Ride rock star Loz Colbert finishes 12-hour Drumathon

Laurence ‘Loz’ Colbert, who drums with indie-rockers Ride and Supergrass star Gaz Coombes’ band, helped raise thousands of pounds with a 12 hour ‘drumathon’.

The musician gave his kit a trashing from 10am-10pm on Friday as part of a national 10-day challenge to raise money for charities which by last night had raised more than £18,500.

Fellow Oxford musician Nigel Powell, of the bands Dive Dive, Unbelievable Truth and Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls, also completed a 12-hour stint of his own. They were among 40 drummers from around the world, including Errol Kennedy of 80s super group Imagination, Bev Sage of 80s duo Techno Twins, Will Champion of Coldplay, Nick Hodgson of Kaiser Chiefs, Cherisse Osei of Simple Minds and drummers from Girls Aloud, Kasabian, Idles, Fontaines DC , The Kooks and The Feeling.

Loz played a repertoire of Ride and Gaz Coombes songs along with tunes by Lush, Joy Division, Nirvana and Prodigy – bands, members of which had mental health struggles which ended their lives.

Loz Colbert of Oxford band Ride takes part in a 12 hour Drumathon

Proceeds will be donated to MIND, Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, UK Trauma Council, Child Bereavement UK and NHS Charities Together. The challenge followed a similar event last year, which raised over £45,000 for frontline NHS workers.

“It’s been an honour to be involved,” said Loz, who has also played with Supergrass, St Etienne, The Jesus And Mary Chain and Oxford jazz act The Original Rabbit Foot Spasm Band. “Drumming is a physical and mental thing but it can make you feel good. It satisfies us deep down inside.

“It’s clear that there has been an impact on people’s mental health from the last 18 months, so we explored the ways that drumming might be able to help.

Loz Colbert's 12 hour drumathon

“The mental health of the frontline care workers has taken a battering for example, but also outside of that people have been coping in different ways in being separated from their families, jobs, loved ones, and friends. We looked at helping directly but ultimately it made sense to support these charities as they support the people in need, much in the same vein as the last fund-raising Drumathon.”

Loz Colbert's 12 hour drumathon

He admitted drumathons were not for the faint-hearted, saying: “Besides the weeks of preparation of backing tracks and online streaming set ups, the hardest thing about it is inevitably just before about three-quarters of the way through, when you are tired, you’ve been in one place drumming for ever eight hours, and things start to go a bit crazy.”

You can still donate online at drumathon.live