Pierre van der Linden

Pierre van der Linden, born 19 February 1946 in the Netherlands, is a jazz drummer whose style was influenced by his childhood hero Buddy Rich.
In the 1960s he drummed with noted guitarist Jan Akkerman in bands such as the Friendship Quartet, Johnny and the Cellar Rockers, the Hunters, and Brainbox, as well as in other Dutch groups such as After Tea, Tee Set, and ZZ and the Maskers. In late 1970 he rejoined Akkerman in Focus, the progressive rock band which brought them to international fame. His drum fills on the serio-comic, proto-metal opus "Hocus Pocus" single became, in the seventies, what those of "Wipe Out" were in the sixties, an FM radio staple in the United States. Dissatisfied with the band's change of direction to a more commercial, mainstream sound (which included less-syncopated, simpler time signatures) he left Focus in October, 1973 and was quickly enlisted to Trace, a Dutch supergroup led by classical keyboardist Rick van der Linden (his second cousin) and bassist Jaap van Eik.
When his Focus replacement Colin Allen left the band, Pierre briefly rejoined the group in 1975 for live dates and an unreleased track, "Glider", subsequently on the "Ship of Memories" LP. He toured and recorded with Jan Akkerman on Jan's solo album "Eli" in 1976, and on "Floatin'" on Akkerman's eponymous 1977 release. He also recorded with jazz keyboardist Jasper van 't Hof and with band Sweet'd Buster's "Out of the Blue" in 1980. In the 1990s he recorded and performed live with Advance Warning, a free jazz group, and in 2004 he rejoined keyboardist/flautist Thijs van Leer in Focus with whom he currently records and plays live in venues across the world.