Isaac Heath Carpenter (born August 29, 1979) is an American musician, producer, and audio engineer. He is best known as the current drummer for
Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985 as a merger of local bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic" line-up consisted of vocalist Axl R ...
, following a decade-long stint with
Awolnation. He is also the former drummer for the
alternative rock
Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...
group
Gosling as well as its previous incarnation
Loudermilk.
He previously played with
Duff McKagan's Loaded as well as
Adam Lambert
Adam Mitchel Lambert (born January 29, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter and actor. He is known for his dynamic vocal performances that combine his theatrical training with modern and classic genres. Lambert rose to fame in 2009 after ...
's live band and he has performed and/or recorded with
The Exies
The Exies is an American Rock music, rock band from Los Angeles, California, United States, formed in 1997. Their name, "The Exies", is short for "The Existentialists". Their two Virgin Records releases, ''Inertia (The Exies album), Inertia'' ...
,
Ours
Ours may refer to:
People
* Ours (singer), a French singer and songwriter.
* Wes Ours (born 1977), an American football player
Music
* Ours (band), an American rock group
Songs
* "Ours" (song), by Taylor Swift, 2011
* "Ours", a song by Ed Sh ...
,
Seaspin,
Black Lab
Black Lab is an alternative rock band founded by Paul Durham in Berkeley, California, and currently based in Los Angeles and Montana.
They released their debut album on Geffen Records, entitled '' Your Body Above Me'', and scored two rock radio ...
,
Marion Raven
Marion Elise Ravn (born 25 May 1984), better known as Marion Raven, is a Norwegian singer and songwriter. Raven formed the pop duo M2M with Marit Larsen, though they ceased performing together in 2002. Raven was later signed as a solo artist b ...
,
Tyga
Micheal Ray Stevenson[Micheal Ray Stevenson](_blank)
and
Unified Theory
Unified Theory, previously Luma, were an American rock band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1998. The lineup consisted of Chris Shinn (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), formerly of Celia Green, former Blind Melon members Christopher Thorn (lead ...
among others.
Biography
Loudermilk & Gosling (1995–2006)
In 1995,
friends Davey Ingersoll (vocals, guitar), Mark Watrous (guitar), Shane Middleton (bass) and Carpenter formed the
hard rock
Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...
quartet Loudermilk in the
Tri-Cities of
Washington
Washington most commonly refers to:
* George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States
* Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A ...
.
Initially formed as a
Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985 as a merger of local bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic" line-up consisted of vocalist Axl R ...
cover band, with the name .22s and Tulips,
in high school, they released their own independent album, ''Man with Gun Kills Three!'' in 1998.
American Recordings heard a demo of theirs and subsequently signed
them. However, despite touring with famous bands such as
Mötley Crüe
Mötley Crüe is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Hollywood, California, in 1981 by bassist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee, with guitarist Mick Mars and lead vocalist Vince Neil joining right after. The band has sol ...
and
Megadeth
Megadeth is an American thrash metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by vocalist and guitarist Dave Mustaine. Known for their technically complex guitar work and musicianship, Megadeth is one of the "big four" of American thrash metal—alo ...
,
they were dropped from the label.
DreamWorks Records
DreamWorks Records (often referred in copyright notices as SKG Music, LLC) was an American record label founded in 1996 by David Geffen, Mo Ostin, his son Michael Ostin and Lenny Waronker as a subsidiary of DreamWorks Pictures. The label opera ...
signed them in early 2002.
Several months later, they recorded and released their first official major label album, ''
The Red Record''.

The group later changed their name to Gosling, after changing their musical style, retaining all members with Watrous switching from guitar to keyboards.
Influenced by the likes of
Sunny Day Real Estate
Sunny Day Real Estate is an American emo band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1992. The band currently consists of founding members Jeremy Enigk (vocals, guitar), Dan Hoerner (guitar) and William Goldsmith (drums), alongside Greg Suran ...
,
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins (also simply known as Smashing Pumpkins) are an American alternative rock band formed in Chicago in 1988 by frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan, guitarist James Iha, bassist D'arcy Wretzky and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. The ...
,
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...
and
Queen
Queen most commonly refers to:
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen (band), a British rock band
Queen or QUEEN may also refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Q ...
,
they released the ''Gosling EP'' through
The Control Group
The Control Group is an independent record label, founded by Nabil Ayers in Seattle, Washington in 2002. Notable artists who have released albums on The Control Group include El Perro del Mar, Lykke Li, Cate Le Bon, Alice Boman and Wildbird ...
in August 2004.
Earlier in the year, they supported
Velvet Revolver
Velvet Revolver was an American hard rock supergroup consisting of Guns N' Roses members Slash (lead guitar), Duff McKagan (bass, backing vocals) and Matt Sorum (drums, backing vocals), alongside Dave Kushner (rhythm guitar) formerly of pu ...
at
The Roxy Theatre
The Roxy Theatre (often just the Roxy) is a nightclub on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California, owned by Lou Adler and his son, Nic.
History
The Roxy was opened on September 20, 1973, by Elmer Valentine and Lou Adler, along with ...
in
West Hollywood, California
West Hollywood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Incorporated in 1984, it is home to the Sunset Strip. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 35,757.
History
Most historical writing ...
. They released their debut full-length ''
Here Is...'' in 2006 through
V2 and went on to tour with
Rose Hill Drive
Rose Hill Drive is an American rock band. The group is often aligned with other bands that are reviving traditional hard rock and early metal–psychedelic. Combining hard-driving rock and blues with modern touches and arrangements, they are of ...
.
A cover of
David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...
's "
Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" was included on the
soundtrack
A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...
to the film ''
Underworld: Evolution'' in 2006.
The Exies (2007–08)
In 2006, The Exies announced that they were to return to the studio to record a new album with Carpenter joining the group to perform drums on the album. The result was ''
A Modern Way of Living with the Truth
''A Modern Way of Living with the Truth'' is the fourth studio album by The Exies. It was released on May 15, 2007, by Eleven Seven Music.
Track listing
*The song "Lay Your Money Down" was featured on the "WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009
''W ...
'', produced by
James Michael
James Andrew Michael is an American record producer, sound engineer, mixer, songwriter, musician and singer. He was the lead singer of the rock band Sixx:A.M.
Early life
He took piano lessons while growing up and sang in Holland High Scho ...
, released by the band's new label
Eleven Seven. Carpenter toured with the group for a month before departing.
Loaded (2009–present)
In September 2009, drummer
Geoff Reading announced his departure from Loaded and at the same time he informed everyone that his replacement was Carpenter:

Carpenter performed with the group on their tour supporting
Black Stone Cherry
Black Stone Cherry is an American hard rock band formed in Edmonton, Kentucky in 2001. They were signed to Roadrunner Records until 2015; the band is now signed to Mascot Label Group. The band consists of Chris Robertson (vocals, guitar), Ben W ...
, during their tour of Europe, UK and Ireland that had been announced in June.
On December 2, McKagan announced via his Twitter that he and the band were jamming on some new material. while guitarist Mike Squires stated in an online interview, on December 6, that the band were hoping to record a new album and to be touring and supporting it in 2010.
On February 1, 2010, it was announced, via
Blabbermouth.net
''Blabbermouth.net'' is a website dedicated to metal and rock news, as well as album and music DVD reviews. It is run by the website's founder Borivoj Krgin. The first version of the website was launched in March 2001. In October 2001, the rec ...
, that the group had parted ways with label
Century Media
A century is a period of 100 years or 10 decades. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c.
A ...
and were now looking for a new label having already written and demoed new material.
On July 4, 2010, the band announced they were to begin pre-production and enter the studio in August to record the follow-up to ''Sick'' stating:
In August, it was announced that the group were to record their new album with producer
Terry Date
Terry Date (born January 31, 1956) is an American record producer and audio engineer specializing in rock genres, especially heavy metal. He is well known for his work with Metal Church, Dream Theater, Soundgarden, Overkill, Pantera, Dark Ang ...
, whose production credits include albums by
Soundgarden
Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto. Cornell switched to rhythm guitar in 1985, replaced on drums initially ...
,
Pantera
Pantera () is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Arlington, Texas in 1981 by the Abbott brothers (guitarist Dimebag Darrell and drummer Vinnie Paul), and currently composed of vocalist Phil Anselmo, bassist Rex Brown, an ...
and
Deftones
Deftones is an American alternative metal band formed in Sacramento, California in 1988. They were formed by frontman Chino Moreno, lead guitarist Stephen Carpenter and drummer Abe Cunningham, with bassist Chi Cheng and keyboardist and tu ...
among others. On September 2, it was announced that the album was completed and that the group were looking for a label. McKagan also stated that it was Date that approached the group about producing their new album.
Adam Lambert (2010–12)
On September 18, 2010, Carpenter joined the touring band for
Adam Lambert
Adam Mitchel Lambert (born January 29, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter and actor. He is known for his dynamic vocal performances that combine his theatrical training with modern and classic genres. Lambert rose to fame in 2009 after ...
's
Glam Nation Tour, replacing previous drummer
Longineu W. Parsons III
Longineu Warren "LP" Parsons III is a French-born American rock musician. He is best known as the former drummer of the American rock band Yellowcard.
Early life
Parsons has been playing the drums since he was five; he played with his father, L ...
who has since returned to previous group
Yellowcard
Yellowcard is an American rock band who formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1997. Their official lineup currently consists of lead singer Ryan Key, lead guitarist Ryan Mendez, bassist Josh Portman and violinist Sean Mackin. Primarily a pop- ...
. He performed dates in the US as well as Europe, Asia and Australia from September through to December 2010. As of August/September 2012, Carpenter no longer plays drums for Adam Lambert.
Touring with Awolnation (2014–2024)
Isaac began touring with alternative rock band
Awolnation during their UK summer tour in 2014. He also recorded drums for tracks on Awolnation's sophomore album, ''
Run
Run(s) or RUN may refer to:
Places
* Run (island), one of the Banda Islands in Indonesia
* Run (stream), a stream in the Dutch province of North Brabant
People
* Run (rapper), Joseph Simmons, now known as "Reverend Run", from the hip-hop group ...
''.
Guns N' Roses (2025–present)
On March 20, 2025,
Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985 as a merger of local bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic" line-up consisted of vocalist Axl R ...
announced Carpenter as their new drummer following the departure of
Frank Ferrer
Frank Ferrer (born March 25, 1966) is an American musician. He is best known as the drummer for hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he played, toured, and recorded from 2006 to 2025. He was the longest tenured drummer in the band's history. ...
, thus reuniting him with
Loaded bandmate
Duff McKagan
Michael Andrew "Duff" McKagan (born February 5, 1964) is an American musician. He was the bassist of hard rock band Guns N' Roses for twelve years, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. McKagan rejoined the b ...
.
Discography
Production & engineering credits
References
External links
Isaac Carpenteron
Myspace
Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...
Loadedon
Myspace
Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...
Loaded official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carpenter, Isaac
Living people
People from Tri-Cities, Washington
Drummers from Washington (state)
American rock drummers
Loaded (band) members
1979 births
Awolnation members
20th-century American drummers
American male drummers
Black Lab members
21st-century American drummers
20th-century American male musicians
21st-century American male musicians
The Exies members
Gosling (band) members