Neil Sanderson

Neil Sanderson was born on December 17, 1978, in Peterborough, Canada. During his childhood, his older brother died in a car accident, as well as his father in a separate death. Sanderson took up the piano before he started school. where he met Adam Gontier when both of them were in grade 9. With bassist Brad Walst, they practiced writing and playing instruments. They created the band "Groundswell" with Phil Crowe and Joe Grant. Sanderson was also the drummer for the band Thousand Foot Krutch from 1995 to 1997. Groundswell reformed as Three Days Grace in 1997. ==Career==

Under the name "Three Days Grace" the band played various concerts and locations in Toronto and eventually signed a recording contract with the American label, Jive Records. The album was platinum in Canada and the United States. The band released their second studio album, One-X in 2006. The album has also been certified triple platinum in Canada and the United States. Speaking of the band's comeback from problems in 2007 (when a band member spent time in rehab Sanderson, along with Canadian songwriter Casey Marshall, were part owners of an artist development company and songwriting collective, Püblicwürks, based in Toronto and Nashville. Sanderson co-wrote the singles, "Get By" and "Hell Raisin' Good Time" by Tim Hicks. He was nominated for Songwriter of the Year at the 2014 Country Music Association of Ontario Awards. Sanderson is the co-founder of the record label Judge & Jury Records along with producer Howard Benson. In 2021, he produced DIAMANTE's album, American Dream. He performed on The Standstills' live event, "#UnpluggedTogether", to help fund the Healing in Harmony campaign, a therapy program for trauma survivors. In 2022, he produced their album, Shockwave, as well as producing the single, "Waiting on the Sky to Change" by Starset. Sanderson co-produced the tracks, "Snake" and "Christ" from Left to Suffer's 2023 EP, Noah. He released his debut single "Eventually" via Judge and Jury in December 2023. Prior to its official release, he performed the song at the "#UnpluggedTogether" event in 2021. Sanderson produced the tracks "Time Bomb" by Saliva and "Sincerity" by Butcher Babies. ==Musicianship==

Equipment Sanderson uses a Yamaha drum kit. His kit includes a double-bass, Sabian Artisan cymbals, an Evans drumheads and a Yamaha DTX Multi12 sample pad. He also uses Vic Firth drumsticks. His most recent addition to his set is the ButtKicker Concert sub-bass monitoring system. In the past, Sanderson used Zildjian cymbals during the recording of One-X. Reception Sin Lucas, writing in The Silver Tongue said "It's hard to pick a highlight ... but the drum solo by Neil Sanderson was nothing short of spectacular." A reviewer for Electric City wrote of Sanderson's "impressive chops and accuracy." But Nikki M. Mascali of The Weekender wrote of the same performance "Though an interesting concept, it was an unnecessary lull in the show." ==Personal life==

In 2003, Sanderson married his wife Janin. They have a daughter, Violet, a son, Jet, as well as an adopted daughter, Raven. ==Philanthropy==

Sanderson joined The Herbie Fund charity in 2007 when he met the president of Operation Herbie, Liisa Palokoski. In addition, he started a charity fund called, "Herbie Rocks". In 2017, he travelled to Kenya with World Vision to film a mini-documentary raising awareness of some of the challenges accessing clean drinking water. He also created the 3DG Kenya project and Mountain of Hope to help raise funds and awareness of the needs. In 2018, Sanderson opened up about his battles with anxiety at the fifth annual Friday Night Lights fundraiser for Team 55 Let's Tackle Suicide Awareness and the Canadian Mental Health Association. ==Discography==

Sanderson has served as a producer and songwriter on the Three Days Grace discography and has also worked on music released through Judge and Jury Records, in addition to a wide range of other projects. ==References==