Meytal Cohen

Meytal Cohen (Hebrew: מיטל כהן‎‎) (born August 9, 1983^[1]) is an Israeli-American drummer and one of the founding members of the American heavy metal band Meytal. She was born in Ramat Gan, Israel and is the youngest of seven children with four sisters and two brothers.^[2] Her online video project, which began in 2010, saw Cohen performing drum covers of popular rock and heavy metal songs, and amassing a huge fan base^[3] that has resulted in more than 100 million total views.^[4] In August 2015, Meytal's first studio album Alchemy was released. Co-produced by Cohen and Sahaj Ticotin, the album peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart, No. 5 on the Hard Rock Albums Chart and No. 7 on the Independent Albums chart.^[5]

Early life and education

Cohen was Israeli-born in Ramat Gan, the seventh child of a large family. Her parents were born in Iraq.^[6] She studied tap dance,^[7] and graduated with a theater major from Blich High School in Ramat Hen; at the age of 18 she started playing drums and for two years served in the Israel Defense Forces, At the age of 20 she moved to Los Angeles.^[8] She studied at Los Angeles Music Academy, majoring in percussion.^[8][9]

Career

After graduation from Los Angeles Music Academy, she played with her band "Metaphor",^[10] which also included Tina Guo on cello, Anna Stafford on violin, and Ali Wood on piano, playing concert tours in Australia, the United States, Mexico, South America and Europe in 2007.^[11][12][13] The all-female Led Zeppelin cover band "Moby Chick" joined their tour in Puerto Rico.

Starting in 2010, Cohen has had an online video project, performing "drum covers" of popular rock songs. This has brought her a fan base and recognition: her 2009 cover of System of a Down's "Toxicity" had approximately 10.9 million views as of 2016;^{[8] [14]} her YouTube drum series had over 60 million views as of 2014.^[1] Her number of Facebook followers in 2013 was said to be greater than that of any other Israeli woman with 369,000 "likes", outpacing supermodel Bar Refaeli; ahead of President Shimon Peres but behind Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.^[6][15] She was also featured in an American TV show and two Australian shows.

On 9 July 2013, Cohen started a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign called "Breaking YouTube" whose purpose was to raise funds to create original music and move beyond covering songs on YouTube. On 10 August 2013, the Kickstarter campaign raised $144,341 USD with 3,173 "backers".^[16]

In her performances and videos, she uses a DW Performance Series drum kit and Meinl cymbals, and is currently an endorsed artist of both Drum Workshop and Meinl.^[9][17]

Alchemy

Her band's debut album Alchemy was very well received by the critics,^[18] with some even calling Alchemy "all of the best elements in a mainstream hard rock band, done better"^[19] and reached the #1 position in the Heatseekers chart, as well as #5 in the Hard Rock and #7 in the Independent Artists chart on Billboard in 2015.^[20]

Equipment

Current kit

• Drums – DW Drums Collector's Series Maple, Black Ice FinishPly with Chrome Hardware.^[21] Cohen uses the same kit, in a white finish, in some of her studio recordings and videos.
  • 8”×10" Tom
  • 9”×12" Tom
  • 12"×14" Floor Tom
  • 14"×16" Floor Tom
  • 18”x22" Bass Drum
  • 6”x14" Maple Snare Drum
  • 6”x10" Maple Snare Drum
• Cymbals – Meinl Cymbals^[22]
  • 21" Byzance Dark Ride
  • 20" Byzance Brilliant China
  • 17" Soundcaster Fusion Medium Crash
  • 17" Byzance Traditional Medium Thin Crash
  • 10" Byzance Traditional Splash
  • 17" Soundcaster Fusion Medium Crash
  • 17" Byzance Traditional Medium Thin Crash
  • 8" Byzance Traditional Splash
  • 14" Byzance Traditional Medium Hihat (x2)
  • 8" Classics Medium Bell
• Drumheads – Evans^[23]
  • Toms, Bass – G2 Clear
  • Snare – 300
• Drumsticks – Vic Firth Drumsticks^[24]
  • Vic Firth Extreme 5A American Classic w Custom Logo
• Electronic Drum Kit – Roland Electronic Drums^[25]
  • TD-30KV
  • SPD-SX
  • TM-2
  • BT-1
  • HandSonic HPD-20
  • OCTAPAD SPD-30
  • STUDIO-CAPTURE

Band members

Cohen also plays in a heavy metal band, who support her live shows. The band is commonly referred to as "Meytal",^[26] released its first album Alchemy on July 24, 2015 and its members include :

Timeline

Discography

Studio album

• Alchemy (2015)

Single

• "Dark Side Down" (2014)

Live album

• Alchemy live (2016)

References

Further reading

• Liz Ramanand (September 29, 2011), "Female Drummer Meytal Cohen Rocks Godsmack's "I Stand Alone"", Loudwire 
• John Davenport (February 27, 2012), "Interview with Meytal Cohen", Coolgrrrls 
• Sean Mitchell (March 16, 2012), "Interview: Meytal Cohen", The Black Page 

External links

• Official website
• Meytal Cohen at the Internet Movie Database