Chris Hesse

Christopher River Hesse is the drummer for the American rock band Hoobastank. He was born on January 24, 1974 in Humboldt County, California.

His mother and father were both active musicians and encouraged him at an early age to follow in their footsteps. He started at age 5 with piano which he kept until his mid-teens when guitar and drums became more enticing. Somewhere in-between he also took vocal and guitar lessons, broadening his musical horizons. In middle school he decided to pick up the drums thinking that his father had played them his whole life, maybe there was something to it, thus beginning his career as a drummer. Chris's experience in piano helped him excel in all types of percussion, bells, tympani and many others. He joined every school band and orchestral group his small town had to offer. Through these groups he met a talented clan of musicians from a neighboring town. He began playing with these kids, forming a handful of different bands.

Chris Hesse signed on with Yamaha in 2001 but their relationship did not begin there. He worked at a drum shop during college where he first became familiar with Yamaha drums. He not only noticed that they consistently sounded better than the rest of the drums in the shop, but they also sold 3 times more than anything else in the shop.