Brian Tichy


Brian Tichy, is an American musician, songwriter and record producer, best known as having been the drummer for Whitesnake, Billy Idol, Foreigner, Sass Jordan, and Ozzy Osbourne. He was the drummer of Whitesnake from 2010 to 2013. Tichy began playing drums at age eight and started playing guitar at age 12. His earliest influences include Kiss with Peter Criss as his main influence, Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden with Nicko McBrain, Aerosmith, AC/DC, and Van Halen. His surname means silent in Czech and Slovak. In 2015, he became a full-time member of and The Dead Daisies.

Career

Since attending Berklee College of Music from 1986 until 1990, Tichy has toured/recorded with a multitude of artists including Billy Idol, Ozzy Osbourne, Seether, Velvet Revolver, Foreigner, Pride & Glory, Glenn Hughes, Sass Jordan, Slash's Snakepit, China Rain, Whitesnake and most recently The Dead Daisies. According to his Twitter feed from January 16, 2020, Brian will be playing drums with Lynch Mob along with George Lynch, Michael Devin, and Oni Logan through most of 2020 on their 30th anniversary tour of the album Wicked Sensation.

Ball

While Tichy has primarily toured and recorded with others playing drums, he has fronted his own band, Ball, in which he sings and plays guitar. Due to the demise of his record label, Ball’s American Aggression CD never was formally released. Ball did manage to release a CD, The Grand Human Disaster Scenario in May 1999. This CD contains what were essentially the demos that led to the record deal with Time Bomb at the end of 1999. His increasing role as co-songwriter with Billy Idol that started at the end of 2003 limited his time to focus on Ball.

Billy Idol

The Idol/Tichy writing partnership sparked the recording of Billy Idol's first CD since 1993. Devil's Playground was recorded in 2004 and contained 8 Idol/Tichy tracks. The CD was released in March 2005 and they toured for the remainder of the year.
While writing in 2006 for a follow up Idol CD, Tichy and Idol recorded a Christmas album. This was done on their own, in Idol and Tichy's rehearsal studio with Tichy performing drums, guitar, and bass, as well as engineering and co-producing. Happy Holidays by Idol was released in November 2006 through Best Buy and in Europe.

Foreigner

Tichy joined Foreigner in 1998 and remained until 2000. He rejoined briefly in 2007 substituting for Jason Bonham. He then returned from 2008 until 2010, recording the album Can't Slow Down. He returned for one show in summer 2011, substituting for Mark Schulman, who had recently lost his father. Tichy rejoined Foreigner for the month of August 2012 for live performances, replacing the departed Schulman once again.

Recent projects

Tichy filled in for Seether drummer John Humphrey in April 2007, toured with Foreigner through spring of 2009, and recently completed a multi-year involvement with Billy Idol. He has written music for television and film, and recorded with European female metal singer Marya Roxx.
On September 25, 2010, Tichy organized, produced and played in the drummer tribute "Bonzo, The Groove Remains the Same", celebrating the 25th anniversary of the death of Led Zeppelin's John Bonham. In 2011, Tichy formed S.U.N. as guitarist, with vocalist Sass Jordan, bassist Michael Devin, and drummer Tommy Stewart. In 2014, Tichy joined 'Sweet & Lynch', featuring Michael Sweet, George Lynch and James Lomenzo.

Whitesnake

Tichy was announced as the new drummer for Whitesnake on June 18, 2010. After several years of worldwide touring Tichy quit Whitesnake on January 4, 2013 as he planned to focus more time on S.U.N.

Speed bag

Tichy became a speed bag enthusiast while on tour with Foreigner and quickly got with some of the best speed baggers around to learn and increase his own skills. During the 2009–10 tour with Foreigner, Tichy hung several speed bag wall units inside the bands equipment truck and created the infamous "Speed Bag Truck", hosting area speed bag enthusiasts from various areas when the band played in their town. Some of the best speed bag talent in the U.S. joined Tichy in the truck before concerts, punching away. Soon after, he began promoting his own punching skills via his YouTube videos for both physical fitness, and also as a musical instrument. He always planned to incorporate the speed bag into his drumkit, which was first unveiled during his appearance on "That Metal Show" on VH-1 classic, in April 2012, using a UBS1 freestanding floor frame from . This is the first known inclusion of a speed bag by a professional drummer as a rhythm instrument in a major public appearance and is an important date in speed bag history.

Discography and touring

;With Something Unto Nothing
;With Dead Daisies
;With Billy Idol
instruments performed by Tichy except keys by Derek Sherinian
;With Derek Sherinian
  • 2003: Black Utopia
  • 2004: Mythology
  • 2006: Blood of the Snake
  • 2009: Molecular Heinosity
;With Kenny Wayne Shepherd
  • 2004: The Place You're In
;With Ball
  • 1999: Grand Human Disaster Scenario
  • 2000: American Aggression
  • 2001: A Study in Persistence
  • 2003: Bleed Defeat
;With Gilby Clarke
  • 1998: Rubber
  • 2002: Swag
  • 2007: Gilby Clarke; Best Of
  • Various years of touring US
;With Vinnie Moore
  • 1996: Out of Nowhere
  • Toured '91 and '92, opened 10 shows for Rush
;With Ana Sidel
  • 2005: "A Solas..."
  • recorded
;With Nicklebag:
  • 1996: 12 Hits & a Bump
  • 1997: Mas Feedback
  • Japan and US touring
;With Stevie Salas
  • 1993: Presents: The Electric Pow Wow
  • 1994: Back From The Living
  • 1996: Anthology 1987–1994
  • 1997: Le Bootleg
  • 1997: Seoul Power
  • 1998: The Sometimes Almost Never Was
  • 2001: Shapeshifter
  • Various years of touring Japan and Europe
;With Pride & Glory
  • 1994: Pride & Glory
  • Toured US, Europe, Japan
;With B'z
  • 2000: "Juice"
  • 2000: Eleven
  • 2003: Big Machine
  • 2019: New Love
;With TMG
  • 2004: TMG I
;With Sass Jordan
;With Tommy Shaw and Jack Blades
  • 2007: Shaw/Blades: "Influences" recorded in 2004
;With Jack Blades
  • 2010/TBD: 1/2 of drums on forthcoming solo album
;For MasterSource Music Catalog:
  • Since 2000: Chief rock songwriter. MasterSource gets music placed in TV and movies. Tichy's include;
Law & Order, ', The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Supergroup, The Osbournes, Punk'd, Pimp My Ride, and countless others.
;Other projects
Other artists Tichy has toured with: