Bill Lordan Brent - Drum Solo Artist

Bill Lordan

By all accounts, Bill Lordan's drumming career practically happened "by accident"... His 6th grade class needed a drummer for the marching band. Bill reluctantly volunteered. This big first step was encouraged by one Sister Thomas-Martin, and her rudimentary lesson in time-keeping was just the spark that young Bill needed to make a career out of drumming.
Bill's first kit came for Christmas at age 12, and by the next year Bill was already performing on stage with bands in and around his hometown of Minneapolis. Summer 1964 found Bill playing with his first big soul band called the Amazers, and a new friend on bass - Willie Weeks. A few years later, Bill was asked to join the Esquires, and did quite a bit of touring up and down the Atlantic coastline.
He was sporting a black hairdo in 1968, the same year the band received a gold record for the LP "Get Up and Get Away". The next year, Bill met up with his pal Willie once again and decided to form the group The Mystics - a great band featuring a brass section. In fact, they won a Connie Award that year, an honor bestowed to the state's best talent.

It was at this time that Bill and Willie had the chance to meet and jam with Jimi Hendrix. The two were invited to New York City and the infamous Cafe Au-Go-Go for the sessions.

Yearning to play more rock music, Bill joined Gypsy from 1970-1973. Releasing three albums during that period ("Antithesis", "In the Garden", and "Unlock the Gates"), Gypsy was often described as a band ahead of it's time - and now, years later, still has a cult following.

Bill was flown out to the West coast for session work with Bobby Womack and Ike & Tina Turner, when he was discovered by Sly Stone, and immediately recruited as part of the Family Stone for their "Small Talk" LP in 1974. The subsequent touring carried him around the world, but Bill's fondest memory is Sly's wedding on-stage at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Around this time, a guitarist named Robin Trower was looking for a new drummer, and Bill jumped at the chance. "I knew it was perfect for me" he says, and beat out 25 other guys to get the job. Bill joined up prior to the release of the "for the Earth Below" album (1975), and stayed with the band for a good 10 years straight. The constant touring and hard work paid off... Many of these recordings are considered classics, and have turned into gold or platinum awards.

After criss-crossing the planet many times, Bill decided to take some needed time off. But within a year he found himself back behind the kit for jams, auditions and recording sessions. Bill played with the likes of Fortress, Darrell Mansfield, Lost Angeles and Spellbinder to name just a few - and even jammed with guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen and his new band Alcatraz.

By the mid-90's, Bill was playing and recording steadily with the Dave Steffen Band - and even more recently provided the drumming on the CD "Live your Dream" by Charlie Souza. These days, Bill is spearheading a brand new project called The Bill Lordan Experiment, featuring guitarist Eric Turner. The band has produced two CD's so far. BLX is rooted in blues-rock, and is bound to please many ardent fans of his drumming technique.