Thomas Pridgen Drum Clinic @ All Pro Percussion - May 14th, 2010 7PM - $7 Ticket Price

Tickets Go On Sale

Tuesday March 30th @ 11:00 AM

About Thomas:

Growing up in California, Thomas began drumming at the age of three,
recorded his first tracks at eight and by nine years old, he won the
Guitar Center DrumOff. His grandmother Addie, supported his early talent
without applying unnecessary pressure. She would drive him over an hour
each way to attend Stanford Band Camp when he was 11 and often signed
his early endorsement deals because Thomas was to young to do so. At age
10, he was the youngest recipient for a Zildjian endorsement in the
nearly 400 year history of the company. Thomas was also the recipient of
a 4 year scholarship to Berklee College of Music in 1999 at the age of
15; he was youngest musician to ever receive this scholarship.

He has studied with Berklee instructor Francisco Mela, David
Garibaldi, Walfredo Reyes Jr and Curtis Nutall. Thomas says, “I learned a
lot from the guys in church” and would go on to record under the Gospel
Music Workshop of America numerous times. He’s done clinics with
Walfredo Reyes, Jr. and Dennis Chambers. And has played with Keisha Cole
(for whom he was Musical Director), Jada Pinkett Smith’s band Wicked
Wisdom and Christian Scott.

Currently, he is recording and touring for The Mars Volta.
Guitarist for The Mars Volta, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez describes Thomas’
audition for the band as; “I just said, come to Ohio and hang out with
us, we all want to hang. He comes out and there’s a little drum kit
setup, and I go, remember this beat and I beatbox it. That’s the
beginning point and the end. Now we’re going to go improvise for an
hour.” Unknown to Pridgen at the time, on the other side of the curtain
were 14,000 people waiting to catch the bands show. “We went up and we
played and it was awesome. Other people would have freaked, but he
memorized the beat and we did our thing, it was totally tight and that’s
when I knew for sure he was the guy.” You can hear Thomas and The Mars
Volta on their latest record, “The Bedlam In Goliath”

Visit Thomas Pridgen’s myspace.

More Info on All Pro Percussion: http://www.allpropercussion.com/?p=2143