JIMMY DEGRASSO: JP/Er Audy Zandri

"We're not talking," he said on his relationship with Dave Mustaine, the icon behind Megadeth.

And that pretty much sums-up the answers given for why Jimmy DeGrasso was not included within the new line-up for Megadeth in 2004.

"Like a marriage, there were ups and downs with Dave, and some of them were great. But, the man had some issues with himself in 2002, and his quitting the band at that time was disappointing for all of us because we had worked really hard for Rude Awakening (2002)," Jimmy told The Jakarta Post.

"I helped Marty Friedman (Megadeth's lead guitarist from 1990 to 1999) with his solo efforts and joining Dave Ellefson (Megadeth's bass player from 1985 to 2002) in F5 <- ??. I still make contact with Al Pitrelli, but we're done talking to Dave."

Born March 16, 1963, Jimmy DeGrasso was widely known as the man behind the thunderous groove that distinguishes bands like Megadeth and Alice Cooper from the others.

This Thursday, Jimmy ended his Asia Pacific drum clinic with Sabian in front of around nine hundred Indonesian drum enthusiasts and fans, on the fourth floor of BPPT tower, Central Jakarta.

DeGrasso's career kicked off after joining Ozzy Osbourne, doing gigs to promote the band's Ultimate Sin album in 1986. Soon, words spread about his playing and the critically acclaimed Y&T asked him to fill a position left by Leonard Haze that year.

Leaving the band in 1990, Jimmy joined Mike Tramp's White Lion in 1991 before teaming up with Robert Trujillo (currently the bass player for Metallica) in Suicidal Tendencies (S.T.) in 1992. Together they released Suicidal for Life in 1994.

"There were memorable times with S.T.. Especially when we opened for both Guns N' Roses and Metallica in their world tour. We played in front of crowds of tens of thousands every night," he recalled, adding that his "fill-in" tour with Alice in Chains in 1993 was amazing as well.

Jimmy joined Alice Cooper in his world tour from 1995 to 1998, and filled the line-up for the Fistful of Alice in 1996 after the disbandment of S.T. in 1995 (reuniting in 1997).

Opening for Megadeth in gigs in 1992 and 1993 with S.T., Jimmy received a call from Dave Mustaine in 1995 to work on his solo effort entitled "MD-45". Mustaine called back in 1998 amidst Megadeth's Cryptic Writings tour and invited Jimmy aboard.

Jimmy filled his days after the 2002 incident with at a number of performances in drum festivals worldwide including the Modern Drummer Festival, Ultimate Drummers Weekend in Australia, and Drummer Live in the UK.

Jimmy then toured with Stonesour (Slipknot vocalist Corey Taylor's side project) in October 2002 -- filling in for the injured Joel Ekman -- and then joined guitar legend Ronnie Montrose and David Lee Roth in their gigs.

Jimmy had just finished Alice Cooper's 2008 American tour when he decided to do a clinic for Sabian Cymbals.

Jakarta was the last destination after South Korea, Beijing and Hong Kong. And it was in this city that the massive gathering of crowds shocked him.

Starting his clinic at about 8 p.m., Jimmy first played along with a heavy metal tune before shifting to a 40-minute solo. The first floor of the hall was packed from way back to the very edge of the stage, and all of those attending wore the same shocked faces and boggling eyes (veteran drummer Jeli Tobing in a front seat included).

It's preposterous to attempt to describe a drum solo, but to illustrate, Jimmy wasn't the type of person that explodes in the first minutes of his play. Like a certain type of engine that needs a longer time to warm up, Jimmy took his solo one step at a time with various rudiments.

His themed approach was highly technical and, at moments -- when audiences were stunned by the way he did his continuing double stroke rolls in one hand, while the other made various encounters with the toms and cymbals, or with the steady growl he created with his bass drum through continuous hits with the double pedals -- Jimmy showed the true colors of a world-class drummer.

And like the four arms of Shiva, the themed battering of the snare, toms and floor toms, mixed with the hissing sounds of his cymbals, blasted a symmetric avalanche -- falling steadily fast to the ground, chased by raging tornadoes with tempos that changed constantly.

"The way he managed to continuously change the tempos of his rudiments, with his feet delivering a steady groove with the double pedals at a Presto (fast tempo) and Prestissimo (very fast tempo) is just out of this world," said Farre of kOrt Magazine.

Influenced by jazz great Buddy Rich and the Beatles' Ringgo Star, Jimmy confessed his appreciation of Jazz and Latin rhythm. "People know me as a heavy metal drummer, but I grew up liking jazz, playing all types of music, and these are the things left out while others were boosted up by the media," he said.

And speed was not the essence of his play.

"It is time keeping. Speed is easy, but slow tunes are hard because in a band, we have to give that space to every other instrument to breath," Jimmy said.

After giving lectures on the importance of groove, and how to hit the cymbal properly, Jimmy ended the clinic at 9:45 with a three minute piece.

Audiences took home six giveaway cymbals from Sabian, but the most important part of the show was the lessons, and the irony of how much Sabian's local endorsed drummers had to learn.

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