Andreas Wittwer – Drums

To perceive music consciously and to get involved with different styles and also to find and research new things, that all started quite early. Bluesrock or Hardrock, but also the just emerging electronic music inspired me already in school. Later, other and more complex forms of music were added.

In the course of time my musical interests ranged from Hard’n Heavy to complex arranged rock songs to progressive music of all kinds. That didn’t change much anymore.

And today? Well, I soak up everything that is rocky and progressive. Sometimes harder, but also sometimes acoustic and playful and above all: melodic.

Favorite sounds

  • Classic Rock/Metal and Progressive Rock/Metal

Favourite drummers and influences over the time

  • Ian Paice (Deep Purple), Cozy Powell (Rainbow), Jürgen Rosenthal (Eloy), Bernd Noske (Birth Control), Phil Ehart (Kansas), Ian Mosley (Marillion), Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater, Transatlantic, Neal Morse Band), Simon Phillips (Protocol, Toto), Nick D’Virgilio (Spock’s Beard, Big Big Train), Mike Vanderhule (Y & T), Todd Sucherman (Styx), Gavin Harrison (Porcupine Tree, The Pineapple Thief), Ed Warby (Ayreon), …

Equipment

  • Pearl Drums (MMX Masters Custom) with Power-Sized Tom Tom Shells and various Snares, mostly size 14 x 6.5 (which I prefer)
  • Cymbals of all kinds mainly from Meinl and Zildjian (Crashes, Splashes, HiHats, Rides, Chinas and Stacks of various sizes)
  • Maple Sticks size 5B from Wincent, Drum Set Mallets from Meinl (hard version)
  • Then all the Pearl hardware (Icon Rack, Power Shifter pedals and HiHat stands of the 1000 and 2000 series, various cymbals and tom stands and mounts)
  • As an electronic addition: Roland TM-2, to be able to play various sound effects in the songs.