindi band, playing fusion rock? Please. Atleast, that was my first reaction when I found out about this Bangalore based outfit. After listening to their five singles, I take back my initial words. This band is all about fusion and balance, without going into too much spiritualism. Bonus points for the flute; love the sound.  Coming to the drummer, Mrinal is a promising drummer I would love to hear more music from. However, he is drowned out by the vocals and guitars too often for my liking. For example, in Divine Raaga’s song titled Ek, about religious unity, I can hardly hear him playing. Same goes for Banjaraa, although their new version is much better and Mrinal is more audible. In Brothers, there are some formidable rolls and kicks, with a hard-hitting chorus. Their recently released single, Khilauney, has a nice combination of the flute with the snare, and surprise! Mrinal is the lyricist, reflecting about how we are all toys in the game of life.

• Shiraz Bhattacharya of Pentagram: When you have a band whose lead vocalist is Bollywood hitman Vishal Dadlani, you need to have a drummer who can pull ears away from the vocals to the percussions. Shiraz does just that, with his catchy beats and simple but strong offbeat kicks. He complements Dadlani well, without trying to overshadow him. He gives lovely aggressive kicks and cymbal clashes in This Is For My People, and produces a variety of very interesting and intriguing sounds with his drumsticks and pedals, in Voice. His opening percussions in Tomorrow’s Undecided, from March 2011, almost got me dancing, they were so upbeat! Pentagram’s latest, the Star Movies Action theme, is the perfect Bond movie soundtrack material, with hard hits and frequent rolls.

• Virendra “Viru” Kaith of Demonic Resurrection: I had no idea what blackened death metal meant. Until I heard the Demonstealer and his band. I think the less I say the better; these guys have, after all, had international shows at the Inferno Metal Festival in “metal haven” Norway and the Brutal Assault festival in the Czech Republic, in 2010. Viru is a complete beast behind the drum kit; he has an unearthly amount of energy and consistency, along with fantastic timing. His blast hits throughout the tracks are to die for, and after listening to The Unrelenting Surge of Vengeance, I can safely conclude this paragraph by saying, “Enough said”.

• Abhinandan Mukherjee of SpuNK: No, that’s how they spell it. The full form is Seedha Palaat Udhar Nautanki Kahike. This up and coming band from Kolkata has garnered a healthy dose of fan following for itself on Facebook and Twitter. Known for playing modern renditions of R.D Burman and Kishore Kumar classics, and blending a rock feel into mainstream Bollywood numbers, Abhinandan’s drumming is crucial to the band. He works well with the guitarists to provide that extra kick, which is lacking in most remixes. In SpuNK’S Jazbah, a tribute to the Indian Air Force, Abhinandan is the consistent factor among some minor slip-ups by the other members, with good timing and co-ordination. The band is currently working on their debut EP, and I am looking forward to what their drummer has in store.

• Adhir Punja of Broken Membrane: The initial Google searches offered some pretty disturbing and irrelevant results. But when I found what I was looking for, I was amazed. Because Adhir drums AND sings! He’s the drummer, vocalist and a guitar player too, should occasion demand – all three rolled into one. That is a potent mix, and this one’s a keeper. Broken Membrane released their debut album, A New Age, in March 2013. Adhir gives us good rolls and kicks, and on a not so unrelated note, the vocals are very good as well. He makes good use of the cymbals, and uses linear beats to utilize all the skins, instead of preferring the snare and the bass. It’s not easy being a drummer and a vocalist at the same time; it’s even less easy to do it well. And then have only two band mates, AND THEN manage to produce good rock music. But he’s done it, so I, for one, am keeping an eye out for this one in the future.

• Raghav Sehgal of 1833 AD: You’ll find a whole lot of bands with destruction, despair and doom (I call it 3D) as their lyrical theme. What you won’t usually find, is a band which has hatred, destruction and exploitation of the human race as their theme, and they manage to write songs about it without having a tug of war between religion and anti-religion, focusing instead on evil supremacy. Sehgal is another beast lurking behind the drums. His deadly blast beats and lethal co-ordination are just two of the many tricks he has up his sleeve. This is an aggressive drummer who likes to mix kicks and hits, with the result that every track sounds tailor made for him. Who Will Kill The Emperor is an especially deadly cocktail.

After the above eight, I’d like to give a special mention to Jonathan Fernandes, who was the drummer of Mumbai’s Reverrse Polarity. Complementing the screaming vocalists with his strong offbeats, good kicks mixed with frequent hits, Fernandes is said to have provided the band’s signature sound, with his characteristic syncopated beat patterns. Unfortunately, the pilot in training suffered a tragic death in June 2011, when he fell off the balcony on the seventh storey at a birthday party. Allegations that he was “heavily drunk” later fell flat, and the underground music fraternity lost this 24 year old talent, whom they had hailed as the “brightest percussionist on the metal scene”. It’s very natural that I forgot to or didn’t have space to include another talented drummer in the Indian music scene today; if I missed out anybody, please leave their name in the comments.