Acclaimed Rock Drummer, Multi-Instrumentalist, & Producer Ilan Rubin Releases Debut Single With ‘Talk, Talk, Talk’

From his youthful ascension to stardom as a drummer for acts like Nine Inch Nails, Paramore, Angels and Airwaves, and many more, to the flowering success of his solo career, Ilan Rubin is among the heavy-hitters of the industry.

The San Diego-based multi-instrumentalist, producer, and songwriter started his career playing the skins at the age of eight when he discovered his father’s old drum set. After teaching himself to play, Rubin went from jamming with his older brothers at home to testing his young stage chops with their band F.o.N at Vans Warped Tour and filling in for punk rock band NOFX a year later. By 1999, F.o.N performed on the Emerging Artist Stage at Woodstock ‘99 where Rubin gained his status as the youngest musician to play the festival at just 11 years old.

Five albums later and after years of drumming for some of the biggest names in the rock world, the next chapter of his solo work is unfolding with the powerful and stimulating single “Talk, Talk, Talk.” The melodic and powerful alt-rock track opens with a dramatic, Queen-like verse before taking on a more modern pop twist as it leads into the chorus.

The inspiration for “Talk, Talk, Talk,” draws from the ups and downs of modern experiences by taking action against other people’s words and how we see and hear situations happen. When depicting his views behind the single, Rubin portrayed it as being discontent with day-to-day life while waiting impatiently for transformation. As he told Wolf in a Suit, the song is about, “Actions always speaking louder than words– there’s an ever-increasing amount of information and nonsense to sift through, making it harder to get to the center of what’s real and what matters.” 

Though this is his first single under his actual name, Rubin did drop his first solo album, Coup, under the pseudonym The New Regime in 2008, and the name carried him through last year’s album Heart Mind Body & Soul, which has garnered hundreds of thousands of streams and various accolades.

Besides his accomplishments at such a young age, Rubin has learned from some of the best, as he received years of pointers from Blink 182’s drummer Travis Barker and The Hooters’ drummer David Uosikkinen to name a few. Needless to say, Rubin has had a strong supporting cast of fellow musicians around him.

Since securing the winning entry of the Best Undiscovered Drummer Under the Age of 18 contest for Modern Drummer Magazine, and being invited to perform at the Modern Drummer Festival in 2000 at the impressively young age of twelve, Rubin has only continued to prove himself as both a drummer and multi-tiered artist. These veteran skills are displayed on “Talk, Talk, Talk,” with a strong, expansive rhythm throughout the song accentuated by pockets of tight fills and swells of excitement as the song’s energy ebbs and flows.

Whether through his solo career or supporting worldwide rock bands, Ilan Rubin is taking alternative rock to a new level, and is indeed a force to be reckoned with. Here’s to hoping we can look forward to a new solo album.