Michael Mazzarese
Red Line Chemistry - United States

Overview

I was born in Kansas City on August 3, 1975 to Italian immigrants and I am the 2nd child of three brothers. When my mom was pregnant with me, her and my dad went to a Rolling Stones concert and during the show, my mom could feel me kicking to the beat of songs and she knew then that I would become a drummer. My dad was also a musician back in Italy so music ran in my family. When I was a toddler, I used to take out my mom's pots and pans and bang on them with wooden spoons and actually play rhythms.

At the age of 6 my parents bought me my first drumset. It was more of a toy kit but it didn't matter to me, I still banged on them as if they were high end drums. I had those for a couple of years and around the age of 9 my parents got me my first "real" set of drums. This changed everything.

I started taking lessons when I was 10 and my teacher at that time, Mike McKinley, knew I had it although I still needed a lot of work (as I still do) and he also knew that my attention span was non existent. We would spend 15 minutes on rudiments and book work and the other 15 minutes jamming and learning my favorite songs at that time which were pretty much all Rush tunes. I studied with him till I was 15.

As I got into highschool I started playing in bands with my best friend and we would cover all the band's we liked, again, mostly Rush songs but also a lot of the new music at that time ie; Pearl Jam, Live, Alice in Chains ect. We also recorded a couple of tapes (yes we had tapes back then) which we were very proud of.

After highschool I stayed in Kansas City a couple of more years before getting frustrated with the music scene and decided to move to Austin Texas. I knew noone at the time down there but it didn't matter because I was chasing my dream and eventually I knew I would meet players and get plugged in to the scene. I did pretty well down there but personal reasons made me move back to Kansas City.

A few months after returning home a friend of mine introduced me to who would eventually be Red Line Chemistry and we have been going strong ever since. We've had our rough times but we all had the same dream to "make it" and nothing was going to stop us. We signed our record deal in 2009 and haven't looked back. We now have released 2 albums under the label and our newest "Tug Of War" was produced by Grammy award winner Nick Raskulinecz who has worked with all our heroes from Rush, Alice in Chains, Foo Fighters, Deftones and many more. It was a dream come true.

Now to the important stuff. I bought my first Pearl kit in 2008 and coming from a family of diamond setters and jewelers, craftsmanship runs in my veins and that is what made me attracted to Pearl. I have played many different drum companies in my career and they were all good drums but there was something different about Pearls. Craftsmanship that I did not see elsewhere. The minute I played my first set of Pearls, I knew I made the right decision because right out of the box, untuned, they still had a resonance and tone I fell in love with. To this day I continue to use my Pearl MCX for touring.

Eventually I had to get another Pearl and I ended up with the Reference series. These were the most beautiful sounding drums I've ever heard and the most enjoyable to play as well. The details that go into making Pearl Drums is unmatched as well as the care and precision that goes into making not only their high end drums but even the entry level kits. And let's not forget Pearls hardware. I use all their hardware because it is the strongest out there and it holds up to my playing. I never have to worry about my pedals, cymbal stands or hihat pedal breaking and having that confidence makes me able to focus on just my playing and that is a beautiful thing. No wonder their motto says "The best reason to play drums" because it's true.

Links

www.RedLineChemistry.com