Ryan Van Poederooyen Plays Ziltoid Out… With Drums

A modern drummer I love who seems to never get much attention is Ryan Van Poederooyen. It’s not entirely unsurprising though, given how much the Devin Townsend Project leans more on being a vision of Devin’s than a proper band, and also given that Ryan’s style isn’t exactly the hippest kind of drumming.

Ryan isn’t very showy – he rarely plays a fill that’s outside of the orchestrated hits or transitions in Devin’s music – and he always tends to lean towards playing the simplest possible beat, even though he clearly has the chops to be pulling off more ridiculous stuff. But to me, this is exactly what makes him great – Ryan provides a perfect grooveline that’s important given the amount of dance, new age, and electronic musical influences in Devin’s music.

But don’t take it from me, take it from the man himself, on his new playthrough video for “Ziltoid Goes Home” off last year’s Dark Matters album. Spake Ryan:

I hope you guys enjoy this new video. I love playing this song live and it was by far my favourite song off of the ‘Dark Matters’ album. There is a little bit of everything in this song…. fast double bass drumming, cool fills and lots of tasty grooves. I always try to groove with anything I play, whether it be a fast, medium or slow beat…. it’s all about feel, groove and being rock solid at all times while playing for the song.