For many people the practiced profession or a job, factually spoken, is a gainful employment. That’s it. A means to an end. Working in order to earn money.

Marco Minnemann has quite another attitude towards his “gainful employment”. He belongs to the people who found their profession in their job and this made him a worldwide know drummer.

However, he first made his way via other instruments which you wouldn’t compare with drumming at first sight – organ and guitar. And yet: the organ gave him a first feeling for playing with hands and feet, the guitar shaped his dexterity. When he started with drumming, he was driven by the idea to play an instrument where he could use hands and feet equally. Thus, he challenged himself by playing those notes by hands which were meant for the feet and vice versa. As a basis for practicing he took, among other things, textbooks and orchestrated for example George Lawrence Stone’s book “Stick Control” that originally serves as a workbook for the snare. But quickly he reached the limits of his possibilities with his drum set. Therefore, he started expanding his standard setup little by little, first with a second hihat, then a kickdrum, another gong-tom. Thus, he developed an extraordinary way of playing. Rather unique at that time of his career, but the beginning of his until today excellently played 6-way-independence-style.

Icelandic music has never been this present: Artists like Ólafur Arnalds, Björk and Sigur Rós -just to name a few- established a style of their own and gain massive impact. Due to the small popularity, there are only a few places musicians, producer, composer and engineers meet. One such place is the famous E7 studios in the harbor of Reykjavík.

Icelandic songwriter and composer Ragnar Ólafsson kindly takes time off recording his next solo album in his studio room in E7 to share his view on music creation and making a living as a musician under the special circumstances of Iceland’s rather small music industry.

He took us on a ride around his hometown, sharing his favourite places and the beautiful nature of Iceland.

Sandhausen, Germany. Berlin based live and session drummer Felix Lehrmann stops by for a session at the alte Zigarrenfabrik Studios. He chats with us about the importance of sound, in the studio and live, and how he chooses instruments that complement his style of playing.

Late 2018, Felix visited the Paiste factory in Nottwil, Switzerland. He had the chance to see how his favorite cymbals are crafted by hand and gained a better understanding of what it takes to build a high quality cymbal.