Practically everybody I feature on the channel has some “twists and turns” to their personality. If had assumed Nile’s George Kollias, one of the innovators of the “speed metal” style of drumming that prizes double kick chops, odd meters, and “blast beats” with a stopwatch, was one-dimensional in either his approach to drums or teaching, I would have been wrong.
George studied jazz in college with the great Yannis Stavropoulos, and says his favorite thing to practice in between learning music for tours with his band is jazz fusion. And he’s good at it too. (Here’s an example.)
George has also said things in interviews that made me think he’d be interesting to talk to - for instance the anecdote that people are always asking him in clinics how to make their left foot as fast as their right when playing double-kick, and that George openly considers this approach asinine, since the left foot will be playing 10 percent of the time, so why not just get good at what you actually need to do. This sent the 8020 “real one” radar to full-tilt.
In this interview, George and I chat about approaches to practice, whether he found the drums easy, how he divides his time between metal and fusion, his “natty” philosophy to playing the drums (a big deal in metal circles), and how he prevents injury when playing so hard for so long.
I have no doubt you’ll enjoy this thoughtful conversation on drums, philosophy, and life, with the drummer from Nile, one of the fastest, loudest, and odd-meterish metal bands of the 2000s, whose new single is called The Underworld Awaits Us All.