Thomas Wydler (born 9 October 1959), is a Swiss musician best known for being a core member of

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are an Australian rock music, rock band formed in 1983 by vocalist Nick Cave, multi-instrumentalist Mick Harvey and guitarist-vocalist Blixa Bargeld. The band has featured international personnel throughout its care ...

, of which he has been a

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

since 1985. Prior to joining them, he was a member of the experimental German band

Die Haut Die Haut (German for ''the skin'') were an experimental German post-punk and post-rock band in Berlin during the 1980s and 1990s, with such records as the Nick Cave collaboration ''Burnin' the Ice''. The only constant member was Christoph Dreher ...

. Wydler has been present on almost every Bad Seeds album, making his debut appearance on the group's third album ''

Kicking Against The Pricks ''Kicking Against the Pricks'' is the third album released by the rock music group Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. First released in 1986, the album is a collection of Cave's interpretations of cover song, songs by other artists. The title is a ref ...

'' (1986). After the departure of founding member

Mick Harvey Michael John Harvey (born 29 August 1958) is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, composer, arranger and record producer. A multi-instrumentalist, he is best known for his long-term collaborations with Nick Cave, with whom he formed The ...

in January 2009, Wydler became the longest-serving member of the Bad Seeds apart from singer

Nick Cave Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian singer, songwriter, poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional actor. Known for his baritone voice and for fronting the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Ca ...

. Wydler was the band's sole drummer until

Jim Sclavunos James Sclavunos is an American drummer, multi-instrumentalist musician, record producer, and writer. He is best known as a drummer, having been a member of two seminal no wave groups in the late 1970s ( Teenage Jesus & the Jerks and 8 Eyed Spy, ...

joined in 1994. Wydler generally plays a standard

drum kit A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player ( drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsti ...

while Sclavunos handles a variety of auxiliary percussion (e.g.,

vibraphone The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist,' ...

maracas A maraca (), sometimes called shaker or chac-chac, is a rattle which appears in many genres of Caribbean and Latin music. It is shaken by a handle and usually played as part of a pair. Maracas (from Guaraní ), also known as tamaracas, were r ...

cowbell A cowbell (or cow bell) is a bell worn around the neck of free-roaming livestock so herders can keep track of an animal via the sound of the bell when the animal is grazing out of view in hilly landscapes or vast plains. Although they are t ...

tubular bells Tubular bells (also known as chimes) are musical instruments in the percussion family. Their sound resembles that of church bells, carillon, or a bell tower; the original tubular bells were made to duplicate the sound of church bells within a ...

), but occasionally this is reversed and sometimes both men play conventional drums alongside each other (see

double drumming Double drumming (sometimes referred to as double drums) is a musical technique, used mostly in rock music, where two drummers each play a drum kit at the same time. One may play the rhythm while the other may play another style, or both may play th ...

). Due to unspecified health problems Wydler did not tour with the band from about 2013, but he remains a member of the group and has contributed to all studio albums since joining. Founding Bad Seed

Barry Adamson Barry Adamson (born 11 June 1958) Discography Studio Albums Compilation Albums EPs Singles Soundtracks References External links * Adamson's art-house
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Adamson, Barry 1958 births Living people People from ...

temporarily rejoined the group during this era as a drummer, given that many of the band's newer songs were arranged for two percussionists. Wydler rejoined the Bad Seeds on tour in 2017. Wydler has performed vocals on the album ''

Murder Ballads ''Murder Ballads'' is the ninth studio album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released in 1996 on Mute Records. As its title suggests, the album consists of new and traditional murder ballads, a genre of songs that relays the details (and often ...

'' singing a verse from "Death is not the End", and also pursues his solo career which can be heard on his Myspace page.

References

External links

Thomas Wydler
on MySpace
Imdb entry
1959 births Swiss drummers Swiss male musicians Male drummers Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds members Living people Die Haut members Musicians from Zürich {{drummer-stub