Tommy Aldridge (born August 15, 1950 in ) is a
veteran
heavy metal and
hard rock drummer. Aldridge is noted for his work
with numerous bands and vocalists, most notable being
Black Oak Arkansas,
Pat Travers Band,
Ozzy
Osbourne,
Gary Moore,
Whitesnake and
Thin
Lizzy.
Aldridge taught himself how to play drums and was inspired by
Cream,
The
Beatles,
Jimi Hendrix and
Led Zeppelin and drummers
Joe Morello and
John
Bonham. Throughout his career Aldridge has been regarded as a
double bass drumming pioneer.
Career
In the 1970s, Aldridge joined up and coming rockers
Black Oak Arkansas and recorded nine
albums with them between 1972 and 1976. He also undertook long
tours around the US with the band.
He spent
1978 to 1981 signed with Canadian
blues-rock guitarist Pat
Travers Band, and recorded five albums with him.
Aldridge was then offered a place in
Ozzy
Osbourne's band, which he accepted because of the talent of
Randy Rhoads. Tommy said it was Randy who pushed him to be the best
he could be. Although Aldridge is credited in the liner notes and
pictured on the inner sleeve of
Diary Of A Madman, Lee
Kerslake performed all the drum parts on the original release.
Playing alongside Ozzy and guitarist
Randy
Rhoads, the line up is preserved on 1987's
Tribute. After Rhoads'
death the band continued to record, producing a live album in 1982
called
Speak Of The
Devil and a studio album,
Bark at the Moon in 1983, after which
Aldridge left the group. Drummer Carmine Appice was brought in to
tour for this release. During this tour, due to some personal
differences within the band, Carmine was let go and Tommy did
return to work with Ozzy for the final leg of the Bark At The Moon
tour. Tommy finished the touring cycle with Ozzy for with a
performance at Brazils Rock in Rio music festival in late 1985,
which also included bands such as Queen and Whitesnake.
Aldridge joined
Gary Moore to record
Dirty Fingers in 1981 before
accepting an offer from
David
Coverdale of
Whitesnake. However,
before joining Whitesnake for the "Whitesnake 1987" tour he joined
forces with longtime friend and bass player Rudy Sarzo and
guitar/keyboard virtuoso Tony MacAlpine to form "Project Driver" a
Shrapnel Records band which not only failed commercially but was a
project he personally financed and cost him his marriage. He was
too late to appear on the successful
Whitesnake album, but following the
release of that recording, David Coverdale hired Tommy and Rudy
Sarzo to join Whitsnake and they were part of that band at the peak
of its success. They toured to sell out crowds for the next two
years supporting the Whitesnake 1987 album . Tommy then appeared on
Whitesnakes
Slip Of The
Tongue, released in 1989 which was less successful and
resulted in the group breaking up a year later.
After Whitesnake, he played in the band
Manic
Eden, with his former Whitesnake bandmates,
Adrian Vandenberg and
Rudy Sarzo. The line-up also included former
Little Caesar vocalist Ron
Young.
During the 1990s Aldridge worked with numerous acts ranging from
Motörhead to
Ted Nugent (also recording with House of Lords on
their 1992 release Demons Down) while continuing to tour and record
live albums.
From 2002 Aldridge toured with
Whitesnake
alongside
David Coverdale (vocals),
Doug Aldrich (guitar),
Reb Beach (guitar),
Marco
Mendoza/
Uriah Duffy (bass) and
Timothy Drury (keyboards). Aldridge
left Whitesnake in 2007 to pursue alternate musical
endeavours.
As of 2007, Aldridge was touring with
Thin
Lizzy alongside
Scott Gorham,
John Sykes and
Francesco DiCosmo. The latter part of his
drum solo in this
Thin Lizzy tour
includes a "hands-only" percussion piece where he plays snare,
tomtoms, and cymbals without sticks as he also did while touring
with Pat Travers, Ozzy Osbourne and Whitesnake.
Tommy has been an in demand drum clinician since the early 1980s,
and no matter who he works with, much of his work involves drum
clinics and festivals each year. Aldridge plays
Yamaha drums, a company he has been with since
1982. Yamaha has made Tommy a custom "soon to be released"
Signature Snare drum that is a 7x14 Stainless Steel model with die
cast hoops and black chrome hardware. He also endorses
Paiste cymbals. His cymbal selection can vary, but he
highly prefers the brighter sounds of the 2002 and RUDE cymbals
that they offer.
It had been announced that Thin Lizzy, along with The Answer, were
to support
AC/DC at stadium shows in England,
Ireland and Scotland at the end of June 2009, but these appearances
were cancelled after Aldridge broke his collarbone in an accident.
On 30 June, the band's website announced that John Sykes had left
Thin Lizzy and all shows for the rest of 2009 were cancelled or
postponed. Gorham has stated that he will announce Thin Lizzy's
future plans shortly.
Equipment
Current live setup (2007-)
Drums
Yamaha Drums
- 2x ABD-1524T (24"x18") Absolute Maple Nouveau Bass Drums
- 1x SD-4105 (14"x5.5") Brass Snare Drum
- 1x ATT-1512U (12"x9") Absolute Maple Nouveau Mounted Tom
- 1x ATT-1513U (13"x10") Absolute Maple Nouveau Mounted Tom
- 1x AFT-1516 (16"x16") Absolute Maple Nouveau Floor Tom
- 1x AFT-1518 (18"x16") Absolute Maple Nouveau Floor Tom
- 2x SKRM-100 Subkicks
Cymbals
Paiste
- 17" Signature Full Crash
- 18" 2002 Medium
- 20" 2002 Medium
- 13" 2002 Sound Edge Hi-Hats
- 14" 2002 Rock Hats
- 16" Signature Thin China
- 18" Rude Thin Crash
- 12" Signature Splash
- 18" 2002 Medium
- 16" Signature Thin China
- 15" Signature Fast Crash
- 22" 2002 Power Ride
- 19" Signature Power Crash
- 19" Rude Thin Crash
- 20" 2002 Medium Crash
Sticks
- ProMark 2S Oak Signature Sticks
Discography
Black Oak Arkansas
- If an Angel Came to See You ...
- Street Party
- Ain't Life Grand
- X-Rated
- Balls of Fire
- High on the Hog
- King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents Black Oak Arkansas
- Raunch 'N' Roll Live
- Live! Mutha
- Ten Year Over Night Success
Pat Travers Band
Gary Moore
Ozzy Osbourne
Whitesnake
Manic Eden
Others
Notes
External links
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