Terry Bozzio | Guitar Center Drum Off 2011 (Part I)

Part I of Terry Bozzio's incredible performance, featuring Jimmy Johnson on bass and Alex Machacek on guitar, at Guitar Center's 2011 Drum Off Grand Finals.

Filmed at Club Nokia in Los Angeles on January 14th, 2012.

[Micha_el.]

Its amazing what he can do on such a simple kit...

[dexterhurrenmusic]

Sound guy: “okay, now hit Tom number 54 for me.”😂

[oxouk]

Then the sound man said “I don’t give a shit how many drums you have, you’re getting 3 mics, where do you want them”

[huwandgill]

In every song his unique challenge is to remember to hit everything at least once to justify its inclusion.

[BryanW]

Legend has it he was 14 years old when he started setting up that kit.

[striker_kbd]

Legend has it that he is still tuning the drums to this day...

[BananaManPL]

I like how the sound engineer was like "nope, fuck that. You get *one* overhead."
Gets the job done though lmao

[mikesmith]

I saw him back in 1980 when he started a band called Missing Persons. His wife was on another level of singing, as well (Dale). They were both young and loads of energy. Terry, set up his kit (not like this one) near the front of the stage (on my side). I was in the front row and didn't expect to see him so close. There were no stage barriers at the time, so I could nearly touch his leg. Anyways, I didn't know much about him, but knew all the songs with their first album tour. I'll tell you people right now. I've never, ever, seen a man play the drums with so much energy and all out rage, as Terry, that night. He was a man possessed. It was a privileged to be in the small venue at that time and to be so close to him, I may as well be sitting on part of his chair. I can't even describe his playing but to say, it was Godly insane. Much respect to this man. He is in my top 3 best drummers of all time. Noted: That I was privileged to see Neil Peart warm up for 30 minutes in rehearsals (standing near his drumkit), as I was on the stage crew with Rush for a few venue's. Neil was different in warm ups, as he was unrestricted. So he went at it hard and it was phenomenal and put on a much better show for the crew than on a live set. But, I rate Terry Bozzio's play slightly better, because of his relentless energy to kill those drums, that night (43 years ago). Folks, both are incredible drummers, if you ever have a chance to see Terry play, then go.

[andydai]

"Hi welcome to the drum store, what can I get you"
"Yes"

[DannyRoss_]

This drum kit is what calculator on iPhone looks like when you tilt the phone

[jacobrudder]

What it feels like when you add a second rack tom.

[alexmook]

One of the most technically gifted and unique drummers I have ever seen.

[furysoff]

*Buys all the drums and cymbals*
*makes this contraption*
*plays AC/DC Back in Black*

[VW]

He's like the crazy cat lady, but with drums.

[SurShuru]

“Hey, can you mic 40 toms, 40 gongs and 40 cymbals?” **5 hours later** “oh thanks!” **plays 6 of each**

[Kissfandr]

Legend has it, somewhere inside that drum kit, Terry Bozzio can be found.

[ivankaspeadsforquincyjones]

All these people complaining about how many drums he has. Go see him at a drum Clinic and he can hit every single drum and cymbal in complete syncopation in one tenth of a second. His goal is to make drums more orchestral. Saw his clinic at Folly Beach in 2000 and talk to his drum tech for a while and he invited me to help break down his set at the end of the performance. It was totally worth it to sit behind that drum kit for a minute. Terry Bozzio is Legend

[rwfrenchGenX]

Terry is a monster but my heart goes out to his tech’s for setting up this kit!

[KillasaurusArcade]

Terry: *Pulls up to drive thru*

Server: What can I get you?

Terry: The menu

[andreasbreitwieser]

regarding back from 2025 I'm glad a drummer did that kind of experimenting orchestral stuff and Terry was the right guy to do it for an amount of time. He was always creative, always inspiring and always giving his soul to the listeners. Although we are now in the time of Nate Smith, JD Beck and minimalistic drum kits Terry got his legend status.