Neil Peart, Mike Portnoy, Dave Lombardo, Danny Carey are great drummers who have earned their praise. I’m going to say that you can have any of the forementioned but if I had to pick a drummer for a band, I’d take Nick Studen. It’s not just his skill set on the kit that matters to me. It’s his persona. I’ll leave what it was like to work with him to Marc, Sean and George. But I never had a difficult moment with the guy, EVER. Did Marc make me want to pull my hair out on occasion? Sure, but I love that polock and things always evened out. Seeing him play was a privilege, getting to know him as a human being was even better. His death seriously bothered me, and Corruption having the fortitude to continue inspired me to write stories about my time in the circuit. Marc, Sean and George would not had reassembled unless someone was capable of being in Nick’s place. And I can attest with my own eyes that Ryan Ball has been more than capable of establishing his own chapter in the Corruption saga. Somewhere, Nick was smiling when we were watching them play in June 2025 at the Rickhouse, as he would had wanted them to carry on. My wife was enamoured hearing “Embrace”, “Behold” and “Misfortune”. I’ve dedicated this archive to a few, with Nick being one of them. Mr Studen, my life was better thanks to you being a part of it. And I will continue to “Stay Corrupted!”

— ty mcintosh campbell