BENGALURU: Aask drummer Chris Adler whether he missed out on crucial events in his life, and he says, “The only thing I regret missing out on is all my daughter’s birthdays, which won’t be the case here onwards.”
On Thursday, Bengaluru witnessed the Grammy-winning drum legend playing the widely-acclaimed hits from Lamb of God and Megadeth, which left the crowd in awe on his sixth visit to India. Accompanied by an ensemble of talented city musicians featuring Girish Pradhan and Sunneith Revankar on vocals, Suraz Sun and Tony Das on guitars and Yogesh Pradhan on bass guitars, Alder showcased his skills on drums at Fandom, Gilly’s Redefined, Koramangala.
Speaking to CE, Adler (46) terms his first drum kit as ‘utter trash’ and reflects on how he started drumming as a hobby. “I was doing it for pure fun, not to make money or become famous. I never set out to be a rockstar, I just really enjoyed what I did. Through the years, I learned about drums and ended up with a better kit,” he said.
In 2016, Adler recorded with American heavy metal outfit Nitro alongside Michael Angelo Battio, one of the fastest guitarists in the world and went on to tour India with a performance in Bengaluru in 2017. “It was a crazy moment for me when I got a call from Battio to put a few songs together. I was intimidated the same way when I got a call from Dave Mustaine to join Megadeth,” Adler said.
He won his first Grammy award for Dystopia for the best metal performance with Megadeth but further went on to leave the outfit to continue with Lamb of God, the band that he started. “I think the decision would have been different had it come at this point in my life, they were great people and Mustaine wanted me to join full-time but I couldn’t leave Lamb of God,” he said. In February 2019, Adler went on to leave Lamb of God with the band annou ncing Art Cruz as his replacement. “I felt I had achieved my dream and staying on was beginning to threaten the friendships which I feel were being lost in the business. I preferred to keep the friendship,” he added.
Earlier this year, Adler recorded with Kerala-based band Thaikkudam Bridge for their album Namah. He described the experience as challenging, with a different genre that included language barrier. Speaking about his future projects, Adler plans to spend more time with his family and do more tours like the current ones. “I’m putting out a new record with a friend from California and now I get to go where I want to go, as opposed to where one should go. Something about me and India seems to click,” he said.