Exclusive: Simon Phillips shows how he plays DarWin - Nightmare Of My Dreams

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The session drumming legend is also responsible for the band's studio production

Progressive rock band DarWin was born when songwiter, DarWin brought his conceptual compositions to Simon Phillips (The Who, Toto, Joe Satriani, Jeff Beck and many others) with the request that the session legend produce the project. 

The two enlisted an all-star line-up of musicians including vocalist/bassist Matt Bissonette, guitarists Greg Howe and Guthrie Govan, bassist Billy Sheehan and former Dream Theater keyboard player, Derek Sherinian to record 2018's Origin Of Species.

Now, in a video exclusive for MusicRadar, Simon Phillips shows you how to play through DarWin's latest release, Nightmare Of My Dreams. 

The song is inspired in-part by the fire that destroyed Phillips' home and studio in 2017, but with a wider theme of climate change and the impact that events associated to it have on Earth.

Sat at his monster 12-piece Tama Star series kit (not including 4 Octobans and timpani!) Simon splits the seven-minute song into four movements, breaking down his approach to the drum composition, timings, techniques and fills that he uses for each section of the song.

Nightmare Of My Dreams shifts through tempo and time signature changes spanning double kicks, ballad-style drumming, melodic tom and reggae-inspired grooves. 

The song is DarWin's second release of 2020, and is taken from forthcoming album, DarWin 2: A Frozen War (scheduled for release later this year, exact date tbc).

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Stuart Williams
Stuart Williams
Drums

I'm a freelance member of the MusicRadar team, specialising in drum news, interviews and reviews. I formerly edited Rhythm and Total Guitar here in the UK and have been playing drums for more than 25 years (my arms are very tired). When I'm not working on the site, I can be found on my electronic kit at home, or gigging and depping in function bands and the odd original project.