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Christian Bale has stated that he learned how to play drums by listening to heavy metal bands, Pantera and Mastodon.
In an interview with Screanbeat about his latest film, The Big Short, Bale stated that his character, Michael Burry used to unwind by listening to Pantera’s ‘By Demons Be Driven’ all day long.
Michaell Burry was a real-life hedge fund manager who earned millions off others’ misery during the financial crisis by selling stocks.
As a result, Bale decided to learn how to play drums himself by spending two weeks learning with drum teacher Scott Wittenburg.
During his time with Wittenburg, he only listened to Pantera and Mastodon and after the two week crash course, he was good enough to drum along with ‘By Demons Be Driven’.
“Of all the students I’ve taught, he was certainly not the best drummer, but one of my best students,” his tutor Wittenburg told Pitchfork. “I gave him ‘homework’ and he would come back doing it like he had been doing it for a long time. It was obvious he had put his hours in.”
