Early Life:
Ahmed Akif Rahman was born on April 10, 1994 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Most importantly, music and drums had been crawling through his veins since he was around thirteen to fourteen years old when he first watched his cousin, an amazing drummer as well, practicing and playing drums savagely for his university band in Bangladesh. Afterwards, as far as Akif remembered scavenging his house to find anything that would resonate when struck and use it to create music while driving his parents insane in the process. Some kids are forced to learn to play instruments at an early age and end up hating it; he thinks he was born with drumming embedded in his DNA, so learning the instrument became like a second nature to him from whatever sources he had access to

One day, Akif went to his cousin’s place and was immediately drawn to the sound coming from his cousin’s computer. He was like “What in the world am I hearing? His cousin told him that it was Pantera’s “The Art of Shredding,” and since then the connection was made forever. From that day onwards, Akif made up his mind that this is the type of music he would want to play, that is how he wants to sound, and he would be going to spend a vital part of his life striving to be the best he could be in drums... At his free time, Akif is still trying to reach his goal for why he always practices his art and try to evolve as much as possible with sheer dedication whenever he sits at the drums. Drumming is not only an obsession, it’s a commitment Akif made to himself a very long time ago.

As a matter of fact, his parents and cousin finally caught up and realized that music was going to be an integral part of his life so his cousin gifted him a pair of Promark American Hickory 9A - Carl Allen Signature sticks (discontinued now) ten to eleven years back which had like an amazing balance and grip. To this day, that was one of the best presents Akif claimed that he has ever received which set him on the path to become the person he is today.

Even though after being born and raised up in a Desi Family , pursuing education was also very important at the same time as per Akif’s parents’ order as they also supported him a lot in purchasing gears and stuffs and tolerating his tantrums but he always shows his gratitude to Allah that he really managed to balance out his studies and music smoothly for why at a certain stage of life, Akif felt the dire need to move to USA for his higher studies and finished out his bachelors in Business Administration from a very well reputable university and currently doing his masters in Information Systems and at the same time playing drums with the local bands here in US and doing enormous shows...

Artistry and Influences:
As a guy growing up in the musically inclined capital of Bangladesh i.e. Dhaka, Akif was always exposed to stuffs as much rock and metal and later evolved onto different styles of music including funk, fusion, old salsa , Afro-Cuban and other beat-inducing music, which he tries to incorporate onto his drumming style. On top of that, he grew up listening to lots of killer drummers like Neil Peart, Ginger Baker, John Bonham, Keith Moon, Vinnie Paul, Pete Sandoval, Vinnie Colaiuta, Tommy Aldridge, Simon Philips, Benny Grebb, Vinnie Appice, Gene Hoglan , Thomas Lang , Virgil Donati, Nicolas Barker and many other greats...

Current Bands/ Projects:
Akif currently plays with the band Helter-Skelter (Bangladesh/USA) which is right now on a hiatus but at the same time he is on the verge of working with a death metal band based in Detroit named Mortal Disguise and on the other hand he also played with some great local bands here in NY like Beyond Rage, Unholy Dispute and many more...He shared that he has quite a selective and decent fan-base who comes up to him after shows and ask him what type of music keeps him motivated to innovate. Akif’s answer to them is always a surprising one— “listen to anything with a powerful groove, no matter what music it is, from Latin, African, and Asian traditional to Australian aborigine and world folk music. This is where you will find the key to innovation. “

Equipment:

• 14"×6.5" Pearl Reference 20 Ply Snare Drum in Shimmer of Oz finish with chrome hardware

Cymbals – Soultone
• 14” Abby Hi Hats
• 16” Abby Crash
• 18” Abby Crash
• 20” Abby Ride

Drumheads – Evans
• Snare – Heavyweight

Hardware – Pearl
• Pearl Eliminator Double Pedals

Sticks – Pro-Mark
• Pro-Mark 7A sticks wood tip

Links to social media:

Email:
• ahmedakifrahman@gmail.com

Personal:
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ahmedakifrahman
• Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ahmedakifrahman/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ahmedakifrahman/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ahmedakifrahman

Helter-Skelter:
• Reverbnation: https://www.reverbnation.com/helterskelter7777
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/helsel08