User:Toneye/Gustavo "TavoDrums" Forero

Gustavo "TavoDrums" Forero (born April 12, 1979 in Bogotá, Colombia) is a Colombian drummer and session artist best known for playing with Darath, Pulzo, Kraken, Angelo and TBCB.

History
Tavo Forero always knew he wanted to be a musician. When he was 8 years old, he started listening to legendary hard rock bands from the 80’s such as Bon Jovi, Guns N’ Roses, and Def Leppard. He never sat behind a drum set to play, but he listened carefully while watching an older schoolmate play, and Tavo played air drums to mimic what he was doing. He started his music career by playing Guitar at age 10. He never took any lessons and learned to play by ear but it wasn’t until he was 14 that he sat behind a drum set for the first time. He was invited by some friends to play bass guitar in their band, but the drummer never showed up for rehearsal. Tavo sat behind the drums and instantly started to recall the “air drumming” he had mastered over the years. During that session, the band played “Appetite for Destruction” by Guns N’ Roses in its entirety as it was one of their favorite albums at the time. He even continued to impress his new band mates by playing the intro to the song “You Could Be Mine”. To this date, Tavo’s friends and former band mates who were present that day still question it being his first time ever playing drums.

From that point on, he started learning techniques, rudiments and independence putting guitar as his second instrument. Tavo took a year off of high school and traveled to the United States to learn English for 6 months. During the second half of the year, he went back to Colombia to take private lessons with Italian drummer, Roberto Orru. This was Tavo’s only formal training on drums.

Tavo soon started playing in local bands around Bogotá including Rupunzell and Sha-i. In 1997, Tavo met musician/producer Jorge “Pyngwi” Holguin. A year later, he joined Pyngwi’s band Darath. With these three bands, he was able to play in front of crowds of thousands at Rock al Parque, known as one of the largest music festivals in Latin America.

In 1998, fresh out of high school, Tavo decided to pursue a degree in music from Universidad Javeriana, in Bogota, but quickly realized that by studying music formally his drums were being left aside and after just one semester he decided to try at a different school hoping that their program would allow him to focus on his drums. He then enrolled at Universidad “El Bosque” and during his audition he was told he was playing too loud and interrupting other classes in session. Disappointed, he continued to attend class for the rest of the year but concentrated his efforts at home playing drums and improving his technique. At the end of the year he decided not to return to school and continued his path as a self taught musician.

The members of Darath decided to change their musical direction, and in 1999 after constant touring and recording demo’s with Darath, Rupunzell and Sha-i, Pulzo was formed which lead to Tavo’s first real studio recording experience. HTG+ was the title of their debut album which was well received in the Bogotá music scene. Pulzo toured around Colombia for about two years to promote their album.

Recording
In 2000, Pyngwi created Artico Records, and Tavo became the studio’s resident drummer. During his time at Artico Records, Tavo was able to put under his belt over 20 full length albums, and over 500 songs as a session drummer for independent and up-and-coming artists in the local scene, with musical styles ranging from Colombian folklore and latin to heavy metal. It was during this time that he acquired a great sense of musicianship that allows him to quickly learn by ear and play songs in diverse styles. It’s been noted that in many cases, Tavo has been able to listen to a song one time and immediately record the entire drum track in the first take.

Kraken and TBCB
Aside from his work as a session drummer, and in an effort to reunite with Darath, in 2003 Tavo, along with his longtime friends Pyngwi and Daniel Cadena came about the opportunity to join iconic Colombian heavy metal band, Kraken. Tavo went on to tour headlining shows in front of thousands of fans throughout Colombia and Venezuela for over a year. It was during this time that Tavo met Carlos Reyes, the incoming bass player replacing Daniel Cadena. Carlos offered Tavo a permanent position in Bogota’s blues/country oriented rock band TBCB. Due to conflicting schedules Tavo decided to part ways with Kraken and continued to tour local clubs all over Bogota and several cities in Colombia in preparation for what would become TBCB’s debut album “The Black Cat Bone”. Praised by critics and media, the album was ranked among the top selling CD’s in the most prestigious music stores in Bogotá and other major cities in Colombia. TBCB continued touring for most of 2005 and 2006. In November of 2006 TBCB was nominated in four categories at the Shock Magazine Awards. They were the recipients of Record of the Year and Best Live Act, both selected by popular vote.

2006 - 2010
At the end of 2006, Tavo decided to take a break from bands and studio work and moved to the United States. For over three years Tavo remained inactive in the music scene but continued playing drums at home focusing on his technique and tempo.

In 2010 he received a call from his friend and producer Pyngwi asking him to join as part of the production team for the second album of award-winning Colombian rock band Don Tetto, “Mienteme Prometeme”. He had collaborated with Don Tetto on their debut album “Lo Que No Sabias” back in 2006. He accepted the offer but this time the sessions would take place at Criteria/The Hit Factory studios in Miami. As a drum coach he played a key role in the production and recording of the drum tracks for the album and was asked to play on two of the songs included on the CD. This served to remind Tavo that his true passion is session work and decided to get back in the active music scene.

Current Projects
In the summer of 2010 he joined the newly formed rock band The Gilroy’s with former members of Black Eyed Soul and The Reactions. They are currently working on the production of their debut album which is expected to be released in the summer of 2011. Tavo is also a permanent member of established cover band Green Light known throughout Florida’s Space Coast.

Awards and recognition

 * SHOCK Music Awards "Record of the Year" with (2006)
 * SHOCK Music Awards "Best Live Act" with (2006)
 * Rolling Stones Magazine (2006)
 * Rock Al Parque Colombia (2005)

Discography
coming soon...