Paul Smith

Paul Smith is a drummer whose main claim to fame has been his work with progressive metallers The Black Gates and in the past had provided help with Finnish epic doomsters Dies Irae from time to time prior to joining them in time for their debut album. He was roped in to provide percussion on Rick Fisher's side project Sisyphean.
==Early Days==
Paul Smith was born into a large working class family in a lower class suburb of Birmingham in 1976. His father planted the seeds of music within him as he was a jazz drummer in several bar outfits. Smith Sr was quite a good drummer but never properly recognized for his skills and these he passed on to Paul in the hope that he could go somewhere with it. Paul learnt very quickly and by his mid teens was playing at a skill level more to that of a veteran. His first real outing, after some years of playing with friends for fun came on the London jazz scene. It seemed that he would be set for a big career in the innovative jazz world before something caught his attention: a women with a passion for extreme metal.
He quickly grew smitten with a girl by the name of Kelly McShane and found himself drawn into the world of metal where he begun to take in the works of the likes of Cryptopsy's Flo Mounier. In no time he became freakishly fast and furious extreme metal drummer, setting the UK record at one stage as fastest skinsman. He begun to play in various acts, none ever really serious or likely to go somewhere before he auditioned, as an afterthought, for the drummers position in The Black Gates. Fisher was so impressed by what he saw he told the other people waiting not to bother, the slot was filled.
==The Black Gates==
Smith proved to be the perfect fit for the newly resurrected metal outfit, whose dynamic speed and seemless combos elevated the band into a new level not acheived by their previous drummers. His blast beats on 'Hammer of the Tyrant' has been recorded as the fastest on any recording. All seemed well in the band, before Smith abruptly announced his intention, following The Forbidden Light album, to quit, citing 'a desire to approach music in a different manner'
==Today==
Paul Smith would join up and coming Finnish epic doom outfit Dies Irae. Smith was no strangers to the Finns, who had toured with The Black Gates and he had acted as stand in drummer occasionally as the band had problems retaining skinsmen. He has been linked as a possible addition to the live experience of former Relaxed Atmosphere saxophonist Francesco Folonari and only recently finished work with mate Rick Fisher in his side project Sisyphean.
Category:Musicians