The crazy, talent behind performance drumming was kind enough to have a chat with Punk Globe! Lenny Vitulli talks drumming, music and tips for aspiring drummers. Check it out:

What inspired you to start performance drumming?

After spending years helping individual music lessons in a one on one scenario, it made sense to start helping larger online groups. There are a lot of regular online drum lessons out there, so I decided to focus my strength of spinning drumsticks well with my move for people and teaching into one website.

You have been drumming since you were 8 years old that is dedication! What is it about drumming you love so much? How did you get started?

It takes no effort to follow through with your passion. Dedication is not the right word, it’s “Love” for drumming. Drumming is simply part of music, and it’s really music that I love, drumming just happens to be my skills. For anyone who knows me, I was literally born to play drums: personality, mindset, body structure; literally born to drum. I tried playing the “recorder” in school when I was 8 years old and didn’t like it, but loved music. So I tried drums and never put the sticks down. Absolutely, unequivocally obsessed.

What inspired you to share your covers on YouTube?

Music and talent are meant to be shared.

What artist, or song sparked yourdeep love of music?

When I was young, I actually didn’t have a favorite artist or band. I had a very different personality than other children and I just liked hearing music in general, not just favorites. The first time I actually got into bands were the Offspring “Smash” and then the greatest album ever, Pennywise “Full Circle” greatly affected my entire life as an artist. Which is fitting, being this a punk interview : ) You must have telepathy Lisa.

What was your first recording in a music studio?

These are tough questions. Probably when I was 19 with my band Tears Shall Fall. It was different 10 or 15 years ago, studios were a special luxury and they operated differently. Musicians actually had to play there parts well and dynamically. Nowadays, everyone is at the studio all the time for no particular reason and that’s why a lot of music sucks. And people can’t play their parts well, they just go in there and throw down garbage and the engineer fixes it. Anyone can make a meaningless high sound quality recording for a couple hundred bucks or for free now.

If you could play a concert with any band/artist you wanted, whom would you perform with?

It would be with old friends/students that could never make it to the stage because they were too scared. That would be really satisfying to me to see them actually get on stage with the music they created.

You are a master of your craft, yet you still have mentors. Which drummers do you look up to the most?

I am not a master of my craft. I am always learning. I like watching Virgil Donati, Thomas Lang, Aaron Spears, Spanky McCurdy, and Chris Adler.

You have toured nationally as a drum tech and a drummer, which tours were you part of?

A bunch. Lots and lots of metal and punk bands you never heard of mainly.

How do you warm up before going all-out for a session? How often do you practice?

5 or 10 minutes is a good warm up time. I am playing drums every opportunity I get, at the downfall of my social life. Hence, I have a lot of online friends!

What was the first drumming technique you mastered?

Man, you are brutal. That’s a long time ago. Single stroke roll or paradiddle I guess. I can remember doing that in the cafeteria of my school during 7:30 AM music lessons every Tuesday morning.

What is the most difficult technique to perfect?

Being humble and not having an ego. That gets in my way more than anything.

You are known for your insane tricks! Tell us about them.

You really just have to see them. Check out my Youtube vids.
http://www.youtube.com/user/PerformanceDrummer or www.performancedrumming.com

What is the best part about being a globally known drummer? I would say my website is global for sure. www.performancedrumming.com literally has more global non-US based drummers fill out membership applications than people in the USA. Never ever saw that one coming.

What projects are you working on currently?

I am the artist relations manager for TRX Cymbals and also work for Cympad USA on top of running performance drumming. Those all keep me pretty busy. I of course, have some tricks up my sleeve and really cool projects I keep secret.

What are your plans for the future?

Absolute Global Domination.

What tips can you offer to aspiring drummers?

Brainwash yourself into thinking you can do impossible things. Then do them and get on your knees Thank God for any skills/talents that you were given because they aren't yours. Be humble.

Closing thoughts?

Lisa, I think you should conduct some interviews for www.performancedrumming.com. That would be fun. I love that your initials are "LL," that used to be a nickname of mine.

Thanks Lenny, keep on amazing the world with your skills! Here are a few of my personal favorite videos of the beast that is Lenny:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBELIMDKUCI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xO5eHAwIiV0&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmtsIEZChoc&feature=plcp