ddrum Welcomes Four New Drummers to its Family of Artist Endorsers

ddrum® announces new artist-endorsement relationships with four of the most exciting and inventive names in heavy metal and hardcore

Chris Dovas is now behind the kit for Bay Area thrash legends Testament with whom he’s been touring and is currently hard at work in the studio on the group’s next recording. A graduate of Boston’s Berklee College of Music, Dovas spent the past decade lending his considerable talents to respected metal act Seven Spires, described by blabbermouth.net’s Dom Lawson as “a uniquely exuberant and inventive new force in the increasingly interchangeable worlds of power, symphonic, and traditional metal,” before landing the gig with Testament in the summer of 2023. The band’s Eric Peterson says, “Chris has turned out to be totally, unbelievably amazing and a very kind and awesome, brilliant drummer… rest assured Chris will push the envelope, so to speak, and make Testament heavier and more precise than before!”

Former drummer for Machine Head, Chris Kontos is a sought-after journeyman who’s performed and recorded with the likes of Death Angel, Exodus, Testament, Verbal Abuse, and Konkhra, among many others. Kontos performed with Machine Head for the first time in 24 years in 2019 to mark the 25th anniversary and reissue of the band’s iconic Burn My EyesLP. The track “Davidian,” from that album is widely recognized as one of the most iconic drumming performances in metal history and the song was included in Rolling Stone’s 2023 “The 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Songs of All Time” report, which singled out, “the sound of ‘90s heaviness with a seismic sense of groove.” In the spring of 2023, Kontos was announced as the drummer for the thrash group Forbidden. Additionally, he has collaborated with his nephew Zack Garcia in the outlaw country outfit Zack G. The Outlaw & The Moonlighters.

Metal/hardcore vet Mike Justian first rose to prominence drumming in bands such as the Red Chord, 108, Shai Hulud, and Trap Them. As a long time member of Madball, he continues to stay busy with a variety of projects and recently teamed back up with Unearth. Cutting his teeth in numerous punk and hardcore outfits in the Greater Boston area during his teen years, Justian was on tour almost immediately after graduating high school and hasn’t looked back, racking up an enviable resume and discography in the ensuing years. Over the recent Thanksgiving holiday weekend, Justian shared news of his new partnership with ddrum on social media: “I debuted my birch ‘Jellybean’ kit on the last Unearth U.S. tour, and lemme tell ya, this thing is killer! I generally prefer the linear attack of birch shells, and these drums are easily one of the best examples of that attack. Aesthetically, the ash veneer is beautiful, clean and elegant. The hardware is also excellent. It’s all very robust and purpose built for the abuses of touring. The pedals have an exceptionally clean and balanced action that I’ve really enjoyed. Overall, I’m very pleased and I can’t thank Mike [Petrak – ddrum Product Manager] and ddrum enough!”

Co-founder of American industrial metal legends, Static-X, Ken Jay has been amongst the drumming elite since the mid-‘90s. His playing on the watershed disc Wisconsin Death Trip laid the groundwork for much of the beats that would define metal/nu metal for the subsequent decade. Five successful LPs followed, and the band embarked on global tours, as well as joining the metal elite at festivals such as Ozzfest. After disbanding in 2010, Static-Z reformed in 2019 to honor fallen frontman Wayne Static, and continues to this day – most recently releasing the album Project:Regeneration Vol. I in 2020 with Project: Regeneration Vol. 2 expected in 2024. Of his evolution as a player, Jay recently said, “As I’ve gotten older, I am more efficient on the drums. I taught drums for 15 years… The more relaxed you are, the drums are more brutal.”

ddrum welcomes each of these exceptional talents to the family, taking their rightful spots alongside numerous legendary and up-and-coming names in drumming who lay down the beat with ddrum.

Fans can catch both Chris Dovas and Chris Kontas at the upcoming Metal Allegiance 10th Anniversary Concert during NAMM sponsored by ddrum and Dean Guitars on January 25, 2004 at the House of Blues in Anaheim, California.

To learn more, visit www.ddrum.com