Mike Row

D.o.b: 04/01/1980

Instrument: Drums and occasional vocals.

Equipment:

10, 12, 14, 16, 22 aqua marine fade Tama Starclassic drums
Gibraltar rack system
Iron Cobra double pedal and hi hat stand
Roc N Soc stool
12 x 5 Mapex black panther maple snare drum
8" Sabian max stax
14" custom stack (14" thin crash beneath 14" mini chinese with an ice bell on top)
14" Sabian Xcellerator hats
17" Sabian AAX metal-x crash,
2x 19" Sabian AAX metal-x crashes,
22" Sabian hand hammerered rock ride,
22" Sabian aa chinese

5 Desert Island Discs:

1. Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From A Memory - Dream Theater. Dream Theater have become my favourite band of all time recently (in the last couple of years) and this to me is the ultimate album by them, Mike Portnoy's drumming is a constant inspiration as you may have noticed when you see me play.
2. Ride The Lightning - Metallica. I would have chosen either Master of Puppets or the Black Album but they have gained much commercial success, and this one tends to get over looked whereas the others get over played.
3. War of the Worlds - Jeff Wayne. Classic album and great story, I could listen to this one over and over.
4. Cowboys From Hell - Pantera. Really hard to choose between the Pantera albums; chose this one though as there are some classic tracks on it and I love the whole album whereas on a few of the albums I find myself skipping the occasional track.
5. Platinum Collection - Genesis. I'm sure this is cheating as it's a three disk set but I'd need something other than metal to listen to and this would be grand although to be honest if I only had five albums to listen to id go kill myself!

Personal Bio & How you came to be in FN:

Started drumming at the age of twelve at school and quickly became the best drummer (if I do say so myself!). Found myself in a few bands including the school swing band (oh yes), where I started getting used to playing in front of an audience -even if they were all five (when I was six I always shat myself at the thought of standing in front of a crowd and performing). I was asked to join an older kids band project and we ended up doing a session at Maida Vale studios (the guitarist cousin worked there) nothing came of it but what a great experience that was.

At college I bumped into this guy who asked if I was a drummer and liked metal (I was wearing a Zildjian cap and a Metallica tee) and that was that my first proper band. Nadir was formed and I started teaching myself double kick drumming, it took ages to get the hang of it but because I was in a band with people that were writing lots of thrash metal riff I had no choice! I found myself swimming in the deep end a bit, and to this day I still say I wouldn't be as good if it wasn't for those days of being forced to do something I couldn't.

Also I enrolled in music school in London and was there for a year - although I didn't seem to learn much seeds had been sewn that would later develop years later. With loads of shows under our belts I had had enough and moved to the States to be with my Mum and ended up working in a music shop selling drums and the seeds that were sown in London started to develop. I started hanging around lots of great drummers and picking up tips wherever I could. I started practising playing to other styles of music and that really opened my playing up.

I moved back to England when my folks got remarried and soon found myself back with Nadir and we bashed out several more demos and tons more shows across the UK gaining quite a reputation when suddenly Gregg said he wanted out and that was that. We found a guitarist but Keith the singer moved to Nottingham, so I had this number for a guy called Renny (although I had it down as Remmy, d'oh) and I kept asking him to join us but he wouldn't saying it was too heavy for him (Renny - errr nooo! I said I couldn't "do" Death Metal!), so the band folded and before I could say bollocks Renny asked me to join this band called Forever Never.

Well obviously I did and once again I found myself in a situation that I couldn't quite deal with. Odd time signatures, polymeters and really technical stuff that I had never played before and the people in the band were all waiting while I tried to catch up. There were lots of times I thought about chucking it in or that I'd be kicked out but fortunately I stuck at it and after a year or two I find my confidence has grown and my playing ability pushed to the next level again thanks to Renny and his constant pushing and support.

Nothing makes me laugh more than when I see Renny's face after I manage a particularly difficult pattern. Fortunately these days it only takes a day or two to get a song down as opposed to a few years back where it'd take weeks or even months. Anyway enough of my rambling, that's my story and I'm sticking with it!

Favourite Film:
Star Wars Saga or Lord of the Rings. Hmmm I love films as much as music - it's my one escape from life on the road and currently I have about 400 dvd's in my collection.

Favourite TV Shows:
Lost, 24, Scrubs, Only Fools and Horses and My name is Earl

Pet Hate:
Arrogance, I cant stand people in bands that think they are some kind of God because they can play an instrument. Fuck off you're only famous because people like me bought your album! Please, if I come across like this TELL ME ASAP! Also, people who have no concept of the sacrifice soldiers made for our freedoms in WW2. All too often now I meet people that don't give a fuck about the MILLIONS of people that lived and died in horrible conditions so that we could live as free(ish) people instead of living under the twisted regime of a lunatic dictator. GRRRRRR rant over.

Drink of Choice:
Jack n DIET Coke, Lager, Jager and Red Bull, White Russians

Favourite FN song to listen to:
Reversal or Silent Elegy; good songs and its always weird listening to my vocals on there.

Favourite FN song to play live:
Empty Promises, it's new and fresh and there's always a slight danger ill fuck it up in the middle eight, - oooh risky.

Most memorable show to date:
Any of the shows from Stone Sour. Hearing 3,000 people screaming as you hit that opening note is incredible! Then looking out at a sea of people going apeshit for a song that you were writing in a practice room a year ago; MENTAL.