Terl Bryant

Artist bio

Terl Bryant is a drummer and percussionist who works extensively as a session musician, and has contributed to many top flight recordings to much critical acclaim. In his early career he was a member of the influential Christian progressive and Celtic folk-themed band Iona.

Terl currently lives in the West Sussex country side with his wife Jules and their six children (2 girls and 4 boys).


Biography
Bryant's biography in his own words:

"I recall being about 6 years old, sitting behind my dad in his sports car banging on the back of his seat whilst some groovy rock music blasted out on the radio. All of a sudden..............he pulled the car over, and in frustration shouted,” if you're going to bang on the back of my seat - DO IT IN TIME!”... from then on I was focused. I became mad about drums and got my first drum set when I was 12, I practised hard at home working out the beats on my favourite records; Deep Purple, Captain Beefheart, Bob James, Deodato, Peter Frampton, Beatles etc., and by 15 I was playing in local pubs. I moved to London aged 17, but turned down an audition for Adam and the Ants (before their huge success). At 18 I joined a Bedfordshire based called 'Stranger', which later became 'Tobruk' (remember them??). I left soon after we auditioned singer Fish (later of Marillion), who was travelling the UK looking for a band to join. Two of the band didn't want him while the bassist and I thought he was fantastic. He was obviously going places. I left the UK for California in 1981, and ended up playing and living in Newport Beach for about 4 years. I joined a band called 'The Dining Cocktails’, fronted by the fabulous Chris Gaffney. Walter Trout (Canned Heat) would sometimes come and sit in with us. I'm thankful for those years... it's probably where I developed most as player"

Terl returned to the UK in 1985 whilst touring with UK artist Steve Taylor, in 1986 he joined Peter Murphy as a member of The Hundred Men and in 1992 he teamed up with Dave Bainbridge, Dave Fitzgerald and Joanne Hogg to join the band Iona. In later years Terl has gone on to work with many other artists including Maddy Prior, Roddy Frame, John Paul Jones, Faith Hill, Matt Redman and others.

During the 1990s Terl helped establish a Christian drummers network known as "Psalm Drummers". Officially established in 1996 Psalm Drummers developed as an organisation with teams performing at events worldwide. Terl acted as a Director for the network until 2009 when he passed on the role to members of the core team now known as The Psalm Drummers Association.

Musical description
Terl Bryant's recording and touring career spans more than 30 years and he has appeared on an estimated 200 albums. He is firstly a kit player, but often incorporates the use of percussion instruments with the drum set, notably playing an hybrid frame drum of his own design called the toforan. Terl is recognized as having made a significant contribution to the development of the use of drums and percussion in context of contemporary Christian worship music.
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