Larry Nolly

Larry's musical interests started at a young age. In second grade he tried violin, following the footsteps of his grandfather, a concert violinist. That only lasted a little more than a year. Then he "fooled around" with an old guitar that was laying around the house. When that no longer held his interest he took piano lessons following the footsteps of his mother, a concert pianist. That only lasted until seventh grade when he decided to try the snare drum in the school band. But he didn't like just playing snare so he quit. He tried trumpet for a while but that didn't do it for him either. In the eighth grade a few of his friends were forming a band and his friend Danny showed him how to sit at a drum set and play a basic beat. That was it!

Larry used his Bar Mitzvah money (he had just turned 13) and bought his first drum set. It was a natural fit. That year he spent a lot of time in his living room playing his new drums along with records (Run Around Sue was his favorite). The following year Larry and a few friends formed "Little Richard and the Fantatics" which became a very popular band playing local high school dances and parties. While playing at a local radio station weekly dance around 1964 (WAMS weekly dance at the Elsmere Fire Hall) a girl came up to Larry and asked for his autograph - That was when he got hooked!

Influenced heavily by the Beatles and Ringo's style of drumming Larry auditioned for Beatlemania (the traveling show). After months of auditioning musicians in many states the producers of the show narrowed the drum position to two drummers, one in New York and Larry. According to them, although Larry looked and played the part better, the other drummer sang more like Ringo and they gave him the gig. Not to be discouraged Larry continued playing in many popular bands.

During the 1970's, 1980's and 1990's, along with playing in established bands and operating his business Drumstix (a retail drum shop), Larry was one of the most sought after drummers in the region for "fill-in" gigs - situations where the regular drummers of bands could not make the jobs so they needed someone to "fill-in" on the drums. He also became one of the leading authorities in the world on the subject of tuning drums. He authored the critically acclaimed book Drum Tuning with endorsements from many top drummers throughout the world, including another of his influences - Mitch Mitchell of the Jimi Hendrix Experience. One of Larry's all time favorite thrills was when he received a Christmas card from Mitch. They became friends a year or two earlier when they both played a concert that had the remaining members of the Jimi Hendrix Experience (Mitch and Noel Reading) play together for the first time since Jimi died. Mitch was in town for a week before the concert and he and Larry spent a lot of time together forming a friendship.

After more than five decades of playing in bands Larry has many credits to his name. Traveling in bands through the United States, Canada and the Caribbean Larry has played in bands from local to international in various styles of music. This long list of bands includes Carousel, American Revolution in Song, Kicks, Baghdad, The Charles St. Paul Show, Montana Wildaxe, Alfie Moss and Dexter Koonce, Lindsey Lee and the list goes on..... Currently Larry is living on his sailboat, travelling along the Eastern Coast of the USA and the Bahamas, sitting in on drums whenever the chance arises.

Larry uses GMS Drums, Aquarian Drum Heads, and Paiste Cymbals.