Thomas Wydler | |
|---|---|
| Born | 9 October 1959 Zurich, Switzerland |
| Genres | Avant-garde, post-punk |
| Years active | 1982–present |
| Labels | Mute Records |
| Associated acts | Die Haut, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds |
Thomas Wydler (born 9 October 1959), is a Swiss musician best known for being a core member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, of which he has been a drummer since 1985. Prior to joining them, he was a member of the experimental German band Die Haut. Wydler has been present on almost every Bad Seeds album, making his debut appearance on the group's third album Kicking Against The Pricks (1986). After the departure of founding member Mick Harvey in January 2009, Wydler became the longest-serving member of the Bad Seeds apart from singer Nick Cave.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are an Australian rock band formed in Melbourne in 1983 by vocalist Nick Cave, multi-instrumentalist Mick Harvey and guitarist Blixa Bargeld. The band has featured international personnel throughout its career and presently consists of Cave, violinist and multi-instrumentalist Warren Ellis, bassist Martyn P. Casey, guitarist George Vjestica, keyboardist/percussionist Toby Dammit and drummers Thomas Wydler (Switzerland) and Jim Sclavunos. With their "brutal blues and gothic nightmares" songs, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds have been considered "one of the most original and celebrated bands of the post-punk and alternative rock eras in the '80s and onward", They have released seventeen studio albums and completed numerous international tours.
A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums.
Die Haut were an experimental German post-punk and post-rock band, who enjoyed some local success in Berlin during the 1980s and 1990s, with such records as the Nick Cave collaboration Burnin' the Ice. The only constant member was Christoph Dreher.
Wydler was the band's sole drummer until Jim Sclavunos joined in 1994. Wydler generally plays a standard drum kit while Sclavunos handles a variety of auxiliary percussion (e.g., vibraphone, maracas, cowbell, tubular bells), but occasionally this is reversed and sometimes both men play conventional drums alongside each other (see double drumming). Due to unspecified health problems Wydler did not tour with the band from about 2013, but he remains a member of the group and has contributed to all studio albums since joining. [1] Founding Bad Seed Barry Adamson temporarily rejoined the group during this era as a drummer, given that many of the band's newer songs were arranged for two percussionists. Wydler rejoined the Bad Seeds on tour in 2017. [2] [3]
James Sclavunos is an American drummer, multi-instrumentalist musician, record producer and writer. He is best known as a drummer, having been a member of two seminal no wave groups in the late 1970s. He is also noted for stints in Sonic Youth and the Cramps, and has been a member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds since 1994. Sclavunos has led his own group the Vanity Set since 2000.
A drum kit — also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums — is a collection of drums and other percussion instruments, typically cymbals, which are set up on stands to be played by a single player, with drumsticks held in both hands, and the feet operating pedals that control the hi-hat cymbal and the beater for the bass drum. A drum kit consists of a mix of drums and idiophones – most significantly cymbals, but can also include the woodblock and cowbell. In the 2000s, some kits also include electronic instruments. Also, both hybrid and entirely electronic kits are used.
The vibraphone is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family. It consists of tuned metal bars, and is usually played by holding two or four soft mallets and striking the bars. People who play the vibraphone are called vibraphonists or vibraharpists.
Wydler has performed vocals on the album Murder Ballads singing a verse from "Death is not the End", and also pursues his solo career which can be heard on his Myspace page.
Murder Ballads is the ninth studio album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released in 1996 on Mute Records. As its title suggests, the album consists of new and traditional murder ballads, a genre of songs that relays the details of crimes of passion.
