Randy Black (born November 17, 1963) is a Canadian-born rock drummer known best for his stints as the drummer for

Bif Naked Beth Torbert is a Canadian singer best known by her stage name Bif Naked. Between 1996 and 2016, she was among the top 150 selling Canadian artists in Canada. Early life and education Bif Naked was born in New Delhi, India, to teenage parents ...

, Annihilator, and Primal Fear. Although Black's actual acoustic drum configuration is not unique to the field of drumming, his playing style is notable for his ability to play ambidextrously with a symmetrical set of cymbals, specifically a dual set of remote hi-hats and

ride cymbal The ride cymbal is a standard cymbal in most drum kits. Its function in the kit is to maintain a beat,Schroedl, Scott (2001). ''Play Drums Today!'', p.7. Hal Leonard. . "It's called the ride cymbal because you 'ride' on it--that is, you maintain a ...

s to his right and to his left respectively.

Biography

Black is a native of

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Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

. He got his first professional start in 1980 with a band called "The Edge". He did not start touring to any large degree until he joined the band "The Kaotics" in 1982. He then joined the band Click in 1984, who were known for their covers of material by bands such as

Journey Journey or journeying may refer to: * Travel, the movement of people between distant geographical locations ** Day's journey, a measurement of distance ** Road trip, a long-distance journey on the road Animals * Journey (horse), a thoroughbred ra ...

and Rush. The four members of Click stayed together and toured for nine years without a personnel change. In 1993, Black moved to

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

and joined Annihilator. Black's bandmates were astonished at his technical precision and even dubbed him the "human drum machine". In 1998, Black did some recording work with

on the album ''

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''. It was shortly after this that Black moved to Germany. He also did some more recording with Annihilator. In 2003, Black joined the German heavy metal band Primal Fear, replacing original drummer Klaus Sperling. In June 2011, Black announced that he would be officially endorsing

Pearl Drums , simply known as Pearl, is a multinational corporation based in Japan with a wide range of products, predominantly percussion instruments. History Pearl was founded by Katsumi Yanagisawa -who began manufacturing music stands in Sumida, Tokyo- o ...

. On August 11, 2014, Primal Fear announced that due to irreconcilable differences between lead singer Ralf Scheepers and him, Black will depart the band, effective after their performance at Summer Breeze Festival on August 15. In late 2015, Black officially joined American heavy metal band W.A.S.P. as their touring drummer after the departure of their previous drummer Mike Dupke. In 2017, Black left W.A.S.P. Later in 2018, he joined German thrash metalers

Destruction Destruction may refer to: Concepts * Destruktion, a term from the philosophy of Martin Heidegger * Destructive narcissism, a pathological form of narcissism * Self-destructive behaviour, a widely used phrase that ''conceptualises'' certain kin ...

References

External links

Official Primal Fear siteOfficial Randy Black siteSabian Cymbals – Randy Black profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Black, Randy Canadian rock drummers Canadian male drummers Living people 1963 births Primal Fear (band) members Annihilator (band) members