Ryan Hoyle knew from the first time he saw a pair of drumsticks and a practice pad at the age of eight that he was going to be a drummer. He landed his first recording gig in Seattle while he was still in high school, continued studying music by attending the University of North Texas for Percussion Performance, and took any gigs he could get and was soon recognized by Modern Drummer and Drum! Magazines for his live and studio performances. Since then, he has continued his session work and has been with the band Collective Soul for almost three years. When not on tour an average of 300 days a year, Ryan splits his time between Los Angeles and Nashville and likes to read, workout, cook, practice, and hang with his friends.

What is your current project?
Collective Soul/Sessions

How did you get involved with your current project?
I met Ed Roland (CS front man) through a producer friend of mine, Dexter Green (co-producer on CS albums: “Youth” and “Home”) in October 2003. Dex and I had been working together in Nashville doing all sorts of different recording projects when one morning I got a call to come in and play on some tracks for a band that he was producing called Five Star Iris. One of the songs we cut that day was co-written by Ed Roland and after hearing the mixes he decided to invite us to Atlanta to try a couple different songs with the band. Those songs eventually became the album “Youth” and things just kind of progressed from there.

If you teach, how many students do you have?
Right now I am only teaching one student due to my recent move to LA. I am however accepting new students who can reach me through my website if interested.

How much traveling do you do in a year?
Last year I was out for 300 days doing 160 shows. This year, we are recording a new album so I am expecting less touring but more recording and teaching.

How long have you been playing?
I have been playing drums for 20 years now. I studied with many different teachers as a kid and went the University of North Texas to study percussion performance as a teenager. Most of my learning has come about through listening to records and life experience. Although, I am now taking lessons to better learn hand drumming.

When did you decide to make music your profession?
After I retired from my skateboarding career due to a broken arm, I got really serious about the drums in seventh grade and decided that music would be my lifestyle of choice.

Who/what are some of your major influences?
Steve Gadd, John Bonham, Dave Grohl, Steve Jordan, Steve Ferrone, Stewart Copeland, Phil Rudd, Paul Leim, Ringo Starr, Travis McNabb, Shane Evans, Todd Roper, Andy Newmark, Matt Chamberlain, Kenny Aronoff, Larry Mullen Jr., Shawn Pelton, Matt Cameron, John Robinson, and Jeffrey Lebowski (not the other Jeffrey Lebowski).

Do you have any specific rehearsal and/or practice techniques?
The first thing I do when I am at home and want to practice is to take care of all my phone calls and emails in the morning. Then I listen to records, especially newer music, while getting a workout in at the gym. By the time I get home, I feel relaxed, inspired, and caught up on the business of the day so I can easily shut out the world and take a vacation into my own little world of creativity. Usually, I will have heard something during my workout that will challenge me and inspire a starting point for my session. Most of the time, I play along to records just like I did when I was a kid. Sometimes I try to learn specific parts note for note, other times I let go and improvise freely over a piece of music, only trying just to cop the basic feel.

Studio, miking, or tuning techniques?
I like to experiment with lots of different equipment and different ways
of setting up that equipment. I think that when I finally realized that
there was no one-way to approach the kit or the studio, that was the start of a major growth spurt for me. I try to be open-minded and to allow myself to experiment with different methods to achieve different feels. However, the most important technique to improve as an artist in my opinion is to stop trying to be good and start trying to be yourself. This is usually the result of not just musical, but life experience.

What equipment you use?
I use Ludwig Drums, Paiste Cymbals, Pro-Mark Drumsticks, Remo Drumheads, DW Pedals and Hardware, and Rhythm Tech Percussion.

What’s in your MP3/CD player right now?
Elbow, Black Eyed Peas, White Stripes, Bloc Party, Kanye West, Kings of Leon, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Metallica, Big Wreck, Cake, The Cars, The Dandy Warhols, David Gilmour, Dredge, Fiona Apple, Foo Fighters, Holly Williams, Jet, The Killers, Maroon 5, Natasha Bedingfield, Nirvana, The Police, and Queens of the Stone Age to name a few of my current faves.

Do you have any family?
Nope, I am currently enjoying being young and single. My support system consists of the band, my friends, my immediate family, and my Creator. Oh yeah, my roommate Steve has a cool dog named Winston.

How do you spend your free time?
I like to read, workout, cook, practice, and hang with my friends.

Any life lessons or important philosophies you have learned along the way?
I am a firm believer in the concept of attractor energy. We can all co-create everything that we desire in our lives by embracing the power of free-will through the extremely high-level energy of our thoughts. By being that which it is that you want to create in your life, your Source will co-create your intentions beyond your wildest dreams.

What’s your best and most memorable experience? 
There are so many! Getting called to work with Collective Soul while sitting side stage at the Kiss/Aerosmith show, playing before Metallica in South Africa to stadiums with 40,000 people in attendance, and getting to move to LA to live with Steve Ferrone are a few that come to mind.

Any embarrassing moments you’d care to share with us?
There are so many of these as well! I was playing a private party in Fort Worth, Texas with Le Freak when in the middle of the song “Brick House” I swung my vocal mic out of the way and the cable caught my sequencer and threw it off of the stage. To prevent the inevitable backlash that I would receive from our singer, I proceeded to throw myself off of the back of the stage into a thorn bush. The sequencer was broken, I was all cut up, but I kept my job and everybody felt terrible for me. I insist, the stage was not stable!

What drives you crazy?
Passive/aggressive behavior, the human ego, shadiness, laziness, greed, and pennywise-pound foolish mentality.

Any advice for aspiring musicians and students?
Many times I feel that most students are daunted and discouraged by being overwhelmed with the prospect of being too diverse. While I think it’s good to be able to play a lot of different styles or even instruments, I think that I would rather encourage specialization. In other words, be a specialist, with extremely specific goals. Don’t just flounder about, spreading yourself around too thin. Find out what is natural for you and do it better than anyone else on the planet. Make very specific goals and follow through without distraction or doubt. You will be surprised to find out that when you get where you wanted to go you just may end up in a much better place then you had planned on.

Anything else that you want the world to know about you?
For any additional info, please visit: http://www.ryanhoyle.com.