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Drummers - Jason Bittner
(Shadows Fall)
Jason Bittner (born January 11, 1970) is the drummer for
the metal band Shadows Fall.
Biography
Jason Bittner started taking formal drum lessons at the age of ten years
old; however, he had been banging on pots, pans, and garbage cans since
he was five. A native of Albany, New York, he continued to take lessons
and perform in his middle school and high school jazz and orchestra
ensembles before heading off to the prestigious Berklee College of Music
in 1988.
After studying theory, arranging, and latin and jazz drumming styles, he
left Berklee to pursue his musical career outside the educational
environment. This led to playing in various metal and hard rock bands
throughout the late eighties and early nineties. During this period, he
was also attending a local community college (for an unrelated degree)
and performing with their jazz and percussion ensembles.
In 1994 he joined Stigmata, who were, at the time, one of the biggest
hardcore bands on the New York scene. Over the course of the next 7
years, he recorded 3 albums, released a home video, and toured the U.S.
and Europe with this outfit. He also signed endorsement deals with Meinl
Cymbals and Pro-Mark Drumsticks at this time. After being together for
over a decade, the band decided to "call it a day" in 2001.
As luck would have it, it would be the fall of 2001 when Bittner joined
Century Media recording artists Shadows Fall. Initially, he signed on
just to do one tour of Europe with the band, but considering the fact
that the band had so much going for them, and the chemistry between the
five members was so great, he decided to quit his job and stay a
permanent member.
In September of 2002, the band released "The Art of Balance" and went on
to tour relentlessly all over the U.S., Japan and Europe in venues
ranging from small clubs to the stage of OZZFEST 2003. It was also
during this time period when Bittner won his first Modern Drummer
Reader's poll for #1 Up and Coming Drummer of 2004.
September of 2004 brought the release of the album "The War Within",
which debuted at #38 on the Billboard charts. Over the next year, the
band once again toured all over the world, including arena tours with
Slipknot, and a main stage spot on OZZFEST 2005. At this time, TWW has
scanned over a quarter million copies, and has also received a Grammy
nomination for Best Metal Performance. This record was also powerful
enough to help Bittner win again in the 2005 MD readers'poll, this time
for #1 Best Recorded Performance, and #1 Metal Drummer.
Over the course of 2005, Bittner started establishing himself as a
clinician as well. He performed at the Modern Drummer Festival in May of
2005 to a standing ovation. In September, he peformed at the DRUMMER
live festival in the UK, followed by a clinic tour of Germany, and he
also performed at PASIC in November of 2005. November of 2005 also
brought the release of Shadows Fall's first ever DVD, "The Art of
Touring" which Bittner helped film and produce.
As 2006 begins, Bittner is once again a very busy man. In the last three
months he's done fill in gigs for Anthrax. Hudson Music has released a
joint DVD with Bittner and Chris Adler. Pro-Mark has introduced the
Jason Bittner Signature model 5BX drumstick. Meinl has introduced the
Bell Blast ride, designed in conjunction with Bittner. He has been the
cover feature of the UK drum publications, DRUMMER and Rhythm, and will
be the cover feature of DRUM! in July. He is also one of the handful of
lucky drummers who gets to participate on Magna Carta's "Drum Nation 3"
record. Lastly, he also won the Modern Drummer Reader's Poll for the
second year in a row for 2006 "#1 Metal Drummer."
As for Shadows Fall, 2006 was a very productive year. The band has
finished working on a record called "Fallout From the War", which was
released in June on Century Media Records. This record contained some
new material, re-recorded b-sides, and some cover songs.
In April of 2007, Shadows Fall released their newest album, Threads Of
Life.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Bittner
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