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The UK Drum Show Welcomes Back Mike Johnston And Special Guests to Education Room

May 10, 2023

Organisers of The UK Drum Show are pleased to welcome back top online educator Mike Johnston and special guests to the ‘Mike Johnston Education Room for 2023.

“Needing very little introduction and following Mike’s outstanding appearance at The UK Drum Show back in 2018 and 2022, we’re massively excited to welcome back the incredible Mike Johnston to The UK Drum Show 2023, bringing his immense skills as resident and host of our new Education Room.”

This room will see Mike along with world-class drum educators, Carter McLean and Richard Spaven along with others, at the very top of their game, delivering lessons over the course of the weekend, giving visitors the chance to truly learn from the Pros.

Guests who have purchased a day or weekend admission ticket can check out any of the lessons for free, with a larger room organised to accommodate more drummers for 2023, following the demand and uptake from last year.

Mike Johnston

Mike Johnston is an American drummer and educator from Folsom, California. He currently runs one of the world’s largest educational website for drummers, mikeslessons.com, where he offers live and pre-recorded drum lessons. He also hosts 10 drum camps each year at the mikeslessons.com studio in Folsom, California.

At the age of 21 he received his first major label record deal with his band Simon Says and spent the next 6 years touring the world. During that time, he received a gold record for his contributions to the Varsity Blues soundtrack and appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman as well as on MTV’s Fashionably Loud.

Mike left the touring world behind in 2006 and has focused solely on education ever since. Teaching and performing in hundreds of clinics and drum festivals around the world over the past 14 years including the Meinl Drum Festival, P.A.S.I.C., The UK Drum Show, The LaBag Show in Paris, and countless others.

Mike is the only drum instructor in history to be featured on the cover of the 4 major drum magazines (Modern Drummer, DRUM, Rhythm, and Drummer UK) as well as iDrum Magazine and SA Drummer.

Richard Spaven

Combining machine-like accuracy with jazz-influenced improvisational sensibilities, Richard Spaven’s drumming has landed him gigs with vastly varied artists such as Flying Lotus, José James and Mala, as well as recent recordings with Jordan Rakei, Alfa Mist and Sandunes.

Forging his own path into the future with roots in the U.K. club and hip-hop scenes, the drummer brings a fresh approach to the instrument that’s at once modern and traditional.

Combining machine-like accuracy with jazz-influenced improvisational sensibilities, Richard Spaven’s drumming has landed him gigs with vastly varied artists such the late Guru of the hip-hop duo Gang Starr, producer Flying Lotus, electronica/jazz group the Cinematic Orchestra, jazz/hip-hop vocalist José James and Brainfeeder artist Jameszoo. Spaven’s brilliance is evident beyond his world-class performance abilities; he’s equally impressive in production and compositional territories. And most recently, the drummer released his fourth solo album, Real Time, which once again showcases his multifaceted talent.

Appearing in association with Meinl Cymbals.

Carter McLean

Carter was born in San Francisco and shortly thereafter moved to Connecticut. This is where McLean listened to and fell in love with music and especially the drums. At age 10, he started his journey as a musician.

Broadway wasn’t even on his radar when he started working at Manny’s Music in Manhattan just prior to 9/11. The self-taught musician had just wrapped up his studies at University of Colorado, Boulder and was hoping to land a gig with someone like Sting, Peter Gabriel or Paul Simon. But then, while working his shift and playing at the store, he got noticed by a vet of Stevie Wonder’s band Dennis Davis and got invited to play with legendary musician Roy Ayers in Harlem.

While touring with Melvin Sparks in 2002 McLean was approached to be a sub at The Lion King in NYC. This eventually lead to McLean taking over the chair at the hit show in 2011. From Charlie Hunter to the Lion King on Broadway, McLean has been busy touring and doing studio work as well as having a busy teaching schedule.

In addition McLean has shared the stage or recorded with Charlie Hunter, Jamie McLean, Greg Holden, Anthony Hamilton, Bernie Worrell (Parlament Funkadelic), Fred Wesley (James Brown), Shelby Johnson (Prince), Melanie Gabriel (Peter Gabriel) Leni Stern, Matt Duke and many others. Carter also has an award winning book that was released in 2019 called Concepts and Creativity from Hal Leonard.

Appearing in association with Ludwig Drums.

Follow The UK Drum Show to learn of further artists to be confirmed for the 2023 Mike Johnston Education Room at The UK Drum Show.

General admission tickets on sale now at www.theukdrumshow.com