John Swope

John's Bio

John has been playing the drums since the 5th grade, when he joined his school's band program. He is a fan of many different styles of music, and collects music from a variety of genres.

Some of the drummers who've left an impression on him when he was very young are (in no particular order), Peter Criss, Neil Peart, Buddy Rich, Elvin Jones, Steve Smith, Stewart Copeland, Larrie Londin, and Alex Van Halen. As he got older and made more musical discoveries, he became very impressed with Louie Bellson, Bill Bruford, John Bonham, Jeff Porcaro, Peter Erskine, Tony Williams, Robbie Ameen, Steve Gadd, Phil Collins, Chester Thompson, David Garibaldi, Harold Jones, Vinnie Colaiuta, and Gary Husband as well as many others.

His favorite drum practice/study materials include Ralph Humphrey's "Even in the Odds", Charlie Wilcoxon's "The All American Drummer", Steve Houghton's "Studio and Big Band Drumming", Gary Chaffee's "Patterns" series, and Peter Magadini's "Polyrhythms for the Drumset".

John Drums for Canvas, and has appeared on the 2006 release "Digital Pigeon". He has just finished work on October Tree's "The Fairy's Wing", and is also working on Canvas' (currently) untitled 2012 release.

Email John@octobertree.net

John's Gear

John Swope used the following equipment for his work on "The Fairy's Wing"

Pearl Reference Series Drums
Zildjian and Sabian Cymbals
Remo Drum Heads
Vic Firth Drumsticks
Shure and Sennheiser Microphones