From Dave Grohl to Ringo Starr: the secrets of star drummers

You get none of the credit and do a lot of the work: who’d be a drummer? Deirdre O’Callaghan asks some of the best in the world. Introduction by Stella Mozgawa of Warpaint

I’m not sure what kind of person makes a drummer, because they are so wildly different. The star of Whiplash and a 14-year-old kid in a punk band have a different set of goals, even though they are expressing themselves through the same instrument. You have to be a certain kind of person to want to play music seriously. There is a type that sees the value in sticking to it.

When I was at primary school, boys never let me near a drum kit, because “girls can’t play drums”. But while other kids learned instruments and became disillusioned, I always had this little fire in my belly. Even now, when I play drums, I still feel like an excited teen.