Mirkko D.
"Everyone has their dark time, everyone fight his/her own battle.
In the show business it’s better to not show your scars, better smile all the time…well we have the right to feel not ok, that’s part of the recovery; by feeling NOT OK we start to release that negativity out of our mind and body, because we accept it and we accompany that feeling out of our way.
Not always it’s easy, but what I’ve learnt it’s to not trying to delete negative thoughts, better to ‘archive them’; personally I try to secure that negativity, that sense of self boycott, in some remote place of my head, and the more time passes, the more those feelings go away.
I’m a drummer and drumming has helping me a lot to put out stress, also sport; in time my workout time has become a real therapy session, and believe me, it works!
BUT I couldn’t stress enough to encourage people to talk with a therapist, most of these professionals are angels to us, and you would understand that most of the times you don’t need a miracle, but just a person that would listen to you."
Mirko De Maio-
The Flower Kings"
Mirkko (Mirko) De Maio is an Italian drummer, he was born on 31-7-1984 in Pompei, Italy.
He started playing drums (inspired by Queen's music) and percussions at the age of 8 and at 9 he took the first drum lessons progressively with: Peppe Merolla, Fredy Malfi, Sergio Di Natale, Ezio Zaccagnini. Also he took some lessons with Dom Famularo (drums and percussion world ambassador), Dave Elitch (USA) and Claud Hessler.
He has played with some national, european and american artists, exploring in various styles and recorded music around the globe.
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On December 2008 he moved to the United States, in Hollywood, CA, to attend the prestigious PIT (Percussion Institute Of Technology) at Musicians Institute under the guide of instructors such as David Derge, Chuck Silverman, Fred Dinkins, Rob Carson, Donny Gruendler, Andy Megna , Stewart Jean, Chuck Flores, Glen Sobel, David Salinas and
others. In July 2010 he attended the Barklee Summer clinics of Umbria Jazz where he took the opportunity to study with teachers such as Ron Savage, Jon Damian to name a few.
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Since September 2010 Mirkko began to play with the band MIND KEY (Frontiers Records) with whom he has performed in sevaral live shows; worthy of mention is the Power Prog & Metal Festival in Mons, Belgium supporting legendary bands like Europe, Hammerfall, Rage, Edguy, Vanden Plas, Gamma Ray, and many others.
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In April and May 2012 he went on tour with the hard rock progressive band STAMINA (Ice Warrior Records), as headliner for the first leg of the tour in Italy (Salerno, Pisa and Rome), Germany (Munich) and Austria (Kufstein), and opening act for the Danish band ROYAL HUNT during the second leg of the tour (May) in Holland (Kerkrade), Madrid (Spain), Barcelona (Spain) and again in Italy (Romagnano Sesia- Novara).
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With Stamina Mirkko also recorded a bunch of songs on their album “Perseverance” which features artists like Goran Edman (Yngwie Malmsteen, Karmakanic) and Maria McTurk (Royal Hunt).
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He also appeared on Vivaldi Metal Project I & II (2015 and 2022), a project created by Giuseppe Lampieri "Maestro Mistheria" which includes some of the biggest names in the metal and hard rock music world, such as Rick Wakeman, Mike Portnoy, Fabio Lione, Steve Di Giorgio, Mark Boals, Maestro Mistheria, Marco Sfogli and many more.
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In 2015 De Maio has joined the band HANGARVAIN (Volcano Records), a rock band with whom he performed in and outside Italy. With HANGARVAIN he also recorded in July 2015 the album "FREAKS" (released in February 2016) which it has been promoted in early 2016 with three European and Italian tours as headliner (Spain) and as opening act for Gilby Clarke (Guns 'n' Roses) and LA Guns, in Kiev (Ukraine) with the US band Skillets, and again in Italy with The Darkness. In 2018 Hangarvain recorded EP “Roots & Returns” and started a new tour in Italy, Ukraine and Latvia.
After the tour Mirkko friendly left the band Hangarvain.
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On August 2018 Mirkko De Maio has officially joined the legendary swedish rock progressive band THE FLOWER KINGS of Roine Stolt (Transatlantic,Steve Hackett, The Sea Within, Kaipa DC). With The Flower Kings he toured all over South America (Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru), Mexico (Guadelajara, Mexico City), Europe (Sweden, Norway, Germany, The Netherlands, Switzerland, France, UK) and in 2019 Canada (Montreal, Quebec City).
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On July 8th MIND KEY have released the new album called “MKIII: Aliens In Wonderland” (Frontiers Records).
During summer of 2019 Mirkko recorded the new THE FLOWER KINGS’s album “Waiting For Miracles” (InsideOut Music/Sony) at Riksmixningsverket of Benny Andersson (ABBA) in Stockholm, Sweden. "Waiting For Miracles" has been released on the 8th of November 2019. After some successful concerts in Japan (Kawasaki/ Tokyo) on February 2020 The Flower Kings have been nominated as best Hard Rock & Metal band at annual Swedish Grammy gala.
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In 2020 Mirkko has been feautured on Modern Drummer, the world’s most prestigious drums magazine.
During Covid-19 all concerts have been postponed or cancelled, so The Flower Kings decided to invest that "free time" to make new music (after less than one year from previous album) and record a new album in our home studios. That's how the album called "Islands" was born. Worth to mention that album’s cover art has been made by the amazing Roger Dean (Yes, Uriah Heep, Asia).
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Between 2020 and 2021 Mirkko has recorded the album "Spiritus Mundi" with Nad Sylvan (Steve Hackett’s band Genesis Revisited, Agents Of Mercy), Vivaldi Metal Project II, Chalice Of Sin with Wade Black on vocals (Frontiers Records), The Grandmaster with Jens Ludwig on guitars, Nando Fernandes on vocal and Alessandro Del Vecchio on keyboards and bass (Frontiers Records).
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Mirkko owns DrumHell drum studio where he does any kind of recording sessions.
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Mirkko is an international official endorser of TAMA drums and hardware, ISTANBUL AGOP cymbals.
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He's also a national (Italy) official endorser of VIC FIRTH drumsticks, REMO drumheads thanks to ARAMINI Srl.
About Me