Dominic Howard

[ewanlaing]

the muse drummer. i thought he was pretty bad till i heard a whole album, and it was really really good stuff. my teacher loves them, and taught me "time is running out" which is really cool. his tom stuff is great, and he can go fairly quickly, as anyone whose heard "apocalypse please" will know.

[mediocrefunkybeat]

He is a genuinely really good drummer. Listen to 'Citizen Erased' from the 2001 album 'Origin of Symmetry' to get some gist. That song took me a long time to nail. I think they had some distribution in the US, so they're not well known.

But an excellent band and an excellent drummer, he severely underplays his potential in Muse, there was a DVD with the first day releases of 'Absolution' and it had a recording session. Lets say his drum warm ups were up there with the very best of them. Great technique.

[Rosco]

Yeah he's a favourite of mine. Perfect for Muse. He has the full dynamic range needed and plays both really tastefully and powerfully.

His sound is HUGE too. If you can catch them live, do so, his drums sound like a thaunderclap!

[Tutin]

Yeah I love his playing, he's extremley versatile. I like the xylaphone stuff on screenager.

[the rich]

Yup, what everyone has said really. Some great snare and tom work in his tracks. I disagree that he underplays to his potential though. Not that he can't do anything more challenging, but sometimes you can play too much. I like how he lays out his tracks... he doesn't over-do it.

[Ashton Drum's]

Listen to 'Citizen Erased' from the 2001 album 'Origin of Symmetery'
I love that song that would have to be my faverite drumming song by them
but my best song that I like is fliip off the first album

[Tutin]

On the muselive forums there is a discussion as to whether Dom plays double bass. I was wondering if any of you knew if he does?

[mediocrefunkybeat]

Well having listened to the entire Muse catalogue I can't say I've ever noticed any. I should take a look at my brother's Hullabaloo DVD and have a peek behind the kit. My hunch is he doesn't; or hasn't to this point.

[Tutin]

He does have a double pedal apparently. He supposedly uses it live on songs like Stockholm Syndrome. If you listen closely to that (and Plug in baby) you can hear doubles every now and then. Of course he could be using heel-toe but you never know.

[Domanik]

If you watch the hullablloo dvd there is one shot where it shows you his feet, He uses a tama iron cobra, left handed, cause hes left handed, lol. But yea, i think its in the intro to megalomania, or the tom intro on citizen live. He deffinately has one, but wether he uses it alot is a different matter. The only songs i can think of are deadstar and stockholme. Still, my favourite band, and an excellent drummer

Peace out

[Domanik]

If you watch the hullablloo dvd there is one shot where it shows you his feet, He uses a tama iron cobra, left handed, cause hes left handed, lol. But yea, i think its in the intro to megalomania, or the tom intro on citizen live. He deffinately has one, but wether he uses it alot is a different matter. The only songs i can think of are deadstar and stockholme. Still, my favourite band, and an excellent drummer

Peace out
Also, i believe the stockholme footage at earls court on the new Absolution dvd shows a shot of his feet

[Tutin]

Yeah it says on wikipedia that he uses a double pedal. Solved.

[Ashton Drum's]

Anyone heard the new muse album if so what do you think of the drumming is it any good

[Tutin]

Yeah it's pretty minted. I like the little solo in assasin.

[averypoordrummer]

yeah assasain has good drumming. he's a good, solid, skilled rock drummer.

however, i don't like muse. boring riffs and whiney vocals make it a chore to listen to (IMO)

[ewanlaing]

yeah, that can be hard for some people to listen to. it's the main critisicm i hear against the band, and it's completely justified.
i like how the sunburn beat doesn't have a bass drum on the 1. it's simple but very cool to listen to.

[averypoordrummer]

they are a clever band, i'm not denying the skill they have (except for matt bellamy's dreadful whining) and i know how popular they are.

yeah sunburn is perhaps one of their cleverest songs. simple, but clever. thats actually probably the best way to describe them.

[Bloodsh3d]

Simple? Not for rock, or popular music in general I'd say.

[SimSalaBim]

Dominic is awesome drummer. He never overplays his drum parts are one of a kind and his drum sound is out of this world. Muse is a great band. Dominic is a great example how the modern rock drumming is supposed to be.

[Sejer]

Hi....

I love your work.. i play in MUSE-JAM.COM so i like it...

can anybody tell me what cymbals Dom is using now... ???

Best Regards

Nicolaj Sejer

Drummer in MUSE-JAM.COM

[ColtenK]

Dom uses a selection of Zildjian cymbals. Over the years his tastes in cymbals have changed somewhat. For example, on the Hullabaloo DVD he uses 13" A Custom hi-hats, 8" A Custom splash, 9" FX Oriental "Trash" Splash, 18" and 19" A Custom Crashes, 18" FX Oriental China Trash and a 22" K Custom Ride, whereas more recent performances have seen the addition of a 20" FX Oriental Crash of Doom, hung above his hi-hats, and 14" K Custom Special Dry Hi-Hats replace-and starkly contrast-the A Customs. Lately the A Custom splash has been changed out in favour of a traditionall finished cymbal, possibly an 8" or 10" Avedis splash.

For recording he uses darker K or K Custom crashes while he often retains the brighter A Customs in live performances for their increased "cut" (Ks were used at Live 8).


**This was taken directly from Wikipedia. Hope that helps!**

[Breadmonkey]

Never really listened to much Muse before the new album but my god was i blown away by this one!

As stated above, brilliant drumsound, having watched a few vids on youtube, it kinda sounds similar to Mike Portnoy's vistalites with Hammer of the Gods. With toms that sound like that it doesn;t surprise me that he larrups into them on this record.

Assassin is an incredible song, so thrashy, SO GOOD!! lol
I love the simplicity of Starlight, solid as a rock and IMO fits the song 100%.
And as for Knights of Cydonia.......EPIC, nothing more, nothing less.

With regards the double bass question, when listening to a live version of assassin on youtube I reckon I definitely heard a good few bars of double pedal playing.
Blacks holes and revelations ,to me, seems like a combo of Pink Floyd, Zeppelin and borderline (maybe not quite) rage against the machine influences. The guitarro cites tom morello as a major influence so I'm not surprised.
As you can no doubt tell I'm very enthusiastic about this album, just a pity i haven't had my kit at home for the best part of four months cos of gigging. ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Shir Ali]

DOM is an awesome drummer. perfect for the perfect band.
and he DOESNT use double bass. I never heard any doubles in his songs and I've listened to muse A LOT! his right foot is always on Hi-Hat if you look. and you can check his fan site or his profile on TAMA website. he doesnt use doubles. stockholm syndrome is done with single kick and 2 toms.thats the brilliance of it! check youtube for the user "xevifoo" who plays along to the song and you'll see.

[FrazzaB]

Yeah it says on wikipedia that he uses a double pedal. Solved.

It actually say he used to.

Dom has always favoured the Iron Cobra pedals and used the double glide version since roughly Muse EP was released. The only song the double pedal has been used live for is Cave. The pedal was dropped for a single at around the begining of the Absolution tour.

p.s. My favourite drummer even though he is left handed :P

p.p.s Funnily enough though he doesnt influence my style.

[Tutin]

It actually say he used to.

Dom has always favoured the Iron Cobra pedals and used the double glide version since roughly Muse EP was released. The only song the double pedal has been used live for is Cave. The pedal was dropped for a single at around the begining of the Absolution tour.

p.s. My favourite drummer even though he is left handed :P

p.p.s Funnily enough though he doesnt influence my style.

Yeah, I should have said that. I actually got bored enough to learn all the muse songs left handed. Well, all the ones I liked.

[spartacus1989]

Definatly my favorite mainstream drummer!!

[trysthedrummer]

He has used double pedals but im sure I read somewhere that he now "favours the single pedal" or something.

One of my all time favourite bands. Brilliant live, wish I could have gone to Wembley to see them they have one hell of a stage crew.

[Ashton Drum's]

This is old and unless you've been living under a rock you will all ready no this but check out his Tamas

[DuxTer]

I saw Muse live yesterday in Monaco and Dominic did an amazing job on the drums, daaamn! He's a great drummer and he plays so solid and powerful.
I haven't enjoyed myself so much in ages, Muse put on a great show, plus they played all the songs I wanted to hear: Hysteria, Our Time Is Running Out, Plug In Baby, New Born, and Starlight. ^^ I'd do it all over again today =P

[matib]

Dom is one of my favourite drummers, and muse are amazing, they are one of the first rock bands i ever listened to, does anyone no where i could get one of those transparent acrylic kits that he uses? i think they look awesome

[Big_Philly]

My favourite song of Muse is Map of the Problematique, that has some pretty interesting bits to it for us drummers. He is one of my favourite drummers, he's just so creative!

[damerodas]

Hello, my favourite band is Muse and i like dom's playing but I think he isn't an amazing drummer. His songs aren't very difficult to play but he uses a lot of tints and he's fun to see in live! I was in Anvers (Antwerp) in december: IT WAS SO FANTASTIC !

PS sorry if my english is not correct but I'm belgian and I began to learn english 2 years ago at school...

[xush]

I saw the recent tour where Muse was supporting some other band (I left after the Muse set)
and that Tama Mirage kit sounded HUGE. Great tone from those acrylics; I was impressed.
I think he's a good solid player in a very strong band, I really like what they're doing. One of the few contemporary rock bands that I find listenable.

[TitanSound]

My favourite song of Muse is Map of the Problematique, that has some pretty interesting bits to it for us drummers. He is one of my favourite drummers, he's just so creative!

Agree totally on that one, I saw when the played here on TV Live at Abbey Road and that was one of the songs they played. It blew me away. Such power and the band as a whole are very, very tight.

[13enson]

i have been to see muse live everytime they released an ablum, muse where also the first band i went to see live.

domonic howard is the drummer who inspired me to start drumming, mainly i think this is because his drumming isn't massively complicated but then so perfect for the band's sound, so there some good songs to try to play along with when you are just getting in to drumming. i have been drumming for 2 years without any lessons and there is no way i would have made as much progress as i have without domonic howard and muse's music to help me.

i did a forum search a couple of times for his name but nothing came up, then when was just browsing the threads i found this one?... never mind.

[Superthumbs]

I find Dom's talent to use all of his limbs at once while drumming excellent! He keeps time on the hi hat, but could be pulling an amzing beat or solo at the same time, a good example is the solo in assassin!

[Horizonchaser]

i don't like muse. boring riffs and whiney vocals make it a chore to listen to (IMO)

Clearly you have never heard the riff from New Born.

[rabbitfoot]

i really like dom. his tom work is pretty amazing. really solid player. seeing muse live is quite a thing, so powerful! and i can relate to dom because he's a lefty! like me!

[joshlovestodrum]

Dom has got really good taste. His swing/sense of time is just how I dig it...I cant really explain it much better than that. I've got a soft spot for 3 pieces and Muse is quite a dandy!

peace,
JG

[DrewTheShoe]

I really love Dom.
A lot.
I've learned to play a slew of his songs (Muscle Museum, Stockholm Syndrome, Time Is Running Out, etc) and love all of them.

But about the double bass theory:
NO. Dom does NOT use a double pedal. What you are referring to is that for a brief time in the "Absolution" era he used one, but only for improvs and endings. None of his songs use a double pedal.

But I really like his Custom Dry hats.
:P It's a shame Zildjian discontinued them...

[Trip McNealy]

I want his ProMark sticks but according to their website, you can only get them in the UK :(

[jonescrusher]

I want his ProMark sticks but according to their website, you can only get them in the UK :(

Well that makes for a refreshing change.

[K.Howden]

Dom is a very underated Drummer for sure and one of my favourites along with Gavin Harrison.

There's a technical error with it at the mo but if you go to; http://www.musedrums.co.uk and go to Media there are some stripped down Muse tracks from the Absolution and Black Holes sessions;
- Stockholm Syndrome (Drums, Keys and Vocal)
- Hysteria (Drums only)
- Butterflies and Hurricanes (Drums only)
- Starlight (Drums and Bass)
- Knight's of Cydonia (Drums, Vocal and Synth)

Stockholm Syndrome suprised me as there's parts where it sounds like quick doubles on the Kick but it in fact there's Ghost notes on the Snare that give it that impression. Butterflies is an interesting listen, the main recurring fill he does through out the song is alot different to what I thought it was and also with all the songs you see how much he uses quick Kick strokes in his fills, really creative and orginal stuff.

Hope everyone's well,

Kev

[humourus username]

I really like Dom's simple yet effective approach. And some of his fills are just awesome! My favourite muse song has got to be map of the problematique; its so powerful. Does anyone know what drums he used for the origin of symmetry album?

[jammcalinden]

Domonic Howard is an increadible drummer, listen to him in muse's assassin.