Jimmy Chamberlin

The London Drum Show welcomes a rare UK performance from the Smashing Pumpkins drum legend, and here he talks to rhythm about redefining rock drumming and his approach to drum education

- Rich Chamberlain

For the last couple of decades at least, no ‘Greatest Drummer’ list compiled by this or any other magazine has been complete without Jimmy Chamberlin somewhere very near the top. The jazz-schooled sticksman, who cites his influences as Krupa and Rich as much as Moon, Paice and Bonham, created some of the most intricate, memorable and hooky drum parts ever laid down in the name of rock. ‘Cherub Rock’, ‘Geek USA’, ‘Siva’, ‘I Am One’, ‘Tonight, Tonight’… the intricate, jazz-inspired beats Chamberlin laid down for Smashing Pumpkins in the 1990s set a benchmark for modern drummers; no player since Bonham and Baker has brought such finesse and chops to bear on rock music, and truly fired drummers’ imaginations. In the intervening years he has been on-off with Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan, first in Zwan and then back with the Pumpkins on numerous occasions – including recently to tour with the band.

“[Billy Corgan] found himself in the position of just not having a drummer for the tour and he wanted to play the set that we’re going to play so he just reached out on email and said before he goes looking for someone to play those songs, which is obviously a long task, was there any way I could go out for this tour?” Chamberlin told Rhythm. “It’s very exciting to go back and celebrate that music in a great context. It is embracing the friendship, the relationship and the music and proving that the music and the relationships are much bigger than all the politics from down the years. I thought about it for about a second and then said yes.”