Adrian Young

Having slogged their butts around the States for a few years in the early '90s they finally found international superstardom three albums into their career, courtesy of the radio-hogging single 'Don't Speak'. With this one song, the Californian quartet's blend of sun-drenched power pop and ska-tinged new wave was catapulted onto the world stage, ultimately leading to 15 million sales of the album from whence it came. Yup, Tragic Kingdom was a solid gold (or rather platinum smash and a breath of fresh air after the staleness that grunge had become. A two year tour followed, and then the foursome took off for the Hollywood Hills to come up with something to follow up with.
And follow it they have. Return Of Saturn is blessed with much of the same energy and urgency as Tragic Kingdom but benefits from a more developed songwriting approach and some truly great musical performances, not least from major league punk fan drummer Adrian Young. From the pop rush of 'Ex-Girifriend' and 'Six Feet Under' to the Cardigans-esque 'Artificial Sweetener', Ade serves up a typically muscular, genre-bending slice of modern rock drumming. Such is his contribution to Return Of Saturn that it's hard to escape the feeling that it's time for Adrian to take his place alongside Chad Smith and Taylor Hawkins as one the very finest rock drummers around And if you haven't seen or heard him play yet, then you should.