Jason Townsend - Sabian Cymbals & Vater Endorsee 

Jason is currently a session drummer primarily.

He own's his very own Pro Tools studio in which he sessions for bands, singer/songwriters and even tracks the odd jingle here and there. He has been involved with many bands in the past, the most successful of which was the The Waiting Room who signed a record deal with David Gresham Records. The Waiting Room tracked two studio albums and received extensive radio play on most radio stations around the country.The band toured nationally and played alongside many of South Africas top acts such as Just Jinjer, Prime Circle and the Parlotones.

He loves the studio and so took a bold decision to focus more on sessioning for artists, and it seems to have paid off, as he has tracked quite a few full length albums over the past year and a half; the most recent of which being a great production by a singer/ songwriter, for which drums was done December last year. The album is due for release in March 2010. 

He has also been a part of a drum ensemble for the past two years; called iGrooves. The ensemble has played for many corporate events but most impressively, they have played at the local drum days/drumfests for two years running now, palying alongside Marco Minnemann and Russ Miller, as well as many of the local drumming professionals.

Jaso also teaches on most days and really thinks that teaching can keep you on your toes as a drummer as you have to know your formal drumming theory pretty well, especially if you are educating some drummers who are getting to that advanced level. He was educated by Andre Luke within his full time drumming course during which he practiced roughly ten hours a day in order to keep up. Prior to that he took lessons with Lloyd Martin, a very busy session drummer still today and lecturer at Wits University. The full time course was extremely comprehensive and covered most styles, as well as having a big focus on chart reading.... hence his love of session drumming. 

Jason hope's to continue to session for many more artists in the future in his studio and regarding live playing, he has been doing the odd theatre production and will most likely tour with the trio whose album he has just tracked. To view photos of his studio and to listen to some tracks that he has recorded, go to his website: www.jasontownsenddrummer.com

In his studio he uses Sabian Cymbals, Vater Drumsticks, Evans Drumheads and a DW collectors kit. He uses primarily the HHX range of Sabian cymbals because they have that dark sound that he wants in studio recordings. Sabian makes great cymbals and since the endorsement he received nothing but compliments regarding the sound of his cymbals both recorded and live.

The Vater sticks that he uses are the Matrix model. He has always played with a stick that has a barrel tip, as he likes the way the sticks sound defined on the hats and ride.The matrix model is not a very "beefy" stick at all but is a great all rounder and seems to work well in the studio. Vater sticks are quality sticks and for him are the sticks of choice.