Russ Miller Interview - Balancing art and Commerce
May 5, 2014

035 – Russ Miller: Balancing Art and Commerce

In this podcast I spoke with Russ Miller who is widely recognized as a one of the best drummers in the world.  As a Multi-Platinum recording artist, Russ Miller has played on multiple Grammy® award winning recordings with combined sales of over 26 million copies.  Russ Miller’s musical versatility has led him to work with an incredible list of over 50 international artists from legends like Ray Charles, The Fifth Dimension, Natalie Cole, Tina Turner & Bobby Caldwell through modern stars, Nelly Furtado, The Psychedelic Furs, Hilary Duff, Steve Perry, Andrea Bocelli, Daniel Bedingfield and Meredith Brooks.  As a star of the Los Angeles studio scene, the Modern Drummer Magazine Readers Poll has repeatedly voted Russ Miller in the top 5 Studio Drummers in the world, including 2010, when he was voted the #2 Session drummer.  He has performed on more than 250 albums (including many #1 Billboard hits like Nelly Furtado’s “Whoa Nelly” and Hilary Duff’s “Metamorphosis”).  Russ has also recorded for many T.V. shows and over 50 international movies (such as #1 box office titles like “Chicken Little”, “Fracture”, “Lakeview Terrace”, “Resident Evil Apocalypse”, as well as, the “Percy Jackson” and “Boondock Saints” series of movies, just to name a few).

Along with his many sideman recording credits, he has been a staple on T.V. “house bands”.  Such as “American Idol”, for all of their “Mentoring Sessions”.   Russ Miller also has four critically acclaimed solo albums, Cymbalism, Arrival and the Arrival Live concert DVD/CD and his latest with the “Arrival Trio” entitled “Chegada3”. In addition, Russ performs educational clinics throughout the world for Mapex Drums, Zildjian, Remo, Vic Firth, Porter & Davies Tactile monitoring, Hercules stands, Prologix, ReAl Audio Electronics, SKB Cases and Meinl music instruments, for which he maintains product endorsement relationships and multiple signature instruments.

Russ also has authored two books: The Drum Set Crash Course and Transitions, along with his three videos, “Arrival-Behind The Glass” from Hudson Music, and The Drum Set Crash Course Tuning Edition from Alfred Publications.  A 7-time Modern Drummer readers poll winner, Russ’ solo projects were voted the #1 educational books and videos in the world (2001-2004).

“Continuous effort – not strength or intelligence – is the key to unlocking our potential.” – Winston Churchill (Tweet this)

In this session you will hear about:

  • How Russ got started playing
  • How his decisions changed the course of his life
  • The importance of always having a teacher
  • Taking your job seriously
  • How to get your name out
  • There are NO SHORTCUTS
  • How to play with a band
  • much much much more!

Resources and Links Mentioned:

Russ’ Website | Facebook | Twitter
Drum and Percussion University
Nard Book