Dennis Leeflang

"I travel the globe and meet so many players! I am so impressed with a young drummer I have had the privilege to meet. Dennis is such a tremendous talent. His maturity in his approach to drumming is very creative. Combined with a strong musical standard secures himself as a talent to listen for in the future! Keep your ears open..." - Dom Famularo
Born and raised in the west of Holland, Dennis Leeflang (pronounced "Lafe-long") was never the ordinary Dutchman. As a young teenager he had soon dedicated himself to his one and only passion of playing the drums in a band. Several successful projects in his home country included bands such as Within Temptation, Sun Caged and Epica. His dedication soon drew the attention of local press and national and international musician magazines, who were following his every movement. At age 20, Dennis was not only gigging all over Europe, but also teaching part-time.
When invited to tour with New York's craziest guitar virtuoso Bumblefoot, a.k.a. Ron Thal (Guns N' Roses), in 2002, Dennis soon realized how small Holland, and how big the rest of the world and its opportunities are. In 2004, the 25 year old drummer exchanged wind mills for skyscrapers and moved to New York City, carrying with him merely his cymbals and some clothes.
Only days after his arrival in The Big Apple, Dennis found himself teaching and playing with local bands daily. Now able to commit himself to working with the man on his home territory, Dennis became Bumblefoot's steady skinsman, which enabled him to record and tour with the Foot on a regular basis. This did not go unnoticed by his motherland's press and a handful of drum companies. Dennis would soon join forces with several companies in the form of endorsement agreements, enabling him to travel all over the globe to perform clinics and workshops and exchange knowledge with like-minded drum fanatics. Around the same time, Dennis was voted high in the readers polls of his home-country’s drummers magazine Slagwerkkrant.
In New York, Dennis has been studying with the great Dom Famularo, as well as accepting projects in various unfamiliar genres with some world renown artists and producers, forcing him to develop a great sense of diversity, dynamics and technique, as well as a fresh approach to creativity. Because of close and numerous production collaborations in New York as well as in Europe in the past, added to deep-rooted interest in recording techniques, Dennis also starts getting more involved in the production side of his recording sessions, and would soon be (co-)producing his various bands and projects.
Dennis claims to be a band drummer, first and foremost. Playing with as many people as possible is simply a valuable learning experience for the eager musician, always on the lookout for "that one band", but never limiting himself to being involved in few projects. Whether it'd be as a drummer, teacher, producer or event organizer.
While possessing over a great knowledge of technique, demonstrated with his various projects in the past, Dennis feels like a fish in water when he's asked to lay down a solid groove. As some of his main drumming influences, Dennis names Nicko McBrain, Dave Abbruzzese, Stewart Copeland, Chad Smith, Jeff Porcaro and Josh Freese.
www.DennisLeeflang.com