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Chris Adler, a Grammy Award-winning Drummer

Staying relevant in the music industry for an extended period is never a joke. Chris Adler is among the new millennium’s drummers who have been relevant for the shortest period that he has played. Many people imitate him, which makes him an influential extreme metal timekeeper.

Christopher James Adler is an American musician born in Washington, D.C., United States, on 24 November 1972. He has developed a unique technique known as the heel-toe bass drum technique that makes him exceptional. This has made him the engine in the Lamb of God’s career success over the years.

He is known by most people as the founder of the heavy metal band called ‘Lamb of God.’ He is also the longest-serving member of this band. He plays drums and percussion within several major music genres, including heavy metal, progressive metal, groove metal, metalcore, and thrash metal.

Chris Adler
Chris Adler, founder of Lamb of God

Adler went to Bishop Ireton High School in Virginia and later joined Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. While in the university, he met his former bandmates Mark Morton and John Campbell. He got the inspiration for drumming from drummers like Shannon Larkin, who previously worked with Wrathchild America and currently working with Godsmack.

He also got inspiration from Stewart Copeland, working with The Police. Other significant influences came from Gene Hoglan, Dave Lombardo, Lars Ulrich, Gar Samuelson, Billy Cobham, and John Bonham.

Adler started working with the guitarist Ron Jarzombek in 2006, and they did the project ‘Blotted Science.’ Adler went to Toronto, Canada, in 2013 to record the album Volition with the band Protest The Hero‘. This album made Adler win his first Juno Award, which is equivalent to the U.S. Grammy Award.

https://youtu.be/YABUDyqypKw

He contributed several drum tracks to the album Dark Roots of the Earth’ by Testament. Together with the Reunion Band members Michael Angelo Batio, Jim Gillette, and Victor Wooten, Adler recorded three songs in a California studio.

However, he left the Reunion band to focus on tour with the Lamb of God and the mid-2018 release. In 2016, Adler also played in Megadeth‘s studio release, Dystopia.

He also played during Megadeth’s world tour, juggling his time between Megadeth and Lamb of God. However, he left Megadeth in July 2016 because he was pressured to leave the band Lamb of God and join Megadeth full-time.

Chris Adler Performing 1
Chris Adler performing live on the stage

In February 2017, Chris Adler won his first Grammy award courtesy of the album Dystopia, which won the Best Metal Performance. However, he never attended the ceremony because he was no longer Megadeth’s member.

Did Chris Adler get involved in a motorcycle accident?

He got involved in a motorcycle accident in 2017 but never revealed the incident to the public until 2018. In 2019, he parted ways with the Lamb of God after staying out for an extended period.

The band had to recruit another drummer to replace him in the band. Adler founded Kintsugi Management, an artist management firm that keeps him in touch with music.

Later in 2020, Adler made public his first project, Firstborn, with James LoMenzo, Megadeth’s former member. Adler prefers Saturn Mapex drums, Gibraltar Hardware, Evans drumheads, Meinl Cymbals, Trick pedals, and Mark signature Sticks.

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Written by Andrea

Andrea is a music lover and an experienced drummer with more than 15 years of drumming with different bands and music projects, such as Seditius and Hermano & the Marines.

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