Biography
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Born
8 August 1967 (age 56)
Shane Gaalaas is a critically acclaimed drummer and solo artist.
Shane grew up in the small town of Innisfail, Alberta - not exactly Rock Central but not something that stopped this third generation Canadian of Norwegian decent from being consumed by music early on. He began playing guitar at age nine and picked up the drums a year later spending countless hours practicing.
In 1987, he enrolled at Grant MacEwan Music College in Edmonton, Alberta to study jazz, percussion, and piano, and for the next three years toured extensively with Canadian circuit bands. Throughout 1991 Shane recorded and toured with guitarist/producer Paul Dean.
In 1993 Shane moved to Los Angeles to study at the Musician's Institute (P.I.T.), from which he graduated with Vocational Honors and the 'Rock Drummer of The Year' award a year later. It did not take long for Shane to land a drum gig with Swedish guitar virtuoso Yngwie Yngwie Malmsteen in time for the recording of the 'Magnum Opus' album. Extensive touring followed throughout the US, Japan, and Europe, and when Malmsteen went on hiatus in 1995, Shane, along with bassist Barry Sparks, moved on to the Michael Schenker Group, Vinnie Moore, and eventually legendary German guitar master, Uli Jon Roth (ex-Scorpions).
It was during his MSG stint when Shane first crossed paths with guitarist/producer Jeff Kollman at a Phoenix rehearsal studio. The duo connected instantly and have been in each other's musical lives ever since via a number of projects and albums, such as highly acclaimed hard fusioneers Cosmosquad, $ign of 4, featuring UFO vocalist Phil Mogg, the 'Voice of Rock', Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Trapeze) and his HTP off-shoot with former Rainbow singer Joe Lynn Turner, as well as the yet-to-be unveiled Crumb Bros., an eclectic retro alt rock outfit. On the other end of the spectrum, Shane became one of the driving forces behind L.A. extreme metal foursome Diesel Machine.
Shane's musical life took yet another unexpected turn when he was approached to audition for Japanese megastars B'z and eventually brought in alongside legendary bassist Billy Sheehan (David Lee Roth, Mr.Big) to provide the bottom end on the band's 2002 tour, which was highlighted by a co-headlining show in Tokyo with Rock'n'Roll Hall of Famers, Aerosmith, in celebration of the Soccer World Championships. Shane has since become a much valued addition in the B'z camp, appearing on 3 DVDs, 3 albums and countless singles.
It was in Japan during his time off between gigs when Shane began to lay the foundation to what is one of his proudest achievements yet - his first ever solo album, 'Primer', written, recorded, and performed by Shane himself who handles drums, bass, lead and rhythm guitars, keyboards as well as lead vocals (B'z vocalist Koshi Inaba (Koshi Inaba) contributes harmonica on the song 'Time to Feed') and released in early 2004.
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