Thomas Lang

For other people named Thomas Lang, see Thomas Lang (disambiguation).
Thomas Lang

Thomas Lang in concert, 15 October 2005
Background information
Birth name Thomas Lang
Born (1967-08-05) 5 August 1967
Origin Vienna, Austria
Genres Instrumental rock, pop, jazz fusion, progressive rock, heavy metal, avant-garde metal
Occupation(s) Musician, producer
Instruments Drums, bass, keyboards, guitar, vocals
Years active 1985–present
Associated acts stOrk, John Wetton, Vienna Art Orchestra, Falco, Robert Fripp, Glenn Hughes, Robbie Williams, Steve Hackett, Nina Hagen, Terabite, Schwarzenator, Paul Gilbert

Thomas Lang ( listen ; born 5 August 1967, Vienna) 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",[1] and Mike Portnoy cited Lang as a drummer he "can't replicate".[2]

Biography

Lang was born in Vienna. He took up drumming at age five. In addition to lessons at local music schools and years of private tuition, he was classically trained at the Vienna Conservatory of Music. After leaving the conservatory in 1985, Lang began working professionally, working his way through the European pop, rock and jazz scenes. As a session musician he played for artists such as John Wetton, Robert Fripp, Glenn Hughes, Peter Gabriel, Asia, Nik Kershaw, Tina Turner, Robbie Williams, Kelly Clarkson, Sugababes, Geri Halliwell, Emma Bunton, Victoria Beckham, Ronan Keating, Steve Hackett, 911, Boyzone, Falco, Nina Hagen, Steve Jones, Mick Jones, the Commodores, George Michael, Doogie White, B*Witched, Gianna Nannini, Lighthouse Family, Westlife, Kylie Minogue, the Blockheads, Sertab Erener, Vienna Art Orchestra, Bonnie Tyler, Nadine Beiler, and Paul Gilbert. In 1995 Lang released his debut solo project, Mediator, which topped the charts in Europe and garnered positive reviews.[3]

In 2010 he auditioned to succeed Mike Portnoy as the drummer for Dream Theater. Ultimately, Mike Mangini was chosen to fill in as the permanent drummer for the band.[1]

Instructional material

In 2009, Lang launched the Thomas Lang Drumming Boot Camp,[4] a multi-day touring, educational drumming experience that he hosted in various locations around the world including London, Los Angeles, New York, Berlin, Austria and Finland among others. In 2012, Lang debuted the five-day, multi-drummer festival Big Drum Bonanza which has featured various guest artists including Virgil Donati, Stanton Moore, Chris Coleman, Dave Elitch, Kenny Aronoff, George Kollias and Jeff Hamilton among others.

Selected discography

References

  1. 1 2 "DARKANE's PETER WILDOER Talks About Auditioning For DREAM THEATER". Blabbermouth.net. May 2, 2011. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
  2. ↑ Bosso, Joe (June 23, 2010). "Dream Theater's Mike Portnoy answers your questions". MusicRadar. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Thomas Lang". Thomaslangdrumcamp.com. Retrieved 2014-08-09.
  4. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20120510105714/http://thomaslangbootcamp.com/. Archived from the original on May 10, 2012. Retrieved January 26, 2012. Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links

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