Paul Wandtke (born December 20, 1985) is an American musician, songwriter and producer who is the current drummer of heavy metal band Bedlem. In addition, Wandtke is lead vocalist and lead guitarist of

grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of p ...

band Dead Original. He is a former drummer for Trivium and previously toured with Kill Hannah. Wandtke has been to over 48 countries as a professional drummer.

Early life

Wandtke was born December 20, 1985, and raised in Chicago, Illinois. He attended the

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

in Boston, Massachusetts.

Music career

Early career

Wandtke has previously drummed for the hit musical '' Rock of Ages'' and as touring drummer for Kill Hannah during the band's main-support run with the

Smashing Pumpkins Smash may refer to: People * Smash (wrestler) (born 1959), professional wrestler * Moondog Rex, another professional wrestler who briefly wrestled as the original Smash, before being replaced by the above. * DJ Smash, DJ and music producer Art, ...

Trivium

He joined Trivium on December 5, 2015, by playing a debut show in front of 40,000 people in Mexico at Slipknot's "Knotfest" Festival. He was referred to Trivium via

Dream Theater Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of the ...

's Mike Mangini when Trivium had asked John Petrucci if they knew any drummers they could check out for a new replacement. Retrieved September 6, 2016 In early 2017, Wandtke left Trivium.

Bedlem

In 2017, Wandtke launched the band Bedlem with lead vocalist Mike Petrasek, lead guitarist Joey Trace Brassal and bassist Brian Ahern after his departure from Trivium. Bedlem released their debut single "Triumph" on February 6, 2017. Their debut album was released on October 31, 2018.

Dead Original

In 2017, Wandtke formed the

band Dead Original with bassist Dina Simone and drummer Rob Lerner. Dead Original released their debut single "Bored Again" on December 28, 2017. Their debut album, ''Bought and Sold'', is set to be released on November 13, 2020.

Side projects

He also sings and plays guitar for a national touring Nirvana tribute band called Smells Like Nirvana, which is based in Chicago and have performed fly-in casino dates as well as many midwest dates with plans to do some tours in 2017. Paul Wandtke has said that Nirvana is the reason he got into music so that's why Smells Like Nirvana was created, also because it was an attempt to gain some experience as a frontman to later start his own original band.

Equipment

He is endorsed by Tama drums, Meinl cymbals, Evans drum heads, Vic Firth drum sticks, Pure Fix cycles, Vratim shoes and Humes and Berg cases.

Discography

;Bedlem * ''Back to Bedlem'' (2018) ;Dead Original * ''Bored Again'' (2018)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wandtke, Paul Living people American drummers Musicians from Chicago 1985 births 21st-century American drummers