David Frangioni, an award-winning veteran of the music industry, has expertise ranging from being a drummer and producer, to an artist development & label founder, audio consultant, music technologist, integrator, author & engineer.  He built a ground-breaking music tech consulting business working w Aerosmith, the Stones, Ringo Starr, Elton John, Sting, Bryan Adams, Journey, Styx, Phil Collins, Shakira, Pat Metheny, Rascal Flatts, Ozzy Osbourne, and Chick Corea, many more.

David has authored 3 books incl Icon and Crash, along with founding companies Frangioni Media , Audio One , All Access IDA & his non-profit Frangioni Foundation.  In 2019, David became Publisher of Modern Drummer Magazine, the world’s #1 drum magazine.

David Frangioni, an award-winning veteran of the music industry, has expertise ranging from being a drummer and producer to an artist development & label founder, audio consultant, music technologist, integrator, author & engineer.

He built a ground-breaking music tech consulting business working with Aerosmith, the Stones, Ringo Starr, Elton John, Sting, Bryan Adams, Journey, Styx, Phil Collins, Shakira, Pat Metheny, Rascal Flatts, Ozzy Osbourne, Chick Corea, and many more.

David has authored 3 books including Icon and Crash, along with founding Frangioni Media, Audio One based in South Florida, All Access IDA, and his non-profit Frangioni Foundation. In 2019, David became Publisher of Modern Drummer Magazine, the world’s #1 drum magazine.

Two days after Kurt Cobain’s body was found in the greenhouse of their Seattle home, Courtney Love showed up late to a raucous candlelit gathering of distraught Nirvana fans. She played a grief-stricken, vulgar recording of herself reading part of his suicide note, led the crowd in a chant calling Cobain an “asshole,” and handed out some of Cobain’s clothes, which she continued to do in the weeks that followed. Twenty-five years later, one of the sweaters that Love gave to a family friend is expected to fetch $300,000 at an auction this weekend.

“Courtney couldn’t have realized that the value of these things would be worth what they are today,” Darren Julien, who is running that auction, tells Fortune. “Those are John Lennon prices.”

The most reticent of rock stars—one who agonized about his artistic truth being fed into the thresher of corporatism—now commands his own economy from beyond the grave. In 1991, the cover of Nirvana’s major-label debut, Nevermind, satirically depicted a baby chasing a dollar bill on a fishhook. In 2019, the Kurt Cobain business is big business.

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 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.

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!

"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, 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.

"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.

I recently had the honor of being interviewed by the great Mark Strigl on his long running podcast Talking Metal. During the course of the show we discuss my passion for collecting, artists I’ve worked with, and, of course, my book Crash: The World’s Greatest Drum Kits From Appice to Peart to Van Halen.  

I discussed the importance of preserving and sharing these drum kits for historical purposes. Crash, along with the corresponding drum museum, is a great opportunity for fans to see these instruments and learn more about the artists that made them famous.

Diane Webb from YesterDazeNews.com wrote a fantastic article profiling my book Crash: The World’s Greatest Drum Kits From Appice to Pert to Van Halen. Diane goes into some detail about my career and the wonderful artists I’ve worked with over the years. She also echoed a sentiment shared by drummers around the world: drums far too often take a back seat when being covered by the media! Diane writes, “Drums often get the back seat when fans go to live shows or see live show coverage on websites and in magazines, but not in this killer new book about drums by David Frangioni.”

Stefan Blitz of the pop-culture website ForcesofGeek.com wrote a terrific article profiling my book Clint Eastwood Icon: The Essential Film Art Collection. The book features film posters, art work, and assorted memorabilia from Clint’s early spaghetti westerns all the way up to his most recent directorial projects.

Stefan references some of the most famous pieces as well some of the more obscure items in the collection including a movie theater ticket stub from the Dirty Harry premier.

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with the rock experts at Metal Pulp and Paper to discuss the release of my book Crash: The World’s Greatest Drum Kits From Appice to Pert to Van Halen.

We discussed growing up playing the drums, and how I used music to cope with the trauma of losing my right eye due to a rare form of cancer. When asked how I was able to excel musically while dealing with such a traumatic situation, I told them that I owe my success to my parents and my faith: “I had incredibly supportive parents…I owe my career and life success to my parents, Silviano and Rita and, of course, God.”

I recently had the opportunity to sit down for a conversation with Neil C. Hughes, host of The Tech Blog Writer Podcast. Neil and I had a great conversation about my company Audio One, designing high-end A/V home systems for Steven Tyler and Ozzie Osbourne and the work of my company All Access IDA. 

Neil wanted to know where my love of music came from, so I started at the beginning: being introduced to the drums at two years old. I went on to explain that when I was eight I started taking drum lessons, and by twelve-years-old I was playing in multiple bands. Then I was introduced to the drum machine, and at that moment--from a production and sound stand-point--everything changed for me. 

I had the pleasure of being a guest on the Overcoming Odds Podcast hosted by the amazing Oleg Lougheed. During the course of the interview, Oleg and I shared our insights on surviving trauma and repurposing that trauma into an avenue to help others. 

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Dwayne Wade Sr. and Patrick Reynolds on their YouTube show Take A Stand. Dwayne Sr. and Patrick host an annual charity event that I am honored to be a part of. During the course of the video, I gave a little insight into my background, beating cancer as a kid, what led me to a career in A/V design, and my charity work. 

In part-one of the show, we recapped another successful Take A Stand event and discussed the positive effect we can have on young people’s lives. Dwayne Sr. and I also had the chance to revisit some of my past work including a few of the artists I’ve worked with and the technology I’ve helped popularize.

In February, I traveled to icy Connecticut to join Carl Franklin and Richard Campbell at Pwop Studios where I was a guest on their podcast .Net Rocks! During the course of the interview, the guys and I discussed the development of music technology, and a variety of stories from my time in the field. 

We started at the beginning, I told stories about growing up in Boston, what influenced me to get into music, my first drum kit, and becoming one of the most sought-after MIDI Consultants in the music industry.

I was excited to join host Christian Swain--The Rock n’ Roll Archeologist--on an episode of his podcast Deeper Digs in Rock. On the show, Christian and I have an in-depth conversation about my book Crash: The World’s Greatest Drum Kits From Appice to Pert to Van Halen. We discussed some of the notable drum kits featured in the book, as well as the stories behind them. 

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.