Metal Drummer Spotlight: Philippe Tyrant Boucher

We are now in the month of May, and I wanted to touch base with a drummer who has been a part of several amazing bands, and has been heard playing drums on albums like Le dernier crépuscule by Chthe’ilist, and Earthborn Evolution by Beyond Creation. I had a chance to meet Philippe while he was on tour with Beyond Creation on the Infernus tour supporting Hate Eternal, with other bands on the tour being Misery Index, and Rivers of Nihil.

1)     So , Earthborn Evolution came out towards the end of 2014, however 2015 your band Beyond Creation did a great amount of touring. I can say it was very cool to see you guys live for my first time on Oct 27th for the Infernus tour. What was it like to be playing that many dates with   fellow drummers Adam Jarvis, Hannes Grossman, and Dylan Potts. For me that was a killer tour in regards to drumming. What was it like for you?

It was amazing, one of the craziest tours I did and honestly, each band and each drummer was very nice with me. I love Adam, Hannes and Dylan’s work, they are absolutely great drummer and they all have a good personality. We had so much funny moments and crazy nights on this tour, I’ll always remember it!

2)    While Beyond Creation made some big waves with Earthborn, Chthe’ilist put out   Le dernier crépuscule which in my opinion was also a killer release. 7 songs of some really dark, brutal tech death metal, is there any chance there will be any touring in support for this release?

I hope to play more shows with Chthe’ilist because I really like this band. It feels good to play in an old school style of death metal; this genre is one of my favorite. I’m really busy with Beyond Creation so it’s kind of hard to book shows but everything is possible. We plan to do more shows near the end of the year or in the next one.

3)     What about the other bands you are a part of, is there anything in the works for new material?

Yes of course, there’s a lot of work in progress! When I’m back from tours or shows with Beyond, I work on my other projects, especially Incandescence, it is my main project and accomplishment. I withdraw myself from the surrounding world, I follow my thoughts: I can do whatever I want in this band. I like to put some grooves and a little technicality in it even if it’s black metal music. I play the drums, guitars, bass and my very good friend is doing the vocals. We have a first album that we released back in the end of 2013. We just finished all the recordings for our second one. It might be release at the end of the year, I really look forward for this one to come out!

Décombres is more of a low-profile black metal project. I do the instrumental part as well as the vocals. I didn’t do any live performance yet and it pleases me like that. I released my first album and now I’m currently working on a second one. Stay tuned!

4)     Based on your drumming, you can play some really impressive and precise technical drumming, what are some of your influences? I have to assume that hailing from the Quebec area that Flo Mounier could be one of them. Who else influenced you and your style?

Yes of course, Flo Mounier is probably the drummer who inspired me the most throughout the years. I am a fan of his intensity and the grooves that he creates. When I began to drums, my real first influence was Mike Portnoy. I appreciated his energy. Although, if I can talk of recent drummers, I would say that Frost (1349, Satyricon) inspired me a lot for extreme drumming. Hannes Grossnan is a great one too, George Kollias, Trey Williams (Dying Fetus), John Dolmayan (System of a down), John Longstreth (Origin), Buddy Rich, Tim Alexander (Primus), Inferno (Behemoth, Azarath), Patrice Hamelin (Martyr, Gorguts) and probably many more, are all inspiration.

5)     From what I can count you are playing the drums in a total of four bands, are there any other projects that you are working on that we might hear about in the near future?

From now, I’m alright with all these bands/projects haha. I recorded the new album of Vengeful, a death metal band from Montreal, it will be out soon. Bands are asking me for sessions and studio collaborations so you might hear from me a little bit more. Maybe someday I would like to start another project, something with a tiny touch of metal, something progressive with a taste of funk like a mix of Primus/Mastodon. Let’s be honest, this is really far from happening because I’m really busy with all the ideas I have for my current bands/projects.

6)     Aside from metal, what other styles of music do you enjoy playing?

I really like to play funk, prog, tribal, blues, rock. When I have time to play alone, I like to create some grooves that couldn’t work inside my bands, I like to push my creativity towards completely other genres.

7)     Any big plans for touring in 2016, or any big festivals that your bands will be playing?

We plan to do more tours for sure! Although, there’s nothing I can confirm yet.

8)     I find that more and more metal drummers are doing skype lessons, or dvds, digital videos. Is this something that you might entertain in the near future?

Yes of course, it’s hard to make it happens with all my projects but it’s certainly something that I want to start. To teach and to transmit my passion to others is something that I want to experience in my life.

So there you have it, Philippe is a really cool guy that plays some mean drums, and with past bands like First Fragment, and then current bands Beyond Creation, Chthe’ilist, Incandescance, and Décombres. His drumming is sure to impress many who have listened to any of these bands.

some live footage of Philippe