Hi there, thanks for taking the time to visit my site. Some of you may know me or my music through the band Paul Colman Trio (or “pc3” for short).

This information is here really just for the curious - for anyone who is interested in my background or to find out what I’m up to since the finish of my work with pc3.

I began drumming at age 12 in Melbourne Australia after being raised in a bit of a musical family - my Dad plays piano/Church organ & both my older brothers took up guitar & bass respectively. There was a fantastic drum teacher at my high school. His name is Gordon Pendleton. I was so keen on drumming that I went to Gordon for lessons every week for 6 years at my school.

Gordon taught me so much about drumming & life in general. I learned a lot from Gordon about posture, relaxation & hand & foot techniques on the drum set. During that time I played in the school ‘Concert band’, a church worship band & by age 16 I played my first ‘covers’ gig in a bar in Melbourne with my brother Paul on bass & some of our friends on Brass, Keyboards, Guitar & Vocals. We played music from the Blues Brothers, the Beatles, Phil Collins - basically rock & pop music with Brass in it.

At the same time, Gordon was teaching me about Jazz Music such as Miles Davis, Keith Jarrett & Weather Report. At home I was listening to bands like Midnight Oil, AC/DC, The Police, Men at Work & INXS.

Then in about 1986, the lead singer of the band Police, Sting, began his Solo career. I was in awe, he had combined just about all of my influences of Rock, Pop & Jazz music into one style. I’ll never forget hearing “Set them free” on the radio for the first time.

So I started listening to more Jazz & Jazz Fusion music just because that was where my ear lead me, the radio was always on though & I still loved pop music although by this stage, ‘Synth Pop’ had really kind of taken over the airwaves & I felt that the radio had become boring.

At the age of 21 in 1992, I was so keen to join a working band in the pubs that I left behind my University qualification of Building Surveying & started doing pub gigs 2, 3 & 4 nights a week. I was playing a lot of dance music & Aretha Franklin hits in a band called “Rhythm Method”. I had been to a few auditions for drummers that I’d found in the local newspapers but it was through recommendation & subsequent audition that I got this gig.

Whilst in Rhythm Method I joined a band playing original music called “The Woodshedders”. This was a great band with really good songs in a Crowded House kind of sound. You might say though, that this parallel of sounding like Crowded House was as much the bands curse as it was a blessing. We did some great studio recordings & won 3rd place in a Yamaha music competition in Sydney in 1994 - around the same time I met Paul Colman. Paul asked me to join his band - “The LoFi’s” & I said no as I was already busy with 2 bands. I also told Paul his band wasn’t good enough & stuck to what I was doing (kind of funny seeing as we ending up touring for over 5 years together). I was often getting fill-in drummers to cover my first set of Rhythm Method whilst I played another gig with The Woodshedders at another venue & then rushed to my Rhythm Method gig after the another set. It was getting a little crazy, but it was a great experience.

By this time, my brother Paul had joined Rhythm Method on bass, we moved to playing with sequenced backing tracks (ie recorded sequenced keyboard & percussion parts to a click track) & employed a fantastic singer, Janine Maunder on lead vocals - Rhythm Method was kicking. That year Janine introduced me to Tam (my wife), I started going to church, reading the bible & praying. Soon I realised there were some issues in my life that I had to deal with. I made a decision to leave my old ways behind & start again with Jesus Christ as the leader of my life.

After another 3 years of pub gigs, the work eventually dried up. Soon, I was on my knees begging God for direction, I prayed often that He would give me an opportunity to serve Him in music. I said to Him that I would go anywhere. Not long after that, Paul Colman asked me to travel with him for 7 weeks to the USA & the Philippines to play his music to churches, schools & at his own concerts. On returning to Australia, Paul talked about adding a Bass player, & since both he & I knew Grant Norsworthy, pc3 was born.

We toured around Australia for 3 years playing Concerts, Schools, Churches, Festivals, just about anywhere people would have us. We recorded 2 independent studio CDs (Serious Fun in 1999 & Turn in 2000). Then we travelled to the USA again as a band playing all over the country for 6 weeks. Then we released (independently - ie no record deal) a double Live CD & VHS Video (pc3 Live) in 2001.

In 2002, we were granted an opportunity to tour the USA to tour with the band Third Day. We flew to the US, moved into a tour bus & began a hectic schedule of touring the USA & eventually Europe in 2002 & 2003. pc3 signed a record deal with Essential Records & released 2 globally released CDs “New Map of the World” 2002 & “One” 2003.

In late 2003, Tam & I decided we needed to return to Australia. We felt the need to be together more with (at the time our 2 girls - now 3) & although I loved touring & playing, it was time for a change.

So in February 2004, the Paul Colman Trio played it’s final gigs around Australia - a fitting & enjoyable ending. It has been an amazing experience, not only has pc3 done literally thousands of gigs & some fantastic recording experiences, it has lead me to be involved with other artists, playing drums for Bebo Norman on tour & working with some of Nashville's’ top Producers & Engineers, Winning a Dove Award in 2003 & being nominated for a Grammy Award, even doing some session work in Nashville.

It was also amazing to tour with & see Third Day play so many shows along with artists Bebo Norman, Tait & FFH. We often saw bands such as Switchfoot, Audio Adrenaline, Mercy Me, Michael W Smith & Steven Curtis Chapman perform live at festivals & it was a great experience to meet some of the musicians in these bands.

In 2004 & 2005, I have been working as a Producer / Recording Engineer in Australia, working with bands & musicians to help them record their music. Also I’ve also played drums on some of these recordings - checkout the discography page for details.

I have also just finished an instructional DVD for drummers wishing to expand their skills for playing in Church - producing this has been something that’s been on my heart for a while now. Please check it out on the order page on this site!

God Bless ya

Phil :)