Lower Than Atlantis drummer Eddy Thrower showed students how to ‘work for it’ in a masterclass at ACM London recently.
As Radio 1 favourites, Lower Than Atlantis are an excellent example of how young rock bands can find their niche in a modern music industry, so of course we were thrilled to welcome their drummer Eddy Thrower to our London campus. ACM London only opened in 2016 but we have already been honoured to host the likes of Red Hot Chili Peppers’ drummer Chad Smith and Rudimental’s Beanie on our stage, and we were very pleased to see Eddy join this star-studded short history of masterclass guests.
Having already held masterclass sessions at ACM Guildford, Eddy was clearly impressed by the new London campus: “…It looks cool, yeah it’s a wicked facility, a good location – you can’t really go wrong when you put like-minded people and like-minded musicians in this facility. I think what people do at ACM is wicked and it’s a win-win wherever you are, you know. I wish I went to ACM when I was younger, just put it that way.”
Covering great details from his career, with plenty of drumming tips and tricks, the students were left in awe by the end of the energetic class.
Kicking off the session with a hard-hitting performance of appropriately-titled Lower Than Atlantis single ‘Work For It’, the session proceeded in an informal Q&A style presented by ACM’s Head of Creative Industry Development, Ace (also known as the guitarist in Skunk Anansie).
When asked about how he got into drumming, Eddy talked about how he was immersed in music throughout his childhood. With his Dad in a band himself, he first picked up the sticks when his Dad brought a floor tom home for him. After playing his friends drum kit for a while, Eddy finally got lessons in year seven of school.
Eddy also shared that his biggest influences during that time were Lars Ulrich from Metallica and Travis Barker from Blink 182. He explained his opinion that Lars is a great drummer because he makes drumming accessible to non-drummers in the beats that he creates.
Throughout the session, Eddy gave lots of golden advice to our students, including to ‘live in the moment’. He spoke about how the band previously used to worry about how many people attended their shows or if “industry” would be there. He urged the students to not let these issues bother them, as ultimately they don’t matter and the most important thing to focus on is always the music.
If you’d like to study at ACM and learn from incredible musicians like Eddy Thrower, please call our Admissions Team on 01483 500 841 or visit www.acm.ac.uk/open-days/ to book a place on an ACM Open Day today.
