Brett Sawmy’s career, like his playing has been dynamic and fluid. He began playing drums in local bands at the age of 18 around 1990, but it was with the band Ether that he came to international prominence. Ether signed a five-album contract with Parlophone records in 1996, and released their first, self-produced, album, Strange, in 1997. Strange received critical acclaim and the first two singles from the album made the Radio One play list and were big network radio hits.



His recording diary with Ether reads like a rock music Who’s Who of collaborators and musical associates, with producers John Leckie (Radiohead, Stone Roses), Roy Spong (Oasis, Shed Seven), John Cornfield (Supergrass), Hugh Jones (The Bluetones), and Al Stone (Jamiroquai, Sting) amongst others.



An explosive live act, Ether’s touring diary includes artists as diverse as Meredith Brooks, Alisha’s Attic, Baby Bird, Ben Folds Five, Mansun, Stereophonics and Catatonia and the band gigged extensively throughout the UK, Europe and America.



TV work includes documentaries about the band by BBC and HTV, live shows in Switzerland for MTV Europe, and a range of regional and national music and entertainment shows. Add to this Brett’s experience in radio sessions, video shoots, interviews and promotional work and, there’s the whole package - a music industry all-rounder at the tender age of 30.



But the word about Brett began to spread in the drumming world before all this happened: he negotiated a sponsorship deal with the world’s leading cymbal manufacturer, Zildjian, in 1994 - one of the youngest drummers in the UK to receive sponsorship at the time. He went on to secure endorsements from Sonor drums (he can be seen rubbing shoulders with the likes of Derrick McKenzie (Jamiroquai), Gota Yashiki (Simply Red), Steve Alexander (Spice Girls) in the Sonor ads in Rhythm magazine), Evans heads, Zildjian sticks and Protechtor drum cases. He’s also demonstrated for Roland UK, showcasing their groundbreaking TD6 kit.



It comes as no surprise then that Brett is a regular on the pages of Rhythm. He’s been the subject of interviews and tour diaries and his feature article, A Matter of Credit, about the problems drummers face getting recognition for their contribution to music, voiced the concerns of many players.



Ether split in 2000, before their second album, The Answer To It All, could be released. But Brett’s desire to share his knowledge and experience of the business found expression in his work as a Mentor for the New Deal for Musicians and he passes on his drumming skills on to up-and-coming drummers as a Drum Tutor for Community Music Wales and Percussion House (Cardiff). More recently, as a Tutor with the Prince’s Trust he’s guided young musicians from all over Wales through a punishing week long schedule of writing, rehearsal and performance in three Prince’s Trust ‘Rock Schools’. As lead Tutor in the Rock School in Rhayader, Mid Wales he met the Prince himself.



Whatever the situation whether it be in workshops for Sonor drums, sessions, jam nights and clinics - Brett always seeks to promote music, musicians (especially drummers), and the music industry and communicates the benefits and joy of music in his playing. You may have seen him already Brett was the house drummer on BBC Wales’s satirical show, Large, and represented our Celtic brothers Scotland in S4C’s Six Drummers series of trailers for the Six Nations Tournament in 2002.