Pascal Thielen

I grew up in a rural area in Germany. Tractors were my first love and I especially adored the sounds they were making. When I was 7 years old, my parents asked me if I wanted to play a musical instrument. I naturally gravitated towards the drums because their sound reminded me of the power of the tractors. Eventually I started taking drum lessons and played in local marching bands, brass bands and Big Bands just because there was no other choice if you wanted to make music with other people in the area. When I moved to Mannheim to study drums at the Popakademie in 2018, I felt really releaved to finally be able to play in bands I liked. I experimented a lot during those years and got into many different styles of music. In 2019, I started working at OnlineLessons.tv and we started the Art of Drumming YouTube channel. This opportunity to showcase different drummers and sounds got me exposed to a larger internet audience and lead to me playing in more bands and really getting my professional drummer life going. I'm now a full-time freelance drummer and enjoy doing a mix of teaching, creating YouTube videos, playing gigs and recording and mixing drums in remote sessions. I also recently started doing drum sound/ recording workshops and I'm curious to discover where else this journey will take me. I feel very honored to share this journey with Vic Firth from now on.