Keep up with Conny here:
Photo by EJ Ali
Conny’s style can be best be described as versatile. Playing all styles of rock/metal from symphony rock to brutal and technical death metal has formed him to be a hard hitting, fast, stable and technical drummer. He started to play drums at the age of 15 and has never taken any lessons. His first 8 miserable years were spent playing in different thrash metal bands that never had complete line-ups. He always seemed to be in the wrong bands. But after recording his first demo in 1999 with Eternal Lies things started to happen and E.L. released the debut album “Spiritual Deception” in 2002. The album got huge response amongst fans of fast, intense and melodic death metal. Conny also formed RotInjected together with the E.L. guitarist. This band was a mix between Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, Monstrosity and Deicide. Conny got in touch with the vocalist/guitarist Fredrik Schälin of ANATA and invited him to their rehearsal room. Soon all the members of ANATA joined R.I. and recorded a demo 2000. And in 2002 the drummer of ANATA decided to quit drumming and Conny took his place on the drum throne. He also joined the band Trendkill 2003.
Conny recorded ANATA’s third full length album “Under A Stone With No Inscription” during spring 2003. This milestone CD of technical death metal put Conny on the map as one of the elite drummers of death metal and led to endorsements by Pearl, Sabian, Vic Firth, Remo and Axis. Throughout the following tours Conny’s style was recognized by his even, technical and intense drumming, without losing power even at maximum tempos. Conny recorded “No Longer Buried” with Trendkill in June 2005 and the fourth ANATA album “The Conductor’s Departure” in July 2005. On “The Conductor’s Departure” Conny execute some of the most inhuman drum deliveries you are ever likely to witness. Every live performance sees Conny gathering astonished praise from the audience; he is clearly one of the most assured musicians in extreme metal today.
Video of Anata live at The Peel
Conny Pettersson Interview:
SD.com: How old were you when you started playing?
Conny: I was 15 when I bought my first drum set and started my first band. But I was 14 the first time I got in contact with a drum set.
SD.com: Did you play in a school band or any drum corps?
Conny: No, nothing like that. But in school when I was 15 my band were planning to play Metallica´s Enter Sandman at the breaking up day together with a teacher. But it never happened. The teacher just couldn’t understand why the tune was arranged like that. And we tried to explain to him that it’s just the same with a symphony from Mozart for example, it’s melodies. But the teacher could only understand chords.
SD.com: Ever take any lessons?
Conny: No not really. I have figured out everything completely on my own when it comes to technique. When it comes to rudiments I once asked a guy who had been drumming for some years to show me. That’s it basically. But in 1998 I was sort of a substitute drum teacher for kids between age 10 to 19 at our local music school were I grow up in Varberg. I only worked there for a couple of months before I started to work at the nuclear power plant were I still work today. The last two weeks before I left I taught how to play double bass drums. So everyone was told to bring their double pedals and we were making tons of noise. The piano teacher said that she couldn’t hear what she was thinking and even less hear what her students played. It was fun and I learned a lot during this period myself also.
I also last year (2005) was very close to getting some lessons from Virgil Donati!!! This because I got endorsed by Pearl, Sabian, Remo and Vic Firth I was invited as a “Pearl family” guest to a bass n drum festival were Virgil Donati headlined. And a small group of people were supposed to get a drum lesson from Virgil. But there was a company involved who didn’t kept their part of the bargain and the lesson was cancelled. Sad but true 🙁
SD.com: Who are your top 5 influences?
Conny: It´s really hard to say, I’ve had so many through the years. Let me put it like this. When I started to play in 1992 my top five drummers were:
Lars Ulrich
Vinnie Paul
Pete Sandoval
Nicko Mcbrain
Mike Portnoy
And today my top 5 would be:
Deen Castronovo
Gene Hoglan
Dave Weckl
Sean Reinert
Virgil Donati
SD.com: Assuming that influences doesn’t mean favorites, who are your favorites?
Conny: Some favorite drummers would be:
John Tempesta
Scott Travis
Nick Barker
Nicke Andersson (Ex Entombed)
SD.com: Let us know 5 CD’s that are in your current rotation
Conny: Oh, right now I listen to:
Somewhere in time by Iron Maiden
Ozzmosis by Ozzy Osbourne
Covenant by Morbid Angel
Human by Death
Tinseltown rebellion by Frank Zappa
SD.com: Do you practice any specific rudiments or combo’s regularly?
Conny: Yeah, I often practice various types of paradiddles to get the ghost notes flowing.
SD.com: What is your favorite part of your drum kit?
Conny: All of the drum kit!!!
Photo by EJ Ali
SD.com: Do you have any pre-show rituals?
Conny: Yes I do. I have this little practice pad made of rubber. It’s like the size of a CD. I use it to get my blast beats going before a gig. But I don’t warm up my legs before playing.
SD.com: If you could give one piece of advice to young drummers, it would be…
Conny: To practice everything slow in the beginning and don’t rush it. You have erverything to gain on it. And try to get some lessons from a good drum teacher. I wish I had done that.
SD.com: Who gave the best live performance you’ve ever seen?
Conny: It must have been Virgil Donati at the Sabian Drum festival in Stockholm 1998. I was extremely impressed.
SD.com: If you had to stop drumming, what else would you want to do with your life?
Conny: Probably martial arts. I have always been interested in martial arts and I used to do some Thai Boxing. So I think it would be something like that. I don’t have the time anymore to do both. But I have no intention to stop drumming what so ever so it will never happen.
Leave a Reply