Shane Gaalaas

Shane Gaalaas (born August 8, 1967) is a Canadian-born drummer, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter best known for his long running affiliation with Japanese pop/rock superstars B'z, whom he joined in 2002, and his extensive work with guitar virtuosos Michael Schenker, Yngwie Malmsteen, Uli Jon Roth, Vinnie Moore, and Jeff Kollman.

Gaalaas is also a founding member of progressive rock trio Cosmosquad and extreme metal band Diesel Machine. He has released several albums as a solo artist and continues to work as a session musician. Gaalaas is a graduate of Grant MacEwan Music College in Edmonton, Alberta and Percussion Institute of Technology in Hollywood, CA; he currently resides in the Los Angeles, CA area.

Biography

Formative years

Gaalaas was born in small town Innisfail, Alberta and began playing guitar at age nine and picked up the drums a year later. After hearing Kiss – Alive!, he begged his parents to take him to see Kiss on their Love Gun Tour in 1977. "That concert changed my life. It had so much impact on me, from that point on I knew what I was going to do in life."^[1]

Upon graduating high school, Gaalaas began touring professionally with a Top 40 group before enrolling to study jazz, percussion and piano at Grant MacEwan Music College in Edmonton, Alberta in 1987. For the next three years, Gaalaas toured with Canadian circuit bands. Throughout 1991, he recorded and toured with guitarist/producer Paul Dean of Loverboy fame in a band called The Heat.

Move to the U.S.

In 1993, Gaalaas moved to Los Angeles, CA to study at Musicians Institute, from which he graduated with Vocational Honors and also won the "Rock Drummer of The Year" award. Entering a Guitar Center drum competition, he caught the attention of one of the judges, Journey drummer Deen Castronovo, who would recommend him to guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen only days later. "I ended up flying out to Miami... and it wasn't really even an audition. I went there and got the gig and next week we were on the road. All because of Deen."^[2]

Moving on from Malmsteen after the Magnum Opus album touring cycle, Gaalaas and bassist Barry Sparks joined the Michael Schenker Group and went on to record several other projects together, including albums by vocalist John West and guitarists Miloš Dodo Doležal, Vinnie Moore, and Uli Jon Roth, while continuing to work with Schenker. In addition, Gaalaas and Sparks teamed up with guitarist Jeff Kollman to form the all-instrumental trio Cosmosquad.^[3][4] Gaalaas would also join forces with future Halford guitarist and Damageplan vocalist Patrick Lachman in Diesel Machine.^[5] Former Deep Purple bassist and Black Sabbath vocalist, Glenn Hughes, would recruit Gaalaas for the European leg of his 2001 tour which led to Shane working with Hughes and another Purple alumnus, vocalist Joe Lynn Turner, on both HTP studio albums.

Working with Jeff Kollman

Gaalaas has had an ongoing musical relationship with guitarist Jeff Kollman going back to the 1990s. Gaalaas met Kollman in 1997 in Phoenix, AZ while a member of MSG and the two had an instant rapport and musical connection, in addition to being born only days apart. Together with fellow MSG member, bassist Barry Sparks, the duo formed Cosmosquad with whom they have released 5 albums and one DVD to date. Other studio and live collaborations include albums by $ign of 4,^[6] feat. Phil Mogg of UFO, Hughes Turner Project, John West, Lao Tizer and Crumb Bros.. Gaalaas also appears on three of Kollman's solo albums, Shedding Skin, Live at the Baked Potato and Empower... Devour!!!.

Joining B'z

In 2002, Gaalaas was approached by Japanese music giants B'z to become the band's new touring drummer. He has been part of every B'z tour, studio, live and DVD release ever since, starting with the a Beautiful Reel. B'z Live-Gym 2002 live DVD.^[7][8] Gaalaas was instrumental in the creation of the band’s first-ever English language release, the eponymous 2012 EP, for which he wrote all the lyrics and handled all the arrangements, as well as mixing and mastering the record with fellow Canadian Cory Churko.

Solo

To date, Gaalaas has released 4 studio albums as a solo artist, Primer (2003),^[9] Hinge (2006),^[10] Ascend (2013),^[11] and Bitter Suites From The Red Room (2015),^[12] issued by Zain/Big M.F. in Japan and on his own Junk Man label in the rest of the world. Entirely self-produced, Gaalaas handles drums, lead vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, programming and songwriting duties on all his records. B'z vocalist Koshi Inaba makes a guest appearance on Primer, which includes a cover of the B'z song, "Hadashi no Megami", for which Gaalaas also shot a promotional video. Canadian session musician Cory Churko contributes guitar to the songs "Brotherhood" and "Wish You Well" on Ascend.

Featuring on lead vocals and guitar, Gaalaas also released the Japan-only Live & Video Clips DVD (2005) and Live in Osaka CD (2006), with members of the Japanese rock band Schon rounding out the line-up.^[13][14] In 2009, Gaalaas released his first ever drum instructional DVD, Perfect Rock Drumming, via Rittor Music in Japan.

Latest Projects

In 2012, Gaalaas collaborated with producer/programmer Peter Fernandes, guitarist Greg Howe and sometime Cosmosquad bassist Ric Fierabracci on the song "Dorothy", which was released as a digital single^[15] and eventually included on Fernandes' 2014 album, Q.E.D..

Gaalaas released back-to-back digital singles, "Tales From A Fantastic Lumbar", featuring Fernandes and Fierabracci, and "Silverstrand Sedation", in May and October 2014, respectively.^[16][17] Both cuts were included on Gaalaas' fourth studio album, Bitter Suites From The Red Room, his first ever all-instrumental offering, issued internationally in November 2015. Gaalaas also featured on Bob Frye's Uzoma album and has written and recorded the music for a video game titled Yakuza, due out in January 2016.^[18]

Acclaim

Japan's leading drum magazine, Rhythm & Drum, featured Gaalaas on the cover of their October 2013 issue ; he also been covered by the Japanese edition of Billboard,^[19] among other publications.

Endorsements

Gaalaas is endorsed by Pearl drums, Zildjian cymbals, Vic Firth sticks, Remo drumheads, and DW drum pedals.

Discography

References

External links

• Shane Gaalaas official website
• Shane Gaalaas Facebook
• Shane Gaalaas Twitter
• Shane Gaalaas YouTube channel
• Shane Gaalaas official Japanese website
• Pearl artist page
• Zildjian artist page