Name: Silvan Strauss
Occupation: Drummer, composer
Nationality: German
Recent release: Silvan Strauss's Flukin' is out January 31st 2025 via Kabul Fire.
Pure drum music recommendations: My IG and TikTok channels :) Peter Giger has some crazy percussion ensemble stuff with “Family of percussion“ or Julian Sartorius “Hidden Tracks.“

[Read our Julian Sartorius interview]

If you enjoyed this Silvan Strauss interview and would like to find out more about his music, visit his official homepage. He is also on Instagram, and TikTok.



What was your first drum set like and what are you using today? What, to you personally, are factors in terms of build and design that you appreciate in drums and percussion instruments?

My first set was a black/gray Mapex Set with four toms :) I loved it, could get everything to sound very dry and powerful.

Now I use a Yamaha Recording Custom, so flexible and well made. It's also super easy to go in a lot of different directions in terms of tuning.

I love vintage instruments, stuff with limitations that make you have to get creative and work with the flaws. Yeah I really like flawed instruments.

Late Rush-drummer Neil Peart said: “The equipment is not an influence. It doesn't affect the way I play. It's an expression of the way I play.” What's your take on that?

For me the equipment really ties me to the moment. It’s what I have in the moment and it is what helps me to get my ideas out.

So yeah I see my drums and percussion more like a partner and collaborator, and I try to be very open in these relationships.

Drumming is an integral part of many cultures, and traditions. Which of these do you draw from in your playing – and why?

I mostly play what most refer to as jazz and also a lot of music in a hiphop context.

The amazing thing in these artforms is that they are super evolutionary, meaning they draw so much inspiration from the abundance of African music traditions and the African diaspora. That happens through sampling, collaboration, research. So these traditions have really developed into a treasure trove of human expression with endless content.

If you study for example the samples of one J Dilla record you’ll end up with a great Brazilian record that you’ve never heard of and if you study that record you’ll learn about these crazy Brazilian grooves and their roots. So it goes really deep within an instance. It’s so humbling!

What were some of the main challenges in your development as a drummer / percussionist? Which practices, exercises, or experiences were most helpful in reaching your goals?

In the last year one of my main challenges was to get variety into my expressions. I feel a pretty loud energy inside when I play music, and the obvious way to channel that is to burst out with volume and density.

I got a bit bored with the sounds that this approach was producing and am on a journey right now to get more creative and flexible channelling those feelings. Trying to be more subtle but intense at the same time.

I have some tracks on my new record where I think it worked out nicely. “Jörgi, my dear“ for example.

What do you think you're doing different than other drummers?

Everything and nothing haha. But so does every drummer.

How do you experience the concepts of "groove," "swing," and "rhythmic feel" in music?

I always try to play something that feels nice and natural in my body to get as close to dancing on the kit as possible, which produces rather easy and straight forward stuff. Then I try to get more and more complexity in and try not to loose that feeling, if I loose it then I know I have to take it a step back.

I think this approach also gets one's authentic groove out even if you are copying a master. You can be like: this is the pattern Roy Haynes played, but if I change that little thing it feels way better for my body and it’s still in the spirit of Roy. This is sort of the other way around.

How do time signatures and tempo affect our perception of rhythm?

Experimenting with different time signatures and tempos makes you more flexible and creative. I mean it’s a natural thing for a creative person to be like: how does it feel to separate this certain amount of time into seven pieces or thirteen or whatever.

It also opens you up to the world because the conception that 4/4 is kind of the “normal“ thing is super unrealistic if you go to different places in the world.

What is the relationship between harmony, rhythm and melody? How do non-percussion instruments contribute to the overall rhythmic texture of a piece?

Harmony and melody always make me add details and experiment with orchestration. In orchestration I do often have a complementary approach with frequencies - but not always.

Sometimes it’s nice to layer a nice pad with brushes or something legato to create a whole new sound. Legato is a good buzzword, because we don’t see drums as an instrument on which it is easy to play legato. I like to work out extended techniques to get legato sounds on drums.

Also I am experimenting with different linear concepts to get nice melody lines out of my kit.

Different drums have a distinct sound and drums and percussion are also timbral instruments. What drum sound are you aiming for and how are you making use of the timbral potentials and possibilities of your instruments?

Sometimes I boost frequencies in the mix to get more tonal with my drums and I also sometimes use triggers to trigger synths, and of course more timbral percussion instruments like cowbells.

If I improvise with these instruments I play until a melodic idea develops between the different timbres and I try to make a little piece out of that. These pieces become my little reels for IG.

We have so many possibilities with the drums, all the frequency spectrums are in there, a whole percussion orchestra in one bunch. Great playground!

In relation to drumming, Stewart Copeland said: “Listening is where the cool stuff comes from. And that listening thing, magically, turns all of your chops into gold.” What do you listen for?

I am really a melody guy. I mostly get hooked to good melodies. Makes me sing a lot on the kit when I play.

It goes back to the dancing thing. I trust that if I sing the melody of a tune while playing it, it makes my body go with the details an vibe way more and come up with good patterns and grooves.

Do you feel that honing your compositional / songwriting skills has an effect on your drumming skills?

Yeah for sure. Especially the back and forth between writing, producing, interpreting is super insightful.

How has technology, such as drum machines and sequencers, impacted the way rhythm is created and perceived? Has it been a concrete influence on your own approach?

For me it’s a pendulum. The machines try to emulate people and then people emulate the machines and sound great, and then there’s more machines emulating these people and so forth.

The drum evolution after J Dilla for example is crazy. Drummers were imitating his pockets and a whole style of drumming developed. And now these drummers get sampled and chopped up again and another thing is in the making.

Or, for example, the pockets of a 808 machine are really unnatural to play on a kit, but through that, new drumming techniques evolved and over time it’s starting to feel more natural because it becomes part of the standard repertoire for drummers.

My personal taste is more organic so I really enjoy the sampling side of the technical spectrum.

Physical strain is a particularly serious issue for many drummers. How does it manifest itself, how do you deal with it and in how far does it affect your creativity?

It goes back to what I said earlier about the loud energy inside me. It can be so exhausting to always play like that. Made me have problems with my hands.

So I search for more subtle outlets. This not only helped with the sound but also with my physical health.Also since I started working out a bit on regular basis it got way better.

Drumming or making music in general is such a physical thing. We need to treat our body well to make good music for a long time.

Many recording engineers have remarked that the drums can be particularly hard to capture. What, from your perspective, makes drums sound great on record and in a live setting?

I want the recorded drums to have the impact and sensation that I feel playing them. Going with a really natural sound is not always the option to go there for me because I feel more of a supernatural sensation when I play good music.

I like really close and direct drum sounds, intimate but saturated. I have a really specific taste for that so I mix all of my own stuff myself.

For example my album FLUKIN’. On this album the drums sound really different on each track but all on that spectrum of close, dry, intimate and saturated.

Drums and percussion are remarkably often used for physical therapy / healing. What, from your point of view, makes them particularly suitable tools for this?

I personally experience the meditational side of playing drums and grooving as very healing.