Cobus Potgieter

Cobus Potgieter is a 22-year-old drummer from South Africa. He has become internationally recognised for his videos on YouTube, which have received over 17,700,000 views to date.
Cobus Potgieter was born in Humansdorp, South Africa, where he started to play drums at the age of 16. Potgieter posted his first video, *Nsnyc - Pop, on YouTube in late 2007, and it has become one of his top viewed videos since, totaling over 1.4 million views. He has also made appearances on a few South African television shows . As well as in the local and international press , media and radio.
Potgieter currently resides in Bloemfontein, South Africa. His first language is Afrikaans but he is also a fluent speaker of English.
He is a member and drummer of the band Inslowmotion.
YouTube Fame
The South-African 'Youtube' Drummer started posting videos on August 6, 2006, with "Quick Drum Solo"
He has posted several different series of videos on his YouTube channel, each using different camera angles and editing techniques. His first series was the "Overhead Series" featuring 10 videos. In June 2007, he released the "Tri-Cam" series featuring 7 videos, then the "Dual-Cam" series with 3 videos and then The "Blister" series with 6 videos (including Potgieter's Most Viewed Video, "Face Down" by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus in February 2008 wich has totaled over 1.5 million views ). After a long break, his fans began to expect Potgieter to upload more videos. During this time his YouTube subscribers started growing and he soon became one of YouTube's [http://www.youtube.com/members?sms&ta&g1&c0&to0&nb0&p=1 top 100 musicians]
On November 11, 2008, Cobus Potgieter uploaded the "Hybrid" series (named so because of the use of acoustic and electric kits together), with a mind blowing 17 videos, including Avenged Sevenfold's Afterlife, Vanilla Sky's Umbrella (a Rihanna cover), the Jonas Brothers' Burnin' Up, as well as his own drum solo to name but a few. On May 13, 2009, Cobus annnounced via his Facebook fan page that he would release a new series of videos entitled "The White Series". This series was going to be "one of the most epic to date", and the release date was set for mid July 2009
On hearing the news of the death of the King of pop Michael Jackson Potgieter recorded a 'Mini-tribute Series' to the artist and included tracks like 'Beat it', 'Black or White', 'Smooth Criminal' and 'Billie Jean'. This 'Mini-tribute Series' topped over 100 000 views in just four days. His drum cover of 'Beat it' taking the title of 2nd most rated video by a musician on YouTube in just its second day of release.
Cobus Potgieter cites Tony Royster Jr., Derico Watson, Carter Beauford, Travis Barker, Mike Portnoy, Thomas Lang as his main drumming influences.
Career
Potgieter is currently studying Engineering as a major in college. He is also pursuing a career in Drumming.
Potgieter is also in the proccess of producing a DVD that he will release to be sold via his website to all of his fans, in the last quarter of 2009. This DVD is aimed to be both an Instructional and Documentary DVD, teaching drummers and wannabe drummers different techniques and practice routines. Potgieter will discuss in detail the production and post production of his YouTube videos and how to achieve a professional sound when recording drums. It will also have a documentary on the life of Cobus Potgieter, who he is as a person, his rise in YouTube success and some other personal insights from the drummer.
Religious views
Potgieter is a self-proclaimed Christian. He states the following on his own website: "I hate calling myself a Christian because of all the labels attached to it, BUT I love saying that I cannot live without my relationship with God. I didn’t have any choice about being able to drum, I was born with it and it’s something I am endlessly blessed with, you can’t shape a diamond if you don’t have one :) so.. Laus Deo Semper."
Kit
Potgieter's drum kit includes:
*Tama Superstar Custom; SL52S BMF
*In the Blue Metallic Fade
*UDRUM Cherry Bomb
*Custom-cut Gibraltar Road Series rack with curved wings
*DW4000 Double-bassdrum pedal
*Pearl HW400 Hihat Stand

;Paiste PST 5 Universal setup:
*14" Hats
*16" Crash
*20" Ride
*Sabian XS20 Medium-Thin 16" Crash
*Istanbul Mehmet 8” Hand-Hammered (Splash)
*Roland TD-3 Module
*PDX-8 V-Pad Snare
*PD-8 Trigger Pad
*CY-5 Dual-Trigger Cymbal Pad for Hi-Hat
*CY-8 Dual-Trigger Cymbal Pad
*KD-8 Kick Trigger Pad
*FD-8 Hi-hat Control Pedal
The "Michael Jackson Tribute Mini-Series" featured cymbals from the TRX brand.
Bibliography and External links
*cobuspotgieter.com - official website
*Drum Kit
*About Cobus Potgieter
*YouTube Channel
*UDRUM Custom Drums

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu