ITALY

Mirko De Maio

The Flower Kings / Mind Key


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 various Italian, european and US artists, exploring in various styles and recorded music around the globe.
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 Berklee Summer clinics of Umbria Jazz where he took the opportunity to study with teachers such as Ron Savage, Jon Damian to name a few.
Since September 2010 Mirko 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.
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).
With Stamina Mirko also recorded a bunch of songs on their album 'Perseverance' which features artists like Goran Edman (Yngwie Malmsteen, Karmakanic) and Maria McTurk (Royal Hunt).
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.
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 Mirko friendly left the band Hangarvain.
On August 2018 Mirko 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).
On July 8th MIND KEY have released the new album called 'MKIII: Aliens In Wonderland' (Frontiers Records).
During summer of 2019 Mirko recorded the new THE FLOWER KINGS’s album 'Waiting For Miracles' (InsideOut Music/Sony) at Riksmixningsverket (RMV) 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.
In 2020 Mirko has been featured 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).
Between 2020 and 2021 Mirko 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).
With THE FLOWER KINGS he records again the latest album 'BY ROYAL DECREE' out in March 2022 for InsideOut Music/Sony.
In the same year (2022) and again for InsideOut Music/Sony, Mirko records with legendary Spock's Beard keyboard player and mastermind Ryo Okumoto's new solo album 'The Myth Of The Mostrophus', more precisely on the Japan release.
Mirko owns DrumHell drum studio where he does any kind of recording sessions.
Mirko is an international official endorser of TAMA drums and hardware, ISTANBUL AGOP cymbals.
He's also a national (Italy) official endorser of VIC FIRTH drumsticks, REMO drumheads thanks to ARAMINI Srl.
In October 2022 he joins the SE ELECTRONICS microphones company as international artist.

CURRENT SETUP
XIST Bell XIST Xist Bell
Bright and clear with more controlled su...
Istabul Agop XIST Raw Ride XIST Xist Raw Ride
Dry, very penetrating and well defined s...
Istanbul Agop XIST Brilliant Mini China XIST Xist Brilliant Mini China
Bright, explosive and cutting with a qui...
Istanbul Agop Xist Power China XIST Xist Power China
An explosive, dynamic and cutting China...
Istanbul Agop Traditional Trash Hi Traditional Traditional Trash Hit
A unique and creative lathing process gi...
Istanbul Agop XIST Brilliant Splash XIST Xist Brilliant Splash
Xist Brilliant Splashes are quick and di...
Istanbul Agop XIST Ion Dark Crash XIST Xist ION Dark Crash
A darker, drier take on the Xist Ion Ser...
Istanbul Agop XIST Ion Crash XIST Xist ION Crash
The symmetrically placed geometric holes...
Istanbul Agop XIST Brilliant Hi Hats XIST Xist Brilliant Hi-Hats
Xist Brilliant Hi-Hats are crisp and foc...
Istanbul Agop XIST Crash XIST Xist Crash
Xist Crashes have a papery attack, and a...
Istanbul Agop XIST Brilliant Crash XIST Xist Brilliant Crash
Xist Brilliant Crashes have a papery att...
Istanbul Agop Traditional Splash Traditional Traditional Splash
Dark and warm with a papery attack.
PHOTOS & VIDEOS