David Frangioni, a music technologist and drummer who has worked with many of the world’s biggest rock artists including Aerosmith and Ozzy Osbourne, talks to Jason Barnard. Additionally, read on to see how to win a copy of Dave’s book CRASH: The World’s Greatest Drum Kits From Appice to Peart to Van Halen.
On May 13, Modern Drummer magazine announced David Frangioni will become its new publisher.
“I can’t wait to steward Modern Drummer into the new era,” said Frangioni in a statement. “I am going to use all my thirty-plus years of experience in a wide selection of music fields so that Modern Drummer can offer the most complete and…well…modern resource for drums, drummers, and drumming!”
An Editor's Overview
Welcome to the July 2019 issue. If you’re into gawking at wild and famous drumkits, then you’re going to enjoy our photo-essay on Crash, the new coffee-table book by drummer, collector, and studio sound technician David Frangioni. In addition to talking to the author about it, we couldn’t resist reprinting a whole host of its photos, as well as a couple that didn’t make the final product.
"I’d like to welcome David Frangioni, an award-winning veteran of the music industry, with expertise ranging from being a drummer and producer, to an artist development & label founder, audio consultant, music technologist, integrator, author & engineer.
"On this episode, I had the absolute pleasure of interviewing Mr. David Fragioni, who is a drumming aficionado and has found a way to support himself through his art. He started playing drums at the age of 2, which was the same age that he was diagnosed with retinoblastoma and lost his eye. Still, he pushed through all of his struggles, nurtured his talents, delved into business, and discovered his strengths along the way.
David takes us through his journey, sharing his personal and professional truths, as one always leads into the other. He discusses the importance of nurturing your talents and focusing on what will help you grow to be who you’re supposed to be in the world, rather than focusing on the deafening outside noise that can derail your journey.
David Frangioni is an award-winning veteran of the music industry, with expertise ranging from being a drummer (since the age of 2) and producer, to an artist development and label founder, an audio consultant, producer, technologist, integrator, author and recording engineer.
He has gone on to work with Aerosmith, the Stones, Ringo Starr, Elton John, Sting, Bryan Adams, Journey, Styx, Phil Collins, Shakira, Pat Metheny, Rascal Flatts, Ozzy Osbourne, and Chick Corea, to name a few.
What do you do when the odds are completely against you?
He said, “Just after being introduced to the drums, I was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, which is a rare form of eye cancer … It required that in order to save my life, they had to remove my right eye … So, I’ve been blind in my right eye ever since … What they did is put a removable prosthetic in the socket, and in addition to that, when the surgeon was doing the operation to remove my eye, he made a mistake, and it happens sometimes in operations like this … and he clipped a muscle in my eye lid … So, I grew up … with my lid half-closed, without eyesight in my right eye, and a lot of hospital visits …”
David Frangioni began as a drummer for a cover band in his early youth before going on to become an engineer, producer and technologist hired by some of the worlds biggest stars. From changing clothes in the liquor storeroom between gigs as a teenager, to working with some of the greatest musicians we all know and love, David has pretty much seen it all. He joins us to have a discussion about what he’s learned from his career in the arts and how to build one that will stand the test of time.
David’s website can be found at www.DavidJFrangioni.com
David also has two companies, Audio One and All Access IDA, go check them out!
