Stephen Liebenberg | SoultoneCymbals.com

Stephen Liebenberg

Stephen Liebenberg

Stephen Liebenberg (SA)

Future Life / Independent

I was born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa. And from a very young age I developed a keen interest in the drum set, which led me to do what every young kid does when they want to learn to play drums, get out all the pots and pans and start whacking! It wasn’t until my early teens when I saw live performances from local drummers such as Barry Van Zyl, Brent Harris, Neill Ettridge to name a few, That I was inspired to play drums professionally. I saved up for months to buy my first drum kit, and it became clear after playing my first drum set literally into pieces that I had developed a deep passion for playing drums and it was time to invest in quality gear.

I started taking drum lessons with seasoned SA drummers such as Dio Santos and Rob Watson and started playing in as many bands as I could to build my knowledge and gain experience. In 2006 I enrolled to study drumming full time at The Groove Regulators drum school, under the mentorship of Andries Visser, one of South Africa’s premier session drummers and educators. I specialised in styles such as Jazz, Latin, Rock, Pop, Blues and Funk. As well as learning music notation, rudimental studies and advanced drumming techniques. After completing 2 years of studies at The Groove Regulators I immediately hit the music scene.

After playing numerous shows, tours and festivals with various artists and solo projects, I also joined in-demand South African session guitarist Nathan Smith with his solo project “The Nathan Smith Project” which went onto headline events such as the Pro 20/20 Cricket tournament, as well as the MTN fan zones for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa. Since then I have had the privilege of working with some of the local industries best musicians, as well as supporting numerous artists such as singer/songwriter Liesl Graham, and Joseph Clark.
In 2012 I Co-Founded the rock band “Future Life” Which saw the release of the bands debut EP in March of 2013. The EP has been described as “Big, Powerful and Meaningful all at the same time” Future Life’s EP has been receiving rave reviews and has been play-listed on numerous platforms Globally.

I have a deep passion for working and recording in the studio and have experience in virtually every performance situations such as: Recording, televised events, live gigs, festivals, sporting events, corporate functions, weddings, theater productions, tours etc.
My Drumming influences include: Benny Greb, Dave Weckl, Gavin Harrison, Thomas Lang, Carter Beauford, Virgil Donati, Mark Richardson, Jerohn Garnett, Josh Freese, Barry Van Zyl and many more.

My Soultone Set: 

• 14” Extreme Hi-Hats
• 8” Extreme splash
• 10” Gospel splash
• 16” Gospel china
• 17” FXO 12 crash
• 17” Gospel crash
• 18” Custom brilliant crash
• 20” Custom brilliant crash
• 22” Extreme ride

Discography