Brian Tichy grew up in New Jersey on a healthy dose of hard rock. He’s had an obsession with drums and loud guitar since he was a kid. The fire was lit by Kiss records and his dad showing him the riff to ‘Day Tripper’. After many years of dedication and practice by incessantly playing along to his favorite records as well as being in high school bands and taking years of private lessons, Tichy refined his drum and guitar skills by attending Berklee College Of Music, sweating it out for 3 years in the dormitory practice “sheds”.
In the midst of playing in a multitude of bands over the past 30 years, Tichy also had his own band, BALL, in which he played guitar, sang and wrote the tunes. They released their debut CD in Japan in 1999 but the US CD never came out due to distribution problems that sunk the label. Since 1990, Tichy has also managed to tour and/or record with the likes of B’z (2019 tour), WASP (2018), The Dead Daisies (2013-2017), Don Felder, Geoff Tate’s Queensryche (2013-2014) Whitesnake (2010-2013), Foreigner (’98-’00, ’09-10, ‘17), Billy Idol (’01-’09, also was Idol’s writing partner from ’04-’09), Ozzy Osbourne (2000), and many others.
Since Sept. ’08, Tichy has gone on to become a speed bag guru and one of the world’s only Speed Bag-punch drummers. Tichy is also the founder of the ever growing and ever popular “celebration events” he thought up back in 2010 with the Bonzo Bash. These celebration events now include Randy Rhoads Remembered. Tichy put together the ultimate John Bonham Tribute show on 9.25.10, the 30th anniversary of the passing of his biggest influence and rock’s most influential drummer. This popular celebration has still plays annually at the NAMM show and has gone to NYC, NJ, and Moscow!
In May, 2010, Tichy joined up as the new drummer for rock icons Whitesnake and recorded their new record, ‘Forevermore’. He gladly followed in the footsteps of his idols Ian Paice, Cozy Powell and Tommy Aldridge and completed a 100 date/50 country tour all throughout 2011. Tichy has also been one of Mastersource Music Catalog’s main rock writers since 1999. His songs have been featured in movies such as ‘The 40 Year Old Virgin’, ‘Balls Of Fury’ and many more as well as countless TV shows ranging from CSI and Law And Order to The Osbournes and Punk’d.
In March of 2012, Tichy became the first drummer to ever incorporate the Speed Bag as a percussion instrument into the drumset. He did this on national tv on VH1 Classic’s “That Metal Show” hosted by his buddy Eddie Trunk who asked him to be the first drummer on the show. In 2012, Tichy was voted 5th in Modern Drummer’s readers poll for the “Rock drummer” category. He was also voted #5 in That Metal Show’s “Top 5 rock drummers of all time.” Tichy formed a band with Juno award winning/ Billboard “Best Female Singer” Award Winner, and 6 year Canadian Idol judge, Sass Jordan called S.U.N. (Something Unto Nothing). Tichy writes, plays drums and guitar in the studio and guitar live in this band.
In March 2013, Tichy received a phone call from Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler asking him to play a set of classic Aerosmith tunes with he and Joe Perry at a John Varvatos benefit show. Tichy also toured with Geoff Tate’s Queensryche all of June 2013 as they played their Operation Mindcrime album in its entirety. S.U.N. opened these shows as a duo, performing their “Acoustic Stomp” set. Tichy created his own line of signature Regal Tip sticks; “TISH STIX”. Tichy was called in Sept., 2013 to drum for the new supergroup The Dead Daisies. In March 2014, Tichy put on yet another successful celebration show for John Entwistle and Keith Moon of The Who. “The Ox & The Loon” featured 10 drummers and bassists, as well as Bass Legend Award winner Lemmy and a 3 song set by Ace Frehley.
From 2014 to 2017, Tichy was involved mostly with the Dead Daisies, as they toured the world and released a 2 studio LPs and one live LP. In between Dead Daisies touring in 2017, Tichy did more shows with Don Felder and also filled in with Foreigner for a couple weeks when their drummer was ill. He has continued to put on annual Bonzo Bash and Randy Rhoads Remembered shows during Namm weekends in January. In 2017, Tichy released “Merry Tichmas”, an instrumental Christmas LP, which he recorded and performed all of the instruments on. Tichy left the Dead Daisies in 2018 to pursue new musical avenues and focus on his own new, upcoming projects, and toured with WASP.
In 2019, Tichy played drums on the new LP and toured Japan all Summer with Japan’s biggest rock band, B’z. His new band, Silverthorne, signed with Golden Robot Records and their first single came out in August 2019. Tichy also is a counselor at the Rock n Roll Fantasy Camps whenever he is available. In 2019, Tichy joined Japan’s biggest rock band, “B’z” for their 4 month summer tour. Along with his own band Silverthorne, who are writing their new LP, in late 2020, Tichy toured and recorded with new rock band BALDMAN. He also was one of the featured artists in Sept. 2020 for Modem Drummer’s annual Drum Festival. Throughout the pandemic, Brian has been teaching and doing sessions for tons of artists worldwide at his home studio, including guitar legends Michael Schenker, George Lynch, Frank Hannon, mixer legend Chris Lord-Alge, as well as sessions for Dee Snider, B’z, and many more.
“I’ve played Remo drum heads my entire life; since I was 9 years old! There’s a simple reason why; they are the best! I don’t have one particular head I prefer, as they make so many that work for many different reasons! But I love the Emperor X for snare drums! I also love Emperor Coated and Controlled Sound with Black Dots for toms, Emperor Coated and P3’s for bass drums! I also love Ambassador Clear and Coated for the bottom heads! You can’t go wrong with Remo!" -Brian Tichy
I’ve played Remo drum heads my entire life; since I was 9 years old! There’s a simple reason why; they are the best! I don’t have one particular head I prefer, as they make so many that work for many different reasons!
