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1. When did Gary start playing drums?
I began playing drums in 1996, right at the end of high school — My first private drum lessons actually began while I was sitting my final high‑school certificate exams. So I started later than many people start, but it didn’t take long for the passion to take hold.

2. Did Gary study music at university or college?
I don’t hold a formal degree in music and haven’t studied music at university or college. People often ask why.

I grew up in the remote town of Broken Hill, where there was (and still is) no formal tertiary music education. I also came from a poorer and somewhat unstable family situation, which meant moving away to study simply wasn’t an option. I didn’t take music in high school and didn’t have the subjects, marks, or skills required to audition for a tertiary music course. On top of that, most people around me would have discouraged a university music degree, seeing it as a waste of time and money.

Realising I couldn’t afford university, I took responsibility for my own education. I scoured the internet, libraries, bookshops, and music stores for anything related to drumming. I emailed universities and well‑known drum teachers asking for their reading lists and bought the same books and materials to study independently. Over time, I built a substantial library of research material on music, drumming, and percussion.

As I wrote in The Drummer’s Vade Mecum:“Over the years, my obsession with learning about the subject caused me to collect a lot of books, videos, DVDs and magazines on the subject (basically a small library). However it always annoyed me that I had to have a library in the first place. Why couldn’t I just go out and buy one complete book?”

Whenever I could, I attended private lessons, seminars, and masterclasses — many run by world‑class international players. I also took every performance opportunity that came my way.

Because of my educational disadvantage, I’ve always made a point of pursuing every chance to learn. Collecting information from so many different sources has given me a broad and flexible understanding of music and music education — one that isn’t limited by the curriculum, traditions, or expectations of a single institution. In many ways, I’ve gained a broader knowledge and insight than a university education would offer, without the student fees. While I may not have the formal qualification some people expect, I bring a well‑rounded, open‑minded, and highly practical perspective to both my performance and teaching roles.

One day I’d still like to complete a university qualification in music, if only to tick a box that others expect. But for now, given that I’m already working in the field, it would simply give me a certificate for what I’ve already been doing for more than 20 plus years.

3. Does Gary play any other musical instruments?
My primary instruments are drum set, auxiliary percussion, and digital percussion. However, I also play basic classical percussion — two‑mallet glockenspiel, xylophone, as well as timpani.

I’m not a high‑level mallet or timpani player, but I can handle the small glockenspiel and xylophone parts that appear in shows like Annie, Guys and Dolls, or Chicago, as well as the typical requirements of end‑of‑year school performances.

My mallet percussion skills sit around AMEB Grade 3–4, (roughly a middle‑school to early high‑school level.) I also have some rudimentary piano skills. I’m not at a performance standard, but I can play enough to understand basic chords, melody, and harmony. Think Alfred’s Adult Piano Book 1 or AMEB Grade 1–2 level.

 4. Does Gary like and play jazz?
I don’t live and breathe jazz the way some drummers do, but I do play it reasonably often. Most of the jazz work I’m asked to do is in the jazz‑standards and swing‑band world — the kind of chart‑based playing you’d hear at dinner dances, cruise ships, or wedding bands.
Think classic jazz standards like All of Me, Fly Me to the Moon, Bernie’s Tune, St. Thomas, or La Samba.
Some jazz purists might not consider this style “real jazz,” but it’s the type of playing I’m hired for, and it still requires solid technique, good time, and the mental discipline to stay focused on the task at hand.
When it comes to virtuosic big band or bop‑style playing, I have huge respect for the skill and artistry involved. High‑speed, highly improvised jazz and top‑tier big band drumming are incredible to watch and study, and I always encourage students to learn about it so they understand what’s happening musically — even if they don’t plan to perform it themselves.
 

5. Does Gary like or play heavy metal, and does he do double bass drumming?
I enjoy what’s now often called hard or heavy rock — music that was originally labelled as heavy metal. Bands like Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, Skid Row, and Nightwish are a big part of what I like to listen to.
I do use double bass pedals, but I don’t get to use them as often as I’d like because it doesn’t come up much in the styles of music I’m usually asked to perform. When I do use them, I use my own set of Pearl Powershifter Eliminator pedals. I like them because they’re highly adjustable, feel great underfoot, and are built solidly — the flexibility and construction suit the way I play.

6. Does Gary like and play classical music?
Similar to jazz, I have a great respect for classically trained musicians. Early in my listening life — before I even took up drums — I realised that many virtuosic studio musicians and even some heavy metal guitarists were classically trained or used classical techniques. Players like Steve Vai, John Petrucci and Yngwie Malmsteen made that obvious.

Later I discovered that drummers such as Kenny Aronoff, Thomas Lang and Mike Mangini also came from classical percussion backgrounds. This gave me the impression that classically trained musicians were the “elite musicians.” That’s not entirely true, but it did help me understand something important: serious musicians pay attention to the finest details — tone, technique, reading ability, and the discipline required to play at a very high level. Classical players spend decades refining those skills, often with little financial or social reward, and that level of dedication left a big impression on me.
I’ve learned a lot from classical musicians over the years: such as the need to listen to my tone and dynamic level within an ensemble, understanding how to work with a conductor, and appreciating the importance and power of reading music. I’ve studied some classical works, I do listen to orchestral music, and I’m occasionally asked to play in concert bands and brass bands.
However, being a dedicated mallet percussionist or timpanist in a serious symphony orchestra is a world of its own — one that’s beyond my scope right now.
 

7. What bands and artists does Gary like to listen to?

The music I’m asked to play live often doesn’t reflect my personal listening habits. On stage, I’m usually covering blues, jazz, funk, pop, classic covers, and music theatre.

My own taste leans much more toward pop, rock, hard rock, and heavy metal — especially from the mid‑to‑late 1980s and early 1990s. Some of the bands and artists I love include Guns N’ Roses, Bon Jovi, Skid Row, Def Leppard, Mötley Crüe, Aerosmith, Metallica, Yngwie Malmsteen, Alice Cooper, White Lion, Great White, Evanescence, Within Temptation, and Nightwish.

I also enjoy lighter pop/rock artists like Roxette, Belinda Carlisle, The Bangles, The Calling, Avril Lavigne, Noiseworks, John Farnham, Richard Marx, and 1927. And of course, special mentions go to progressive artists Rush and Dream Theater.

A few specific pieces of music I really enjoy are:

• High Hopes — Pink Floyd

• Respect the Wind — Van Halen

• Schindler’s List Theme — John Williams

• Ghost Love Score (2013 Wacken Festival) — Nightwish

• Coma and Estranged — Guns N’ Roses

• Wasted Time — Skid Row

• Don’t Drop That Bomb on Me (especially the final guitar solo) — Bryan Adams

• White Lightning — Def Leppard

• Dry County — Bon Jovi

• The Man, The Legend / Touchdown — Top Gun: Maverick soundtrack

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​8. Who is Gary’s favourite drummer?
I first got into drumming because I loved the music of certain artists and bands. For me, drumming has always been about supporting strong melodies, harmonies, and chord progressions.
I’ve always been drawn to sweeping, soaring melodies just as much as driving rhythms (which I also love). That’s a big part of why I enjoy power ballads, music theatre, classical music, and those big anthemic guitar solos.
Because of that, many of the drummers who inspire me are players who focus on supporting the song — musicians who bring out the melody and harmony rather than showcasing complex time signatures or blistering speed.

I respect virtuosic drumming immensely, and I study it for technique, but it’s never been the centre of my musical world. To me, a lot of extreme technical playing is a bit like carving ice sculptures with a chainsaw: impressive, fun to watch for a while, but not something I want to do or see every day. (With apologies to all chainsaw ice sculptors.)
Some of the drummers who have influenced me the most include:
Matt Sorum (Guns N’ Roses)    Rick Allen (Def Leppard)    Tico Torres (Bon Jovi)    Rob Affuso (Skid Row)
Mickey Curry (Bryan Adams)    Mike Portnoy and Mike Mangini (Dream Theater)
Thomas Lang (Independent)    Dave Weckl (Independent)    David Jones (Independent)​   Anika Niles (Independant / Rush)
 

9. How and why did Gary get into doing music theatre?

Like many things in my musical life, my involvement in music theatre began almost by accident.

In 2002, a local high school urgently needed a drummer after theirs quit about ten days before opening night. I accepted the gig out of politeness, not really knowing what I was stepping into.

Coming from a pop/rock/heavy‑metal background, I’d never even played in a school concert band before — let alone a full stage musical. The learning curve wasn’t so much a curve as a vertical climb.

After two rehearsals and a very stressful week and a half, I somehow managed to pull it off and word spread quickly that I was a drummer who could read and play in orchestral, concert band, and music theatre settings. The following year I was invited back, not only to play drums for the school’s next production, but — because it was an original show — to write the drum parts as well, again with only a week before opening. After a lot of hard work (and stress), it was another success. I also began teaching drums at that school soon after.

My next brush with theatre came in 2010, when I was asked at extremely short notice to play a short run of Little Shop of Horrors.

In the end I wasn’t needed, but the offer put me on the radar of regional theatre company LIVID Productions. The following year they asked me to play drum set for their production of Spamalot (the Monty Python musical).

That show changed everything. It sparked a genuine interest in musical theatre as an art form and put my playing in front of several music directors. After a few more productions, I became one of the go‑to drummers for theatre shows around the Albury–Wodonga region.

I took the opportunities seriously and made theatre one of my main performance platforms, often playing multiple productions each year. Some of the shows I’ve been involved with include:

Jungle Fantasy, Space Quest (original), Chicago (twice), Spamalot (twice), Mary Poppins, Wicked, Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, Sweet Charity, All Shook Up, Guys and Dolls, Annie, Les Misérables, Matilda, Grease (backstage crew), The Addams Family, The Last Five Years, Sweeney Todd, Seussical the Musical, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (twice), Strictly Ballroom, and High School Musical.​

10. If Gary had to describe his playing style, how would he describe it?
Describing my playing style is difficult because it’s a blend of many different approaches. My path into drumming hasn’t been typical, and that’s shaped the way I play.
I never came through a single school or institution that pushed one philosophy of technique or musicianship. Instead, I studied with a wide range of teachers, each with their own ideas and methods. I’ve also never been able to specialise in one genre as much as some players do — the work I take on requires me to move constantly between styles.
My personal influences are often very different from the music I’m hired to play. I am often asked to read music and work from written scores, which lets me study and perform material that many drummers either can’t or simply don’t want to. I also started studying music later than most professional players, which shaped my development in its own way.
A respected drummer once described me as “Very good at a lot of things, but not great at anything” — essentially a jack‑of‑all‑trades.
Over time, I realised he wasn’t wrong. Most musicians have one genre they specialise in; I’ve never really had that option. I was even told that if I wanted to be seen as “great,” I should pick a genre and stick with it. That’s easier said than done when your career depends on versatility.
Because of this, my playing often sits between genres. I’m not rock enough for the rock fans, not metal enough for the metal fans, not jazzy enough for the jazz fans, and not classically trained enough for a dedicated orchestra. But the breadth of skills and general musical knowledge I’ve developed is often wider than that of many drummers who specialise.
This broad capability becomes incredibly valuable when I need to switch styles quickly — whether in wide‑ranging cover bands like Sweet Buzz or in music theatre productions that rely on reading, stylistic accuracy, and adaptability. The downside is that I sometimes receive criticism from people who expect the hyper‑specialised skills of someone who plays only one genre all the time — like memorising every jazz standard, blast‑beating for half an hour straight, or delivering flawless ghost‑note funk all night.
And yet, despite all that, I still get hired. I still get asked back. I still get comments like, “You’re the best drummer I’ve ever played with — I can actually hear myself,” or “This is the first time we’ve ever been able to hear our harmonies properly.” I’ve even had people bring friends from interstate just so they could see “what a real drummer plays like.”
So yes — I’m still a bit unsure how to label my playing. But I show up, I serve the music, do my best and I try to make the people around me sound better. In the end, that’s what matters most, and hopefully people enjoy it.

11. What was Gary’s first drum set?
My first drum set was a basic, entry‑level Powerbeat branded drum set paired with a set of Headliner brand cymbals — nothing fancy, but it was enough to get me started. I actually did my first few professional gigs on this drum set (after buying better drumheads and cymbals)
The photo below was taken just a few weeks after I bought it.

 

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12. What drum kit does Gary use now?
I currently use two drum kits for live performance, along with a range of auxiliary percussion instruments — triangles, tambourines, bell trees, woodblocks, and more if needed. I sometimes incorporate a Yamaha DTX‑Multi 12 digital percussion unit and various drum triggers as well to cover electronic sounds when needed.