One man, six plastic buckets, one of the most famous drum performances of all time! Young Aussie talent Gordo Drummer scored a 216 million view video thanks to his brilliantly creative performance at a Sydney shopping center. YouTuber William Wei captured the performance, which fascinated viewers due to Gordo’s unique approach to drumming, rapid-fire technique, and boundless creativity. Gordo definitively proved that it’s the musician, not the gear, as all he needed to capture the world’s attention was six buckets.
Gordo used a combo of striking the pavement and the different pitches of the buckets to create complex beats. He also uses novel techniques such as lifting the buckets up with his feet to create a booming, bass drum-like sound. It also doesn’t hurt that he’s just a monster player, who can effortlessly fire off rapid-fire runs on his humble kit without breaking a sweat. The Music Man readers will def want to tune into the climax of Gordo’s performance from 3:30 onward, which viewers kept replaying again and again.
Wei captured lightning in a bottle when he came across Gordo’s street performance, as it became the most viewed drum solo on all of YouTube. The spontaneous capture gained more hits than even the most popular drum solos by legends such as Chad Smith and Danny Carey. Fans responded in a big way, adding comments such as “Seriously deep respect to this guy. Made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end” and “This guy’s amazing. There are a lot of similar videos on YouTube but he blows them out of the water!”
Gordo has also produced hit uploads on his own YouTube channel, Gordo Drummer. The Aussie sticksman’s most popular upload to date is a 51 million view performance that he delivered using just a single plastic bucket. It’s remarkable how much mileage Gordo can get out of just one bucket, as by strategically lifting the bucket and striking different areas of the bucket and pavement, he can create a convincing recreation of the sounds of a full drum kit.
Gordo Drummer is an Australian musician who became known worldwide for his bucket drumming. He can also occasionally be seen playing other instruments on his channel, such as a full drum kit or handpan. The Music Man readers might be interested to hear that Gordo had not even started his own YouTube channel yet when William Wei’s video of his bucket performance went viral in October 2013. Clearly, Gordo saw the potential after the video took off, and he began uploading his performances to his own channel in December of the same year.