Biography
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Currently based in South Africa Georg
Voros is one of the country’s most accomplished
drummers, teachers and clinicians. He is also an author.
With a wealth of international experience
he has worked with signed pop/rock bands achieving chart
success, toured and recorded with notable artists, taught
formally in schools and appeared at many drum events
and clinics. He currently runs a busy private
teaching studio in Johannesburg and endorses Mapex drums,
Sabian cymbals, Evans drumheads and Vater drumsticks.
GETTING STARTED EARLY....
From refugee Hungarian parents, Georg was born in Swaziland and later grew up in South Africa. He started his affair with drumming at an early age: "I guess I was around six years old when my parents took me to a wedding where this band was playing. I can’t remember a thing about them but what I clearly recall is the drummer’s kit. It was a three piece – bass drum, snare and one tom, hi hat and one cymbal. Strangely enough it was the cymbal that turned me onto drums. At that time I didn’t even know it was called a cymbal, but realized one thing for sure, I was totally mesmerized by the sound of this |
strange object. Bssssh … I can still hear the sound in my head and reckon it was probably an old 20" crash/ride or similar. From that day onward I was hooked. As a result, my parents bought me a toy drum which I banged the hell out until it didn’t resemble a drum anymore. My older sister reckons I used to play it day and night. Little did I know that this was the beginning of many hours of practice which I would eventually put in over the coming years?” |
The toy drum progressed to his mom’s pots and pans, to eventually his first drum kit which he bought at the age of 11 for the glorious amount of R25 (around $35 in today’s terms). He bought the drums from a friend at school and so Georg and his childhood buddy Fred (who played guitar in their first band and who now has a Masters degree in classical guitar) traipsed across town to pick up this drum set. They caught four buses to pick up this weird contraption of a kit. As Georg recalls “the kit was a brand called Beverley and had an enormous military size bass drum which had no legs, so I had to use bricks to keep it upright. The bass drum pedal would only play once as it didn’t return, so I would play the first downbeat of the song and then that would be it, no more bass drum. The hi-hats would turn inside out if I hit them too hard. The snare drum was the really old style that had claws which would clamp onto the rim (like bass drum claws today). Of course it had calf skins and we proudly painted our bands name on the front of the bass drum. Man, I loved that kit!” He eventually got his first real set of drums which his parents bought him after they realized just how serious he was about drumming.
Georg was the drummer and also the singer in his first band ‘Mothers Little Helpers’ (aptly named after the song by the Rolling Stones). His early drumming influences included Carl Palmer (ELP), Simon Kirke (Free), Charlie Watts (The Stones), Alan White (Yes), Clive Bunker (Jethro Tull), Dave Mason (Pink Floyd) and Mike Shrieve (Santana). He played his first gig at the age of 12 at a friend’s party. One memory he recalls from this is having no carpet under the kit and having to catch the bass drum in every song as it crept forward. “Live and learn!”.
When Georg turned 16 he got his first semi-pro job in a Greek restaurant named The Red Fez playing two nights a week. All the band members were twice his age. This turned out to be a fantastic learning experience as he was exposed to many new styles of music including odd time signatures in the Greek tunes. He stayed at the restaurant for 18 months gaining invaluable performance knowledge and experience. After the restaurant he played in various rock bands before joining the South African Army band, which proved to be another great learning ‘Academy’. Here he was exposed to orchestral work which honed his reading chops; played in the jazz ensemble, learned how to play mallet instruments such as Marimba and Xylophone, adjudicated and taught school marching bands and become the lead side drummer.
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TURNING PRO...
He then turned professional by securing
the gig in a high class cabaret dinner club called ‘Sardi’s
by Night’ playing five nights a week. He
would practice all day and then play at night. This
became his routine for the next year before moving onto
the 'Top of the Royal' which at that time was Durban’s
premier cabaret venue. Here he backed South African
as well as international acts. Very shortly after getting
this gig he got the call to join ‘e’Void’,
which became the biggest band in South Africa in the
early 80’s. Together with the two Windrich
brothers they formulated a sound which South Africa
had never heard before. This was Georg’s
first experience in constructing his own drum parts
to original music. It also proved to be a highly inspirational
time and the precursor to him eventually writing his
own material in years to come.
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After a period of 18 months Georg left
the band to work with award winning solo artist Neill
Solomon and his band Bazaar. This version of Neill’s
many units disbanded early 1984 which led Georg to departing
for the UK. Shortly prior to this Georg missed
out on a great opportunity to very nearly audition for
UK prog rock band Marillion. He sent off a demo
tape when he heard they were auditioning new drummers
but as the letter from Roundhouse Productions stated
“unfortunately your tape arrived six weeks too
late”. The Melody Maker in which he saw
the ad used to get to South Africa six weeks after publication
date.
THE FIRST UK EXPERIIENCE...
Georg’s first trip to the UK proved to be an interesting experience: He played with various rock bands and a jazz/rock outfit called Teeth which comprised some of London’s leading session musicians. He also got a call from a band called UFO. They had heard his drumming on some demo songs which he had recorded with a band called Century. As Georg recalls, “I was based in London and didn’t even know where Cardiff was in those days. UFO had just broken up and the guys wanted me to go to Cardiff to audition for a UFO splinter group. I can’t even remember which member of the band called me but I was actually quite blasé about the call as I thought I this would happen all the time. Ahh… the price of young arrogance.”
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RETURNING TO SOUTH AFRICA... FOR
A SHORT STINT
Georg returned to South Africa in 1985
after his then girlfriend Lynne who he later married,
and is still married to, experienced health problems.
Yearning to return to the UK, the next three years in
South Africa proved uneasy. Never really settling he
did however in this period play with a high profile
top 40 band called Wizard - his one and only experience
in this area. In 1988 he returned to the UK to join
two friends who had secured a publishing and record
deal. The band Wozani was Georg’s first taste
of breaking into more of a major market. Wozani experienced
worthy success in recording an album, played good shows
and enjoying a sizeable fan base. The band eventually
disbanded due to the then rather high anti-apartheid
feelings towards anything South African in the UK -
even though Wozani was highly integrated with both black
and white band members.
LIFE IN THE UK... TOURS, AWARDS,
PUBLISHING...
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The next 13 years in the UK proved to be very busy
and varied. A look at Georg’s many Credits over
this period can viewed HERE.
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In 1995 Georg released his first book entitled
Rhythm of the Head. Endorsed by drummers
such as Carl Palmer, Bill Bruford, Steve White, Gary Husband
and Virgil Donati this motivational and inspirational work
has positively affected many drummers around the world. The
book has recently been completely revised and updated with
new content and the Foreword contributed by Dom Famularo.
This new edition was re-released in the latter part of 2009.
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RETURNING TO SOUTH AFRICA... ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Georg returned to South Africa in 2003
and has accomplished much in this time period. Aside
from live performances and various recording sessions
he managed to co-found South Africa’s first magazine
for drummers drums&percussionSA, co-founded
South Africa’s first major drumming event The
Johannesburg Drumfest and was the first South African
drummer to undertake a double drum clinic tour with
Dom Famularo. He has played at drum events with drummers
such as Jojo Mayer and Marc Minnemann. He is also the
first drummer in South Africa to undertake a six date
drum clinic tour - the tour was aptly named the OUTREACH
drum clinic tour.
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Georg is currently highly involved
in education via his in-demand and busy drum school,
clinics and workshops. He is one of South Africa's most
active and sought after drum clinicians and educators,
making regular appearances at major drumming events,
clinics and schools. His focus is always to inspire
and impart knowledge, and to give back to the drumming
community. In August 2009 Georg became the first person
(in the world) to sit the new Rockschool (Trinity College
of Music London) Licentiate Music Performance Exam.
The level is equivalent to a BA degree in Music. Georg
passed with Distinction - the highest level awarded
for this exam .
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THE FUTURE...THE WORLD.COM BAND
He is preparing to record his first
solo album in 2010 using various top musicians and working
with award winning engineer and producer Peter Pearlson.
Georg is now also involved with library music
for radio and TV focusing mainly in the drums and percussion
genre.
Georg has contributed Pro Tips and
the Foreword for a soon to be published book entitled
'Breaking the Sound Barrier - 1' written by top US sound
engineer Rob Gainey. The book is to be published by
Hal Leonard Publishing and features information supplied
by artists, producers and engineers who have worked
with the likes of Stevie Wonder, Aerosmith, Frank Zappa,
Asia, Great White and many more. Check out Georg's artist
profile on the books website at www.btsb1.com
Georg has dedicated the last few years
to developing technique. This was brought about by time
spent with drummers such as Dom Famularo and Jojo Mayer
and has resulted in him becoming South Africa’s
technique guru, imparting knowledge on specialist techniques
such as the Moeller and Gladstone methods for hands,
and the Heel/toe method and natural Hop methods for
feet.
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In 2008 Georg became the first official Mapex drums endorsee
in Africa. He also endorses Sabian Cymbals, Vater drumsticks,
Evans drumheads and most recently Roland electronic percussion.
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