Chad Szeliga (born December 11, 1976) is an American drummer from

Elyria, Ohio Elyria ( ) is a city in the Greater Cleveland metropolitan statistical area and the county seat of Lorain County, Ohio, United States, located at the forks of the Black River in Northeast Ohio 23 miles southwest of Cleveland. As of the 2020 cen ...

. Formerly the drummer of rock band

Breaking Benjamin Breaking Benjamin is an American Rock music, rock band from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, formed in 1999 by lead singer and guitarist Benjamin Burnley and drummer Jeremy Hummel. The first lineup of the band also included guitarist Aaron Fink an ...

, he joined

Black Label Society Black Label Society is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1998 by guitarist/singer Zakk Wylde. To date, the band has released eleven studio albums, two live albums, two compilation albums, one EP, and three vide ...

in 2013, replacing Mike Froedge. In 2017, Szeliga replaced

Jimmy DeGrasso Jimmy DeGrasso (born March 16, 1963) is an American heavy metal drummer. DeGrasso played with Mama's Boys and Lita Ford before eventually working with Y&T and Megadeth and as a session or touring musician for Ozzy Osbourne (1986), White Lion ...

Black Star Riders Black Star Riders is a hard rock band formed in December 2012. The band began when members of the most recent line-up of Thin Lizzy decided to record new material, but chose not to release it under the Thin Lizzy name. While Thin Lizzy continues ...

, leaving the band in 2021. Szeliga looks up to

Vinnie Colaiuta Vincent Peter Colaiuta (born February 5, 1956) is an American drummer who has worked as a session musician in many genres. He was inducted into the ''Modern Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 1996 and the ''Classic Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 2014. Colai ...

John Bonham John Henry Bonham (31 May 1948 – 25 September 1980) was an English musician, best known as the drummer for the rock band Led Zeppelin. Esteemed for his speed, power, fast single-footed kick drumming, distinctive sound, and feel for groove,J ...

Steve Gadd Stephen Kendall Gadd (born April 9, 1945) is an American drummer, percussionist, and session musician. Gadd is one of the best-known and highly regarded session and studio drummers in the industry, recognized by his induction into the ''Modern D ...

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, Tony Williams,

Manu Katche Manu may refer to: Geography *Manú Province, a province of Peru, in the Madre de Dios Region **Manú National Park, Peru ** Manú River, in southeastern Peru *Manu River (Tripura), which originates in India and flows into Bangladesh * Manu Temp ...

Stewart Copeland Stewart Armstrong Copeland (born July 16, 1952) is a Scottish-American musician and composer. He is best known for his work as the drummer of the English rock band the Police from 1977 to 1986, and again from 2007 to 2008. Before playing with th ...

and

Neil Peart Neil Ellwood Peart OC (; September 12, 1952 – January 7, 2020) was a Canadian-American musician, best known as the drummer and primary lyricist of the rock band Rush. Peart earned numerous awards for his musical performances, including an ...

as his main influences.

Career

Breaking Benjamin

While with Another Path, Szeliga recorded an audition video for Breaking Benjamin playing drums for the song " So Cold". The video submitted happened to be the only VHS tape submitted. Ben Burnley was forced to borrow a VCR from his neighbor to view the tape. After Burnley reviewed the tape, the band decided he was the right guy for the job. His first official recording with the band was for the full-band version of the song "

Rain Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...

" from '' We Are Not Alone'' in mid-2005, which was sent to modern radio, and later appeared on the band's cover of

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

's "

Who Wants to Live Forever "Who Wants to Live Forever" is a song by the British rock band Queen. A power ballad, it is the sixth track on the album '' A Kind of Magic'', which was released in June 1986, and was written by lead guitarist Brian May for the soundtrack to t ...

". He recorded with Breaking Benjamin on their 2006 album ''

Phobia A phobia is an anxiety disorder defined by a persistent and excessive fear of an object or situation. Phobias typically result in a rapid onset of fear and are usually present for more than six months. Those affected go to great lengths to avo ...

'', which was released August 8, 2006. He also joined the band on their tour supporting that album. Szeliga left Breaking Benjamin in April 2013 due to creative differences with Frontman Ben Burnley and notified his fans via a Facebook post on April 22, 2013.

Other ventures

He went on to drum with

until 2014 and also recorded and toured briefly with

Creed A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) in a form which is structured by subjects which summarize its core tenets. The ea ...

front man

Scott Stapp Scott Stapp (born Anthony Scott Flippen, August 8, 1973) is an American singer, best known as the lead vocalist and lyricist of the rock band Creed. He has also fronted the band Art of Anarchy and has released three solo albums: '' The Great Di ...

. On May 5, 2017, Szeliga was announced as the new drummer for

, replacing

. In 2018, Szeliga announced the start of a new project, Walking with Lions, in collaboration with guitarist Kevin Hicklin of 3 By Design. In 2020, it was announced that Szeliga had joined rock act Weapons of Anew sometime after the release of their debut album, replacing Chris Manfre.

Equipment

As of July 2020, Szeliga endorses

Tama Drums Tama Drums, (from Japanese: (Kanji), (Kana), read as ) is a brand of drum kits and hardware manufactured and marketed by the Japanese musical instrument company, Hoshino Gakki. Tama's research and development of products, along with producti ...

Evans Evans may refer to: People *Evans (surname) *List of people with surname Evans Places United States *Evans Island, an island of Alaska *Evans, Colorado *Evans, Georgia *Evans County, Georgia *Evans, New York *Evans Mills, New York *Evans City, ...

drumheads,

Paiste Paiste (English pronunciation: , ) is a Swiss musical instrument manufacturing company. It is the world's third largest manufacturer of cymbals, gongs, and metal percussion. is an Estonian word that means "shine". Apart from cymbals and gong ...

cymbals, and

Vater Percussion Vater Percussion is an American manufacturing company based in Holbrook, Massachusetts. The company has always focused on percussion instruments, producing drum sticks, brushes and mallets. It was founded by Jack Adams, and is now run by his two ...

drumsticks. He largely uses the Starclassic Performer Bubinga series as well as the new line of Tama's S.L.P Dymanic Kapur kit and has a tendency to put the mid rack tom to the left of his kit preceding the high rack tom, claiming that it encourages him to be more creative with his fills. His previous endorsements were

Yamaha Drums Yamaha Drums is a subsidiary of the Yamaha Corporation founded in 1967. The company manufactures acoustic and electronic drum kits as well as percussion instruments, marching band equipment, and drum hardware. Production Most of Yamaha's drums ar ...

DW Drums Drum Workshop, Inc. (also known as DW Drums or DW) is an American drum kit and hardware manufacturing company based in Oxnard, California. Current products by DW include drum sets, snare drums, and hardware. History Drum Workshop was founde ...

Vic Firth Everett Joseph "Vic" Firth (June 2, 1930 – July 26, 2015) was an American musician and the founder of Vic Firth Company (formerly Vic Firth, Inc.), a company that makes percussion mallet, percussion sticks and mallets. Biography Vic Firt ...

drumsticks

Remo Remo Inc. is an American musical instruments manufacturing company based in Valencia, California, and founded by Remo Belli in 1957. Products manufactured include drum kits, drumheads, drums, and hardware. History Drummer and founder Re ...

drumheads and

Zildjian :''Zildjian leads here. For people with the surname, see Zildjian (disambiguation)'' The Avedis Zildjian Company, simply known as Zildjian (), is a musical instrument manufacturer specializing in cymbals and other percussion instruments. Founded ...

cymbals. Drums: Tama Starclassic Performer Bubinga in blue nebula blaze: * 22"x18" bass drum * 8"x6" rack tom * 10"x6.5" rack tom * 12"x7" rack tom * 14"x12" floor tom * 16"x14" floor tom * 13"x7" starphonic steel snare. Cymbals: Paiste: * RUDE 14" hi-hats * Formula 602 Modern Essentials 10" splash * 2002 5.5" cup chime * Masters 17" dark crash * Masters 18" dark crash * Signature 6" splash * Signature Dark Energy 8" mark 1 splash * RUDE 20" mega bell ride (custom made in purple colorsound finish) * PST X 14" swiss flanger stack * Formula 602 Modern Essentials 19" crash * 2002 19" wild china. Cymbals circa 2019: * RUDE 14" hi-hats * Signature Dark Energy 8" mark l splash * Signature 6" splash * Signature Dark Energy 17" mark l crash * Signature Dark Energy 18" mark l crash * 2002 5.5" cup chime * 2002 6" cup chime * Signature 22" blue bell ride * PST X 14" swiss flanger stack * Signature Dark Energy 19" mark l crash * Masters 22" swish.

Discography

With Breaking Benjamin * '' We Are Not Alone'' (full-band version of "

" only) (2004) * ''

'' (2006) * ''

Dear Agony ''Dear Agony'' is the fourth studio album by American rock band Breaking Benjamin. It was released on September 29, 2009. A Best Buy edition, Japanese import version, and Zune exclusive version were also released, all of which feature bonus con ...

'' (2009) With Black Label Society * ''

Catacombs of the Black Vatican ''Catacombs of the Black Vatican'' is the ninth studio album by heavy metal band Black Label Society. The album was released in the UK on April 7, 2014, and in the US on April 8. It is the only Black Label Society album to feature former Breaking ...

'' (2014) With Switched * '' Subject to Change'' (2002) * ''

Ghosts in the Machine ''Ghosts in the Machine'' is the second album by the Ohio nu metal band Switched. This is a two-disc album, with the first disc featuring 11 tracks that were intended for the band's second release under their previous label, Immortal Records. ...

'' (2006) With Forever Oeuvre * ''EP Unfinished'' (2008) With Casey Honig * ''Tragic Uprise'' EP (2016)Casey Honig – Tragic Uprise – Amazon.com Music
/ref> With Black Star Riders * '' Another State of Grace'' (2019)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Szeliga, Chad 1976 births Alternative rock drummers American alternative rock musicians American heavy metal drummers Breaking Benjamin members Living people Musicians from Ohio Musicians from Pennsylvania People from Elyria, Ohio People from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania 20th-century American drummers American male drummers Black Label Society members Switched (band) members Black Star Riders members 21st-century American drummers