Thomas Pridgen

Pridgen's style on Bedlam in Goliath used "blistering 32nd-note full-set combinations, stunning single-stroke rolls, and blazing single bass drum patterns" along with creative and precise paradiddle technique.

Pridgen has been voted as 'Best Up and Coming Drummer' by Modern Drummer magazine.

Besides his work with The Mars Volta, he has also been involved with Christian Scott and Wicked Wisdom.

Pridgen, for some time, was working with singer Keyshia Cole as her live and session drummer and being her music director.

He also was featured alongside Tony Royster Jr.., Eric Moore, and others in drumming DVD entitled "Shed Sessions", a Gospel Chops DVD.

Thomas Armon Pridgen (born November 23, 1983) is an American drummer, best known for his role as the drummer of The Mars Volta from October 2006 until October 2009.

He is touring with rapper Residente and is the drummer for hardcore punk band Trash Talk, as well as his own project The Memorials.

In 2023 he joined Fever 333.

Pridgen won the Guitar Center Drum-Off at age nine, and at age ten was the youngest recipient for a Zildjian endorsement in the nearly 400-year history of the company.

Pridgen is also naturally left-handed, but plays the drum kit as if he is a right-hander with his kit set-up right-handed.

Pridgen has studied with David Garibaldi, Walfredo Reyes Sr., Troy Lucketta, and Curtis Nutall.

Pridgen was also the recipient of a four-year scholarship to Berklee College of Music in 1999 at the age of 15; he was the youngest musician to ever receive this scholarship.

He has played in clinics with Walfredo Reyes Jr.. and Dennis Chambers.

By his teenage years he had already done studio sessions with many Bay Area Gospel artists.

Pridgen's first non-gospel touring experience was as the drummer for The Coup, who he worked with in 2001 and 2002.

In 2006, Pridgen received a call from Omar Rodríguez-López of The Mars Volta:

"Omar asked if I wanted to come check out the band," Pridgen recalls from his home in El Cerrito, California.

"We talked on the phone for a couple of hours, and then I went to Ohio to meet them. Omar invited me to a back room, where the whole band was set up. We jammed for a good thirty minutes. He then said, 'We're going to play that groove tonight in front of everybody.' This was for a huge show in Cleveland, when the band was touring with the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

In 2007, Pridgen became the new permanent drummer for The Mars Volta.

Pridgen's first appearance was at the March 12 show in New Zealand, where the band debuted the song "Idle Tooth" which was later renamed "Wax Simulacra" for the forthcoming album.

After shows in New Zealand and Australia, The Mars Volta toured a few West Coast venues as the headliner, then entered the studio to record their fourth LP, The Bedlam in Goliath.

Pridgen was also featured on the Modern Drummer 2008 DVD with footage from his performance at the festival.

In October 2009, Pridgen left The Mars Volta.

To this day, the band has made no official statement as to the reason for the departure.

Dave Elitch subsequently filled in the drummer position for the remainder of the tour, who was then replaced by Deantoni Parks.

In December 2009, Pridgen formed another band called The Memorials with friends and former students from Berklee College of Music - Viveca Hawkins (vocals) and Nick Brewer (guitars).

By invitation of Elixir on Mute's headman Jordan Ferreira, Pridgen took part in the recording of the band's debut End of Sky (released September 1 2010).

The band's self-titled debut was released on January 18, 2011.

November 10, 2011, the band had decided upon a name, Giraffe Tongue Orchestra.

By then the supergroup was working on writing songs.

The track "Fluorescent's Unforgiving" was released via Soundcloud in November 2011.

TEN

In January 2012, it was announced that fellow former The Mars Volta drummer Jon Theodore replaced Pridgen in Giraffe Tongue Orchestra, though by March 2015, Pridgen once again became the drummer of GTO.

The Memorials

Still working on his personal project The Memorials.

His second album, Delirium, released on June 5, 2012.

Spring of 2012, teamed up with guitarist, Eric McFadden (P-Funk, The Animals, Stockholm Syndrome), and Fishbone bassist, Norwood Fisher.

phYne Entertainment produced five tracks for the new trio in a San Francisco studio.

On October 14, 2013, Mars Volta bassist Juan Alderete said on the podcast Let There Be Talk, that "He's an amazing drummer, just not a mature dude. […] One night, he got super wasted, peed on the bus, started fighting with Cedric […]."

He endorses DW Drums, Zildjian Cymbals, Evans Drumheads, Audix Microphones, and Zildjian Drumsticks (as of 2017).