DrumTHRONE: Chris Pennie

Come to Daddy

It's only fitting that since my blog is named after The Dillinger Escape Plan song "Jim Fear," that the first installment of my new DrumTHRONE segment should honor the dude who wrote/played on the track in the first place. May I welcome the first recipient of my prestigious DrumTHRONE honor (modest huh?) Ex- Dillinger Escape Plan and current Coheed and Cambria drummer, Chris Pennie.



The first time I heard Pennie's playing I wasn't impressed. That's mostly because I didn't know what the hell I was listening to. I couldn't snap my fingers or keep time the discordant polyrhythmic
onslaught being unleashed on my ears. Pennie's playing style is relentless. Imagine a T-800 Terminator programmed to kill drums instead of people. He can play blindingly fast tempos and odd time signatures with startling power and precision. Like a human metronome that chews a lot of gum. During his tenure in Dillinger, Pennie incorporated his extreme mastery of rudiments (machine gun snare work and double bass) with tasty jazz grooves and even electronic sounding breakbeat patterns. Pennie and Dillinger parted ways in 2007 and he's been playing with prog rock-ish Coheed and Cambria ever since. I'll be honest, I'm not much of a Coheed fan so I haven't really seen/heard anything Pennie has done with them save for a few underwhelming Youtube clips. It's doesn't really matter though, he could be playing on pots and pans for quarters on the sidewalk and Chris Pennie will still be the king of the DrumTHRONE.