Oh HELL YES!! Todd is the Blaster for Australia's' Speed Demons -THE BERZERKER- Be sure to checkout Todds' Bio and visit his links to hear him in action!



Here's Some Info On Todd!

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My name is Todd Hansen from Brisbane, Australia. I am the current drummer for Australian Industrial Death Metal act The Berzerker.
I started playing drums seriously in October 2000. Before this I learnt the drums for 2 years in Primary (Elementary) School (age 10 to 12), and played the snare drum in the school band, but quit because I hated the school band. Apart from what I learned in school, I am self taught.
I learnt the piano from ages 3 – 14 and taught myself the guitar at age 15.

The reason I began to play Drums again was due to the fact I could not find a drummer for any project I was doing. It was the GREATEST thing I ever did!!! Drums are a far more superior instrument than any other!! My years of playing the piano gave me an ear for music and timing. I constantly count time signatures in my head when I play. Being a self taught drummer, I watched a lot of instructional videos. The one which I learnt most from was Extreme Metal Drumming 101 by Flo Mournier, which I bought at a Cryptopsy concert in 2006. I still use the same techniques described in this DVD with my everyday playing. Speed drumming to me is all about technique. It’s about achieving maximum power with minimal movement. Just relax and let the sticks and skins do all the work!

I have played in many bands in my home town of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The First band I played drums with, and still play with today, is a circus-metal style band called Headkase. Think Mr Bungle meets Slipknot. As my drumming advanced I wanted to play faster and more technical styles of metal. I joined a metalcore style band called From These Wounds in Jan 2004. I met Luke ‘Berzerker’ Kenny around this time. All in all I have played for about 15 different bands in Queensland. I played in some bands as a member and some bands as a session drummer. I was performing and rehearsing in up to 9 bands a week.

I joined The Berzerker in June 2007 and did my first live performance with the band in December of the same year. We are now touring the world playing fast, brutal industrial death metal!!


Todd's Kit Configuration

Kit Configuration
Kick, Snare, 10” and 12” Rack Toms, 14” Floor Tom, 16” Crash, 2 x 18” Crash, 20” Ride, 14” Hats, 8” Bell, 14” China.

Attached Thumbnails

 

cool article, good read.
thanks, todd is awesome!!!

very cool. thanks kenny!

great drummer, great band

Thanks for the nice words guys! I'm really excited to be here at Blastology!!! Be sure to stay tuned. I will be uploading more photos and tour footage over the coming weeks! I will also break down some Berzerker songs off the upcoming album for you all to learn. If anyone has a particuler song they'd like to learn just ask and I'll do a vid for you! Thanks guys!! Rrrroorrrggghhh!!

hey todd,

great to see you posting here.

what i've always loved is the trigger sounds the berzerker uses. it just sounds so uncommen yet perfectly suited. i know they eat up a lot of frequencies and the rest of the band probably moans about it all the time but i'd like to know which samples you use?

oh and are you to be seen on the berzerker dvd? mask on? haha anyways, keep it up!

Awesome Man,

Miss you so much Toddy
I lived with this guy for over a year and he's not lying when he says he jammed with up to 9 bands a week. He put the MASSIVE effort in and its paid off bigtime.

You can add the fact that he played and organised 'Toddfest' before he left to go overseas. Toddfets was all 7 of his bands and he played 7 straight sets barely breaking a sweat and backed it up with the most difficult 'The Berzerker' at the end of the night powered only by Jack Daniels :P

Toddfest 08

The Berzeker
Headkase
The Wrath
Devilution MySpace.com - Devilution - Kaiserslautern, Rheinland-Pfalz - Metal / Hardcore / Progressive - www.myspace.com/devilutionband
Happy Camper MySpace.com - Happy Camper (Is In-Tents!) - Brisbane, AU - Metal / Metal / Metal - www.myspace.com/happymfcamper
Leopard Street Droogs
Asceticism

Kent

Also, I need to add.

He nailed an entire set as fill in drummer for my band at the time 'Minus Life' at Australias premier metal festival 'Metal for the Brain (RIP)' after only two jams, both without all memebers in attendance due to work commitments. Ha, we even butchered two of our own songs that day while Todd played them entirely correctly. Its not easy stuff either, listen at MySpace.com - Minus Life (R.I.P) - Brisbane, AU - Metal / Death Metal / Black Metal - www.myspace.com/minuslife to hear some of what he played perfectly on the day.

Hey there Colonel! I've actually only been with The Berzerker for a little over a year so that isn't me on the DVD, its actually Gary Tomas. He was absolutely brilliant in my opinion and I learnt alot by watching him rather than later members. Our trigger samples have been with the band since day one. The drum samples are custom made by Luke Kenny himself. Luke comes from not only a Metal background but also a speedcore techno background and the kick and snare drum samples are similar to those found in Gaba techno. 'The Box' (as we call it) is basically another member of the band. It contains our samples (voice and audio) and my trigger module and sampler. I run a Roland TD-3 drum module which we midi out to the Akai MPC500 Sampler (only for the Berzerker Custom Kick and Snare sound). The Custom drum samples are programmed into it. Every now and then we'll have a few technical errors but overall it works great.

wow thats awesome todd, thanks for answering;-)
ok, so it was gary tomas then... i was just thinking because of the way you place your left hand between your legs while hitting the snare looked pretty much like gary on the dvd.

also, it's crazy to imagine that someone plays so many sets in a row. you must be really dedicated. and your gravtiy blasts are somewhat fast. there's almost no movement at those high speeds. crazy!

you know, despite all those highly technical drummers out there i often times just straight blasting and that's why i like the berzerker so much.

keep up the good work todd, cheers!