Todd The Rocket is an active and accomplished drummer and percussionist, beginning his professional work nearly 3 decades ago in his hometown of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts.
Based out of New England, Todd the Rocket frequently travels the region and beyond. He regularly performs live dates for a host of musical acts, as well as studio sessions, both at his home studio and wherever he might be called.
Known as a driver of arrangements, a supporter of vocalists and melodies, and a library of pan-global sounds and ideas, Todd the Rocket is a first-call live & session drummer for singer/songwriters, bandleaders, and producers alike.
A Sampling of Recorded Work
featuring Todd the Rocket on
drums, percussion, and/or programming
Drum & Percussion Portfolio
Jonathan Edwards
Don Campbell Band
In fall of 2021, Todd The Rocket returns to the road as a special guest with the Don Campbell Band for a string of dates, including Midwest and New England tour stops.
During his tenure as the full-time drummer for Don Campbell and the Don Campbell Band, Todd The Rocket performed over 10 seasons worth of tour dates, and contributed to three original music recordings, as well as a 2-CD set in tribute to the music of Dan Fogelberg.
Highlights with the Don Campbell Band include: opening for Willie Nelson for a capacity crowd, performing at the 1st Annual Country Music Festival at Gillette Stadium, feature sets at the Nashville Country Music Association Fan Fair, and opening credits that include Carrie Underwood, Toby Keith, Big & Rich, Montgomery Gentry, Gretchen Wilson, Marshall Tucker Band, Three Dog Night, and countless other luminary artists and legendary venues.
Billy Voss
In the summer of 2018, Todd The Rocket reunited with his longtime musical partner Billy Voss, with whom he got his start in professional music on Nantucket Island many years ago. In the early 90s, they were performing on Main Street Nantucket during the summer for spare change. Months later, they would be getting noticed by industry personalities at open mics and stages around Boston. They quickly moved from casual street gigs to clubs, concert venues, and record label showcases. They later worked with Ozone Entertainment, home of Company Flow, Mike Ladd, and other emerging independent hip-hop artists at the time. They toured the East Coast, on their own self-powered tours, as well as opening for Dave Matthews Band, Vertical Horizon, and even jamming with Edwin McCain playing his hits for an unsuspecting street audience.
Billy and Todd were honored to serve as the impromptu backing band for The Voice winner Brynn Cartelli during several of her many trips to her summer home of Nantucket.
Billy and Todd have remained working through quarantine, developing creative and recording projects, and now resuming summertime beachside gigs when the sun is shining. They also collaborate as a DJ and drum duo, playing select private events around the Northeast.
Miss Fairchild
Kate Schrock
& Todd the Rocket
In the late 2000s, Maine-based singer/songwriter Kate Schrock and Todd The Rocket began performing as a duo after meeting at a panel discussion of career defining mistakes in the music business. Their collaboration lasted several seasons, and included live dates with founding saxophonist of Bob Marley’s Wailers, Glen DaCosta, and work with Canadian Punk rock legend Dave Rave, of Teenage Head fame. The duo released a live album, entitled PCMH, and Todd the Rocket also remixed one of Kate Schrock‘s earlier songs, called “Water’s Edge.”
Sumner McKane Group
Andy Happel &
Los Galactacos
Still pinching his teenage self out of disbelief, Todd the Rocket has been honored and thrilled to serve as drummer, percussionist, collaborator with composer/songwriter/multi instrumentalist/producer Andy Happel, of Thanks to Gravity. Growing up on the island of Nantucket, Thanks to Gravity were a regular stop on the island during the mid 90s heyday of College rock. Their success, despite a sound larger than rock radio, was a constant inspiration and source of envy.
Many years later, after meeting in Maine, Happel would ask Todd the Rocket to play all of the hand percussion parts on his debut solo record “Dreaming by the Sea.“ A band was formed around this recording, and live dates were performed for the next several years.
Happel would later form the pan-global string band Los Galactacos, featuring Todd the Rocket on percussion, and Drew Wyman from Thanks to Gravity on bass, with frequent collaborators Pete Witham and Jon Cooper on guitars. Todd the Rocket would also join Thanks to Gravity on stage playing percussion for a live reunion concert, at 3S Artspace in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Career pinnacle moment.
Todd the Rocket is an acclaimed performing/producing musician, DJ, remixer, musicologist, student, and educator; a living, breathing celebration of Soul Jazz, Motown, Philly Soul, Disco, Funk, Electro-Boogie, 80s Pop, 90s Party Jams, First Generation Hip Hop, Classic House, and sounds that have traveled the world over. Todd is nothing less than the sum of his inputs, the potent cultural elements of the analog years and the revolutionary conversion to digital.
Todd the Rocket’s hallmarks are a soul-forward focus and a developed sense of playful sophistication, purely borne out of his own influences and record collection.
Recent DJ events and appearances have included the Nantucket After Dark event at the Nantucket Wine Festival, providing music for a public art installation opening for the organ donation nonprofit Donate Life CT, and serving as a guest speaker and presenter on the 50th anniversary of Hip-Hop, and use of sampling in pop culture at the University of Hartford.
Known as a driver of arrangements, a supporter of vocalists and melodies, and a library of pan-global sounds and ideas, Todd the Rocket is an in-demand session drummer for a host of musical acts including the latest release by legendary singer-songwriter Jonathan Edwards, and providing drums, percussion, and production for a variety of independent music artists around New England.
Todd is intrinsically and inexorably connected to the communities in which he lives and works. His career has brought him from Main Street Nantucket, where he played in the summers for spare change, to Boston clubs, to Manhattan studios, to national showcases, to Nashville, to countless other far-flung destinations.
He is a tireless supporter of the arts and humanities, and has counseled and directed countless brands, organizations, and companies, as well as serving as a trustee on various non-profit boards.
As a musicologist, Todd frequently writes essays about music, art, culture, Generation X, and their intersections. He has served as music education faculty and ensemble director at several nonprofit music schools, as well as an artist in residence and clinician.
Todd is beyond honored to have met and worked with an undeniable music legend (and one of his personal heroes,) Gene McDaniels, enjoying a friendship with Gene in the two years prior to his passing in 2011, and has made it a cornerstone in his career to celebrate Gene’s life and work in music.
When not on stage or in the studio, Todd is completing his long-awaited bachelors degree at University of Hartford, where he has been a colloquium presenter, presidential list honoree, and accepted to the humanities seminar on futurism for the 2023-2024 school year.
Todd the Rocket is the owner/operator/co-founder of the Downbeat Renaissance, a media label/imprint of Milled Pavement Records.
Nantucket | Hartford | New England
Camps, Classes, Music Programs
Todd the Rocket instructs private drum and percussion lessons, instructs classes on music technology, directs musical ensembles, and is a speaker and presenter about modern music history and culture.
Your Event in 2025
Todd the Rocket is presently booking private DJ dance parties, galas, and other events for 2025. Email Todd to inquire about availability for your event.
Drums & Percussion Sessions
Todd the Rocket is available for in-person & remote studio sessions, as well as live dates. He. resides in New England and records in his project studio in Central CT.