Brandon Khoo is first Asian to be nominated for global drumming award
Singaporean drummer Brandon Khoo is the first Asian musician to be nominated in the Drumeo Awards, created by Drumeo, an online drumming tutorial website popular with musicians worldwide.
Khoo is nominated in the TikTok Drummer of the Year category, which recognises drummers who have a strong presence on the social media platform. He is up against other drummers from countries such as the United States and Sweden.
Drumeo, founded in 2012 by Canadian drummer Jared Falk, has 4.38 million subscribers on YouTube. According to its website, it has 100,258 active students. Khoo is an instructor on Drumeo – its first from Asia.
The nominees for the award’s big prize, Drummer of the Year, include heavyweights such as American rock band Green Day’s Tre Cool and American progressive metal band Dream Theater’s Mike Portnoy.
The winners are decided by online votes at str.sg/sMmW. Voting will close on Dec 22, and the results will be announced on Jan 30.
Khoo, who started drumming professionally in 2003, regularly posts clips on drumming lessons on his TikTok page (tiktok.com/@brandon_khoo), which has 95,300 followers.
His most popular clip, a drum tutorial posted in March, has garnered more than 1.1 million views.
The son of the late Singaporean entertainer and ventriloquist Victor Khoo, the 46-year-old is active in the live music scene and has performed for international artistes ranging from Hong Kong-born, Taiwan-based Wakin Chau to Brazilian guitarist Kiko Loureiro. He is also drummer for home-grown act Shirlyn + The UnXpected.
Brandon Khoo is also a songwriter and producer who has created songs for Singapore sports team Lion City Sailors Football Club and video game company Blizzard Entertainment South-east Asia.
Khoo tells The Straits Times that he is surprised and humbled by the nomination.
“To me, the Drumeo Awards is like the Grammy Awards for drummers, recognising the best in the industry,” he says. “My late father, being an entertainer himself, loved the Grammy Awards. Entertainment is in our blood, and I wish he could be around to witness this.”
He hopes that Singaporeans will rally and vote for him. Competition is stiff, he adds, as the other nominees include American drummer Izzy Lamberti and German drummer Raja Meissner, each of whom has 1.5 million followers on TikTok.
“But at the end of day, all drummers are winners in this competition, as the Drumeo Awards is all about the celebration of drummers and the drumming community.”
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