Glen Sobel
Drummer
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Photo by Kyler Clark
Alice Cooper calls him:
"Best drummer of Rock´n´Roll"
How it all began
Steve Jordan Glen Sobel was born on December 27, 1970 in Los Angeles, California. He started playing the drums at the age of 11. When he was in 7th grade, the drumming class was so popular that he had to draw a number and the place was raffled off. He was lucky and was able to study drums in high school.
At 19, he even won a drum-off competition in Los Angeles. In 1993, he had his first professional gig with Tony MacAlpine and recorded the album Madness. Glen later explored various genres such as jazz, hip hop and many more. He played in the rap/rock hybrid band SX-10 and later joined Beautiful Creatures. His music career really took off when he worked with big names in the music industry, e.g. Mörtley Crüe, Jennifer Batten, Richie Sambora (Bon Jovi), Orianthi.
Glen and Tommy Henriksen met years ago. They play together in Tommy's punk band P.O.L.
Glen has been a permanent member of Alice Cooper Band together with Tommy since 2011 and has received several awards. He also has a deep friendship with Joe Perry and Alice Cooper. It is therefore only natural that Glen Sobel has also been a permanent member of the Hollywood Vampires since the band was founded. Glen is appreciated and loved by his colleagues for his uniqueness.
(Claudia + Susanne - Juli 2023)
Photo from Drummerworld
The first big (not so big) gig
After graduating from El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, California, Glen and his friends formed a hard rock band called Bourbon Street. Like any young band, they had big dreams, but not many gigs. "Booking shows was difficult. If you didn't know anyone, you didn't stand a chance and I didn't know anyone."
At some point, Bourbon Street did get their first club show. They rehearsed extra hard and asked all their friends to come along. But what they overlooked in their euphoria was the fact that the club only allowed people over the age of 21 and their friends were all younger. They ended up playing in front of the staff and a handful of parents.
Another problem was the club's strict "no cover songs" rule. In order to expand the rather short setlist, they played a lot of intros and outros. This gave Glen Sobel his first chance to play a drum solo. "The emergency drum solo!" he laughs. "Only back then, I wasn't as prepared as I am now, so I probably did something... a little mediocre. I was just trying to fill up the time, but the gig seemed as though it would never end...We had visions of a packed house with all of these chicks, and it wound up being more of a rehearsal. It's what Tommy calls 'C.B.G.s' - Character Building Gigs. You get through it and chalk it up to experience."
(Susanne - quotes from an interview with musicradar 2013)
Help for Netflix
Glen trained Jaeden Martell (Knives Out, It) for the Netflix production "Metal Lords." Jaeden, who plays a teenage drummer in the film Kevin, had no previous experience with metal music, let alone drums. Needless to say, that meant a lot of work. For weeks, Glen and Jaeden worked on a practice drum set before filming began. Glen taught him both the technical side and the roots of the instrument.
The result is a film with great music that makes it look like the actors are musicians.
Did you know that?...
...Glen, when he's not touring with Alice Cooper or the Vampires, touring the US with other stars?
...Glen was voted "Hard Rock Drummer of the Year" by "Drummies" magazine in 2016 and has been nominated for other awards.
...Glen was asked to represent Tommy Lee by Mötley Grüe in 2015? At first he thought it was a joke. But that same evening he played the first concert of five shows for Tommy Lee, who was suffering from tendinitis.
...Glen's favorite song is "Ruby, Ruby, Ruby" by Kaiser Chiefs.
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