The drum thing

Picture Joy Division's "She's Lost Control" without Stephen Morris' robotic drumbeats, or the Ronettes' "Be My Baby" without its distinctive three beats that precede the twinkling guitar. Drummers are maybe the most overlooked members of a band (other than bassists), but they provide the rhythmic backbone to a song and powering it into the listener's consciousness. 

With The Drum Thing, Deirdre O'Callaghan puts rhythm section front and centre, photographing and interviewing some of the most talented drummers today: people like Brian Chase of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, John Stanier of Battles and The Roots' Questlove, alongside others who have picked up the drumstick for the likes of Björk, Fela Kuti and Miles Davis. Dazed has a preview of the project, which is currently raising funds on Kickstarter for O'Callaghan to interview twenty more drummers and self-publish the book.

"This book will give you an insight into the drummer’s candid home life, bringing the drummer to the forefront with portraits and detail shots as well as in-depth interviews," Deirdre told Dazed. "There is no other book like this."

You can watch the Kickstarter video below: