Nathan Bigelow is a touring/session and extreme metal drummer born in Puyallup, Washington in August of 1989. From a young age, Nathan was always fascinated by the drums until he got his first drum set at the age of 13. Mostly self-taught, Nathan studied intermittently under Washington based Jazz drummer, Travis Yost. He grew up jamming with his friends in a bedroom or playing drums for church worship services.
This video is Nathan playing Alterbeast’s ‘The Maggots Ascension.’
Nathan’s Gear:
Sticks:
Vic-Firth 2b
Pedals:
Pearl Demon Drive Pedals with Trick Detonator Beaters
Drums:
Pearl Vision Birch Series – 8”,10”,12”14” Toms, 20” Kick
Snare – Custom 14×6.5 Stave made of Winge (a friend of mine actually made it and gave it to me so it doesn’t have a brand).
Heads:
Snare – Remo Controlled Sound Coated
Toms – Remo Emperor Clear on rack toms, Controlled Sound Clear on the floor tom.
Kick – Remo Powerstroke Coated
Cymbals (all Meinl) from left to right:
18” Byzance Dark China
16” Byzance Vintage Trash Crash
14” Byzance Medium Hi-Hats
10” Classics Custom Metal Splash
* (Stack is a combo of a 10” Filter China and a broken Soundcastwer China that I cut into a splash)
18” Byzance Dual Crash
14” Byzance Dark Hi-Hats
16” Classics Custom Metal China
24” Mb20 Pure Metal Ride
Electronics:
Roland TM-2 Trigger Module/RTK-10 Trigger
Shure SE215 Headphones
In 2008, having met a group of like-minded musicians, Nathan left his home state with nothing but a suitcase full of clothes and relocated to Arizona to form his first band, Blackened Skies, performing multiple local shows with renowned national bands and recording an EP. In 2012, the band adopted a new sound and reformed into a new entity, releasing a self-titled album under the name Solar Impulse. As his reputation in the local scene grew, he was contacted by local band, Excystation – playing a slew of live shows and winning contests all the way up to the final round of the Battle for Summer Slaughter contest in 2014.
In the summer of 2014, Nathan was contacted by technical symphonic metal band, Singularity, for live session work on the band’s first tour. He learned 7 songs in a matter of two weeks and successfully completed the tour, landing him a spot as the band’s full-time drummer. Together, Singularity went to go on more tours and record an EP with Ryan “Bart” Williams (Formerly of The Black Dahlia Murder), which won The Arizona Metal Award for “Best Single/EP” of the year.
Nathan’s reputation for learning technical songs quickly and with precision has garnered him attention from other up and coming bands in the tech death genre. In February of 2017, Nathan was contacted by Alterbeast (Unique Leader Records) – a technical death metal band from Sacramento – to headline an upcoming US tour. Shortly after the tour, Nathan decided to quit his job of 7 years to tour and be a full-time professional musician. He was later contacted by progressive death metal outfit, Arkiak (Unique Leader Records), learning 8 tedious and brutal tracks in just a month and then performing with both Alterbeast and Arkaik each night on a full US tour.
In just 2 years, Nathan has toured in almost every state in the US. His hard work and tenacity has generated quite a buzz and made him a household name in the tech-death community. With regular social media updates from his tours and in his practice studio, he has inspired many friends and fans to take interest in his journey.
Nathan recently performed with Arkaik on The Grave Defender’s tour, accompanying the legendary death metal band, Exhumed, in support of their new album “Death Revenge”. In 2018, he is slated to perform another headliner tour with Alterbeast, to promote the release of their latest release entitled “Feast” on Unique Leader Records, as well as performing with Arkaik on the current Devastation on the Nation tour.
Nathan currently uses Pearl drums and hardware, Meinl Cymbals, Vic Firth sticks, Remo heads, Shure headphones, Roland electronics, Urbann Boards drumming shoes, and Gator cases.
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