Ryan Alexander Bloom
Ryan Alexander Bloom is an American drummer, author, and teacher. He is known for being a former member of the Colorado-based thrash metal band Havok, member of death metal band Bloodstrike, and the author of several books including the Double B* Drumming Explained series and Encyclopedia Rudimentia.
Contents
- 1 Early life
- 2 Music career
- 3 Publishing career
- 4 Education
- 5 Discography
- 6 Bibliography
- 7 References
Early life
Ryan grew up in a military family, his father Eric serving as a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Marine Corps. He attended Crested Butte Community School in Crested Butte, Colorado for high school and participated in soccer and Track and field. In 2002, Ryan was named All-State Honorable Mention in soccer and finished 6th at the state championship track meet in the pole vault. As of 2003, he held 7 school records in track and field (100m, 200m, Long Jump, Triple Jump, Pole Vault, 4x100, 4x200), all of which have since been broken except for the pole vault. Ryan graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a degree in music.
Music career
Ryan joined the band Havok in 2007, replacing later Speedwolf drummer Richie Tice, and shortly afterward the band got an offer from famed metal label Candlelight Records with whom they ultimately signed a record deal. Ryan contributed drum tracks and lyrics to Havok's 2009 debut album Burn, and appeared in the music video for the song "Morbid Symmetry". Ryan toured with Havok for about 2 years, including the License to Thrash tour, but left Havok just before the official release of Burn.
In 2010 Ryan briefly joined up with Five Iron Frenzy guitarist Micah Ortega to form a death metal band called Mordheim which recorded a short demo called Brutal Demonstrations before disbanding. In 2011 Ryan was hired to record percussion on Amara Grace's album Can't Keep A Sunrise Down. In 2012 he was contacted by Rob Hubbard of Synthetic Minister to record drums for a side project grunge/punk band called Amish Warfare. The resulting EP was *led Immaculate Misconception.
In 2013, Ryan began working with Mackenzie Gault, of the platinum selling Denver band Flobots, teaching drums at her music school, Denver Music Tree. In June 2014, Ryan's website announced that he had joined the swedish death metal band Bloodstrike and had recorded a demo called Necrobirth. Bloodstrike features experienced band members including former members of Mausoleum Records artist Silencer and Root of All Evil Records artist Somnus. Also in 2014, Ryan began teaching at the Aurora, CO branch of the School of Rock, a chain of rock-oriented music schools. In the late summer of 2015, Ryan's band Bloodstrike announced that they had signed with Redefining Darkness Records and would be releasing the full-length album, In Death We Rot on September 25.
In 2017, Ryan recorded a second album with Bloodstrike called Execution of Violence with a release date of October 13. Bloodstrike subsequently toured with Brazil's Forceps on their Mastering Extinction US tour.Also in 2017, Ryan began filling in for Denver heavy metal and hard rock outfit Immortal Sÿnn as a live session drummer while regular drummer Axel Berrios was indisposed. This post would last into the summer of 2018 and included the US leg of Immortal Sÿnn's first tour.
Since 2019, Bloom has been on the Topper Marching Band staff at Los Alamos High School in New Mexico.
Publishing career
As an instructional author, Ryan has published original books on b* drum technique, drum and b* breakbeats, drum rudiments, thrash metal drumming, and subdivision and music reading. He has also transcribed two 19th century manuals into modern notation and translated a 20th century Swiss manual into English.
The first book was Double B* Drumming Explained: A Comprehensive Reference on the Art and Science of Double B*, in 2012, which discusses double b* drum technique, style, and theory. The book draws on Ryan's own critically acclaimed drumming techniques and his teaching experience. Ryan published his second book, Double B* Drumming Explained Part 2: The Workbook in 2013. Where the first book was mostly text, this sequel is a traditional instructional method consisting of mainly beats and notated exercises for practice.
In 2016, Ryan published a combined and revised edition of his books called The Complete Double B* Drumming Explained. This edition fixed minor errors and added new topics, notably a section on cam shape, while condensing the previous two books into a single volume. In April 2017, The Complete Double B* Drumming Explained was picked up by publisher Hudson Music and re-released in an exclusive digital ebook format.
In March 2018, Ryan secured a second deal with Hudson Music for the publication of his book, Live Drum & B* - Breakbeats and Electronic Music for Real Drummers. This was Ryan's first offering outside of double b* instruction, but just like the previous book, was similarly released in a digital ebook format by Hudson with an accompanying physical edition coming out separately.
In early 2019 Ryan announced via his website that he would be releasing his third book with publisher Hudson Music called Encyclopedia Rudimentia - The Ultimate Drum Rudiment Collection. Encomp*ing over 850 Drum rudiments, this book diverges from his earlier works for drum set by compiling basic rudimental snare exercises from different cultures and traditions including Drum Corps International hybrid rudiments, Ancient Fife and drum corps rudiments, and European military rudiments alongside the Percussive Arts Society and National *ociation of Rudimental Drummers standards. Also in 2019, Ryan released his first work of non-fiction outside of music entirely, called The Forgotten Side of Bandelier, which deals with the archeology and anthropology of the Tsankawi section of Bandelier National Monument.
In 2020, Bloom published two books. The first, an edition of Charles Stewart Ashworth's 1812 Fife and Drum manual, A New, Useful, and Complete System of Drum Beating that updated the 19th century notation to 21st century standard drum music, was published in January. The second book was a method called Thrash Metal Drumming that detailed the types of beats and fills used in cl*ic and modern thrash metal. It was published by Hudson Music on October 28.
2021 also saw the publication of two books. In April, Bloom released an edition of Samuel Potter's 1817 drum manual The Art of Beating the Drum that updated the ambiguous 19th century notation to modern percussion music. In June, he announced that Hudson would be releasing a book called Subdivide and Conquer, in collaboration with author Robert W. Miller, a method for counting and reading rhythms.
In 2022, Bloom released an English translation of the Swiss military's World War I drum manual Tambour-Ordonnanz für die Schweizerische Infanterie 1917, which had only previously been available in French and German.
Education
Ryan holds a BA in Music from the University of Colorado at Boulder (2007).
Discography
- 2005 – Errant – Perfect Secret (demo)
- 2009 – Havok – Burn (LP)
- 2010 – Mordheim – Brutal Demonstrations (demo)
- 2011 – Amara Grace – Can't Keep A Sunrise Down (LP)
- 2012 – Amish Warfare – Immaculate Misconception (EP)
- 2014 - Bloodstrike - Necrobirth (demo)
- 2015 - Bloodstrike - In Death We Rot (LP)
- 2017 - Bloodstrike - Execution of Violence (LP)
Bibliography
- 2012 – Double B* Drumming Explained: A Comprehensive Reference on the Art and Science of Double B*
- 2013 – Double B* Drumming Explained Part 2: The Workbook
- 2016 – The Complete Double B* Drumming Explained- The Reference and The Workbook, Revised, Expanded & Updated
- 2018 – Live Drum & B* - Breakbeats and Electronic Music for Real Drummers
- 2019 – Encyclopedia Rudimentia - The Ultimate Drum Rudiment Collection
- 2019 - The Forgotten Side of Bandelier - Archeology of the Tsankawi Ruins at Bandelier National Monument
- 2020 - A New, Useful, and Complete System of Drum Beating (transcribed) - Charles Stewart Ashworth
- 2020 - Thrash Metal Drumming
- 2021 - The Art of Beating the Drum (transcribed) - Samuel L Potter
- 2021 - Subdivide and Conquer (with Robert W. Miller)
- 2022 - Tambour-Ordonnanz 1917 (translated) - Schweizerische Militardepartement