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Anika Nilles is a German drummer, composer, solo musician, and musical educator. She launched her career on YouTube during the early 2010s, and has released two full-length albums to date, both with backing band Nevell, Pikalar in 2017 and For a Colorful Soul in 2020.

Early life

Nilles was born into a family with multiple drummers and started drumming at age six. When interviewed by South African Drummer, she mentioned having two uncles, one cousin and a father who are drummers. Her father "taught me the first grooves as he realised I was interested in drumming."

After school, Nilles had a career in social education, which she left to pursue drumming full-time. She earned a degree in popular music from the Popakademie Baden-Württemberg in Mannheim.

Career

Nilles posted her first original compositions "Wild Boy" in 2013, followed by "Alter Ego" in 2014. These and other music videos usually contain a visual recording of her drumming alongside previously recorded music. In such videos, she has historically cooperated with producer and guitarist Joachim Schneiss. Afterward, Nilles began acquiring work and viral attention outside of her native Germany, such as with a tour of Europe, the United States, and China in 2015.

In 2017, Nilles' debut album Pikalar was released, consisting of 10 instrumental tracks. In promotion of the album, Nilles was the cover artist and interviewee for the June 2017 edition of Modern Drummer Magazine. In this interview, Nilles stated that she coined the word "pikalar", which is intended "to stand for things that happen in life that you can't describe".

Nilles embarked on a six-date United States clinic tour in October 2018, and performed at venues such as the Chicago Music Exchange, Sweetwater Sound in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Salt City Drums in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her second full length album "For A Colorful Soul" (feat. her band Nevell) was released in 2020. It reached number 3 of the US-iTunes-Top40-Jazzcharts as well as number 3 in Germany. Nilles teaches at Nexus ICA (UK), at DRUMEO (Canada) and at Popakademie Baden-Württemberg (GER). Since 2021, she is also head of the drums department at Popakademie Baden-Württemberg. Nilles joined Jeff Beck's live band for his European tour in 2022.

Influences

Toto member and career session drummer Jeff Porcaro is a primary influence for Nilles. Other influences include Carter Beauford, Jojo Mayer, Sheryl Crow, Joe Satriani, Dave Matthews Band, Joss Stone, Stanton Moore, and Prince.

Critical reception

Nilles was twice elected as the "#1 Rising Star" in DRUM! magazine. The first time in 2015 and the second time in the following year. She also won the "Modern Drummer Readers Poll" for "Up And Coming Artist" in 2016. Furthermore, she was voted as "#2 Best Fusion Drummer" in DRUM! magazine and as "#3 best educator" on Drummie awards in 2017. Later on, she was elected as #1 "best clinician" on MusicRadar in 2018 and as #3 in 2019.

Equipment

Nilles has endorsed Meinl Cymbals, Tama Drums, and Evans Drumheads. Meinl released a custom 18" Artist Concept Model Deep Hats cymbal that was conceptualized by Nilles. She also uses Promark sticks, and formerly Mapex Drums.

Technique

Nilles tends to incorporate alternate note groupings, such as with quintuplets and sextuplets, over a
₄ backbeat.

Awards

Personal

Nilles currently lives in Mannheim, Germany.

Discography

• "Chary Life" (Sakurai Records, single, 2014)
• "Synergy" (Sakurai Records, single, 2015)
• Pikalar (Sakurai Records, full-length, 2017)
• For a Colorful Soul (Sakurai Records, full-length, 2020)
• "Florida" (Sakurai Records, single, 2021)
• Opuntia (Sakurai Records, EP, April 29, 2022)

Further reading

• Bin Muhammad Moritoshi, Mamoru Iwasaki (2021). Eksplorasi Teknik Sinkopasi Drum Set dalam Sukat A Simetris pada Lagu Spunky Karya Anika Nilles. Institut Seni Indonesia Yogyakarta.
• Anika Nilles: Pad Book, Alfred Publishing, Los Angeles, 2020. ASIN 3947998171, ISBN 978-3947998173
• Wilting, Matthis (2020). Quintolische Grooves. Hochschule für Musik Nürnberg.
• An Analysis of the Drum Techniques of Anika Nilles - Focused on odd tuplet (2018). Popular Music Contents Society.
• Stadnicki, Daniel A. (2017). "Play like Jay: Pedagogies of drum kit performance after J Dilla". Journal of Popular Music Education. Vol. 1, No. 3. doi:10.1386/jpme.1.3.253_1.
• Lindroth, Niklas (2016). Skevt sväng. Att spela med kvintoler och septoler. Luleå tekniska universitet.

References

1. "Anika Nilles". drummerworld.com. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
2. ^ "Anika Nilles Joins TAMA As Signature Artist, Releases Debut Solo Album". Drum Magazine. 27 February 2017. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
3. ^ Dawson, Michael (June 2017). "Anika Nilles: Welcome to the New Age". Modern Drummer Magazine. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
4. ^ "About anykmusic". YouTube.
5. ^ "Anika Nilles Interview". South African Drummer. December 2017. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
6. McMullan-Jones, Thea (11 May 2015). "Anika Nilles Drum Clinic at Drumshop UK!!". drumshop.co.uk. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
7. "Tama Star Drums & An Evening with Anika Nilles". Sweetwater. 25 October 2018. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
8. "Tama Star Drums & An Evening with Anika Nilles". tama.com. Archived from the original on 17 November 2018. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
9. "Farbenfrohe musikalische Seele: Anika Nilles' neues Album". drumsundpercussion.de (in German). Archived from the original on 11 July 2021. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
10. ^ "Award Winning Drummer & Educator | Anika Nilles". Nexus ICA. Archived from the original on 11 July 2021. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
11. ^ Baden-Württemberg, Popakademie. "Lecturers Pop Music Design B.A. - Academics Popakademie Baden-Württemberg". www.popakademie.de. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
12. "Instagram".
13. ^ Haid, Mike (March 2015). "Up & Coming – Anika Nilles". Modern Drummer Magazine. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
14. "Anika Nilles". DRUM! Magazine. 17 March 2015. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
15. "DRUMMIES 2016: Drum Set Categories". DRUM! Magazine. 28 April 2016. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
16. "Modern Drummer's Readers Poll Archive, 1979–2017 | Modern Drummer Magazine |". Modern Drummer Magazine. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
17. ^ November 2019, David West 29 (29 November 2019). "The best drum clinicians in the world today". MusicRadar. Retrieved 11 July 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
18. "Anika Nilles". meinlcymbals.com. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
19. "Anika Nilles". daddario.com. Archived from the original on 17 November 2018. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
20. "18"/18" Artist Concept Model – Anika Nilles – Deep Hats". meinlcymbals.com. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
21. Robbins, Nick (8 April 2015). "Anika Nilles: Viral virtuoso". iDrum Magazine. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
22. Doerschuk, Andy (27 February 2015). "Drummies! 2015 Artist Awards: Tim Alexander Wins Big". Drum!. Archived from the original on 18 January 2016. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
23. "Drummies 2016: Drum Set Categories". Drum!. 28 April 2016. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
24. "Modern Drummer's Readers Poll Archive, 1979–2017 | Modern Drummer Magazine |". Modern Drummer Magazine. Retrieved 11 July 2021.

External links

• Anika Nilles on Instagram
• Official website
• Drummerworld Profile

• 1983 births
• Living people
• German women drummers
• German drummers
• 21st-century women musicians
• 21st-century drummers
• Musicians from Mannheim