Latest Drum News
Drummer John Hinch, who played on Judas Priest’s debut album, 1974’s “Rocka Rolla”, has died. He was 73 years old.
Hinch died on 29 April 2021, after falling ill the previous day. Tributes included that paid by Halford, who stated, “His style was strong, direct and unique. I’ll be blasting Rocka Rolla today!” KK Downing also paid tribute, saying, “John was always so dependable and did everything to the best of his ability, including his drumming which looking back can only be described as faultless.”
He played in the band Hiroshima from 1972 to 1973 with vocalist Rob Halford who later became the front man for Judas Priest. In May 1973 guitarist K.K. Downing and bassist Ian Hill, the founding members of Judas Priest, were looking for other musicians to complete the line-up for their band, after vocalist Alan Atkins and various temporary drummers had left to pursue other musical projects. They approached Halford and Hinch after they saw them playing live with Hiroshima. Hinch was reportedly dismissed from Priest in 1975 over musical differences and personal conflicts, particularly with Tipton.
Hinch’s many drumming styles include swing, jazz and rock. Hinch always used traditional jazz-rock drum kits with a snare drum, single bass drum, single tom-tom, and single floor tom, this was in contrast to his numerous successors who used big kits and equipment.
After his dismissal from Priest Hinch decided to pursue a career in musical management, working with Jameson Raid, Uli Jon Roth, Fashion, Steel, The Bureau, and Zeno to name a few.
Hinch was married from July 1987 to April 2010 to Jane Dayus (host of Wedding SOS). They had a son, Fraser, who is a TV movie director.
Sources: Wikipedia and Blabbermouth
