Olly Tandon is a UK based session musician, specialising in both live and studio work. Currently based in Manchester, he travels the country working on various projects covering all styles.
Olly has played alongside some top-class artists at prestigious venues, some of which are, The O2 Ritz, The Bedford, Gorilla, The Baths Hall and Adelphi Club. Also, playing festivals such as, Cornbury, Buckle and Boots, Fake Fest, Dot to Dot, Folk on The Dock and Togfest.
With an extensive back catalogue of studio work, Olly can also provide studio quality tracks over the internet, for demo purposes, or to finalise parts before heading into the studio.
If there are any questions regarding Olly's work, or you would like to discuss working with him on a future project, please get in touch today.
“Olly is an excellent drum teacher, his passion for the drums and teaching is evident during every energetic and well planned lesson.
Olly has a natural ability to engage with young musicians, his genuine desire to encourage and share his love of music is highlighted in every aspect of the lesson.
Olly is professional, skilled, friendly and reliable. He has excellent communication skills, an awareness of how keen we are as parents to know how the lesson went and shares the progress of the drummer..
My son looks forward to his drum time with Olly, he wants to practice and work hard to show his new skills. My son wants to impress and work hard for Olly, this is a result of Olly’s genuine praise and enthusiasm when a skill is mastered. Olly has opened a new world for my son , the drum lesson is a time for my son to escape the daily tasks and focus on what is fast becoming his favourite hobby. It is a difficult task to pull our young minds away from the latest computer game – Olly doesn’t seem to struggle!
As a parent I would highly recommend Olly as a professional, skilled drum teacher. My son would highly recommend Olly because in his words he is “ a very cool dude, an awesome drummer. Who is a great teacher and he is fun, kind and patient.” Ted’s mum.”
“Olly is a brilliant drummer, his accolades talk for themselves, however, a great drummer doesn’t necessarily mean a great teacher. I can say in the case of Olly both are true. I’ve got some experience of other teachers but what immediately drew me to Olly was listening to him teach my son who came on leaps an bounds. Times have changed and rather than stopping lessons Olly moved to using online tools to keep teaching going – it shouldn’t work but it really does. Olly stays calm, collected, focused, engaging and always gets the best out of our son.
On this experience I decided to take up drumming too and asked Olly if he would teach me. Olly’s style put me at ease, when I was super anxious of making a fool of myself. The lesson style ranges from technical, theory, to skill practice through to just getting a groove down. I haven’t yet found a question that Olly doesn’t know the answer too or found an answer that I didn’t understand – definitely a good way of explaining what is at times a complex instrument…
If you are looking for a teacher who is interested in your progress, is accomplished, experienced and positively pushes you forward then look no further. I’ve found him to be really supportive and patient, I’d say he’s getting the best out of me. I have no hesitation in recommending his teaching for kids or adults alike on any level through to zero experience. He’s the teacher for you…”
“I have worked with Oli on a few projects now and his comms, professionalism and adaptability are excellent. Most importantly the final product is always top drawer!”
“Outstanding. Got the drum track back within 24 hours and even went back to revise a couple of takes to my taste. Drums were all recorded at perfect levels for mixing so made it easy to drop into any mix. Very reasonably priced too and I will definitely be giving Olly another call very soon. Thanks again!
Once again using Olly as he was so reliable last time. Even managed to get the files to me back in 24 hours (even though his laptop broke)
Solid playing and played exactly what was needed for the song and price was extremely reasonable considering how good of a player he is.”
“When we found ourselves ‘drummer-less’ at a critical time, we asked Olly if he could stand in and record some drum tracks for us. Initially we were a little nervous, especially considering this was the first time we had ever used a session drummer, and we did not know what to expect. However, he arrived promptly, set up quickly and then with minimal fuss played through the tracks like he had known them and had being playing them for years. We, both us the band and producer, were absolutely astounded at how good his drum takes were. Since we got through the recordings at lightning pace we even asked him to try learn a song he had never heard before. Within 15 minutes he had the parts down and was even offering suggestions and improvements. Could not recommend this lad more highly, he is a top drummer, top person and great professional.”
“Amazing drummer for live and Studio Work. I’ve been fortunate enough to work with Olly the past couple of months as a session musician. He’s always able to pick up any song I’ve thrown at him and come up with some great grooves. He’s always punctual and prepared for rehearsals with a great attitude, it’s been a pleasure to work with him.”
“I had the pleasure of working with Olly on two separate occasions. Consistency and flexibility with tempo, time signature and style changes are very important to me, but at a certain level they’re often given for granted. What is not always a given is a personality, and Olly effortlessly delivered on all fronts. This is one hell of a drummer, and I have worked with some of the best.”
“Make no mistake, if you’re looking for a drummer who is both professional and reliable, Olly Tandon exceeds all expectations. Upon his early arrival (to the studio), Olly was able to produce brilliant work in what felt like no time at all; a great work ethic. But as if that wasn’t enough, his charming personality made for a very enjoyable experience. I can’t wait to work with him again!”
“I can’t thank Olly enough. He came to every rehearsal and gig completely prepared with all the correct gear and the songs learnt to a tee. We play to a click track and I have to say Olly was absolutely bang on and super tight. It really made the difference to the overall sound. Olly is a professional and an all round lovely guy, up there with the best drummers I’ve played with.”
“I asked Olly if he could play a thirty minute set of RnB/soul songs. Olly learnt the songs in less than a day and was really professional in rehearsal. He played the parts well and even added his own spin on them also. On the day of the gig Olly played outstanding. He was very confident , engaging with the band and performed to a high standard. Thank you so much for helping me, I would definitely like to use you again in the future.”
“In a musical Emergancy, there was only one man who answered my prayers!! Just 2 weeks away from my first gig with my backing band, I had both my drummers let me down last minute despite months of rehearsing. Recommended highly to me was Olly, who came in with calm confidence and learnt all 9 of my songs and had them note perfect in just 2 rehearsals, which meant that we killed the show and created many more opportunities for my music and more tour dates for my band! Naturally, Olly is now an indispensable member of my team and an amazing guy to hang out with. You’ll count yourself very lucky if he’s on your team too! Thanks Olly!”
“I recently began using Olly as my live festival drummer and I can only say I will never look back. He has all the personal and musical qualities you could need in a band member. His attitude is spot on, he puts in the effort and the rehearsals, he turns up AND on time. He is keen and easy to be around. His playing is very consistent and the best thing for me is that once he has finalised a part it will always be the same (unless I ask otherwise). Other great things include Pro equipment, transport and a very supportive family network – which is crucial in this industry. I have no doubts I’ll be using Olly again soon and the bigger the stage the better?”
“I met Olly through his website, contacting him was very easy. Not only is he a solid player, but he produces amazing sounding tracks in a very short turn around time. I haven’t just met a drummer, I’ve met a musician.”
“Helpful, skilled and pro-active, as a multi-talented session musician with innovative drumming techniques and original ideas, Olly Tandon provided me with several options in terms of grooves and arrangements for my track. He was very quick in response to messages to record to the track provided. The recording equipment used and quality of the audio offered was of industry standard professionalism. He even filmed the session for me. Thank-you very much Olly, I’m sure we’ll be working together again in the near future.”
“I worked with Olly on multiple tracks, he was great to work with and can mould his skills to suit more than just one genre. I would highly recommend him to anyone seeking a session drummer! A pleasure to work with.”
“Olly came to a session for me recently and it was a pleasure to have him. He was very professional and focused. He had learnt the song but was also very open to working and jamming it out with us until we were happy with it. We even had some fun moments of jamming while the producer was setting up. Olly is a very solid, talented drummer and I strongly recommend his services!”
“Olly Tandon – Took my song & put some drums over the top of what I intended to be minimal percussion based song & he did everything right! He kept it nice and simple with little hints of his Hi-Hat flares & he showed a brilliant ear for recognising a floor tom hit when required! Really adding to the depth of his take on the song! Olly has time on his side and I can honestly say, I personally did not expect him to be as good as he was when he sent me the mix… he was unbelievable! With time on his side, this guy is going to be insane! Keep an eye out!”