25 years ago today, I drove 2 hours from Odsherred to Copenhagen with my friend Kristian to see a relatively unknown Australian drummer in a clinic organised by my favourite drum store Slagtøj Centret, where I would later work for 7 years.
That drummer was Virgil Donati and that very evening we got to talking and a fledgeling friendship was formed. We subsequently met several times at various clinics and concerts all over Europe and I became a regular on his website's messageboard.
I started doing a bit of moderation on the messageboard and the fan base grew from a few hundred to 10,000, then 100,000 and beyond. We were 3 people running the site with Virgil's brilliant (then) webmaster Chris at the helm.
Eventually we made the move to Facebook, where we're now hosting more than 200,000 followers, all of whom have witnessed Virgil's incredible body of work take form over these many years.
Virgil's drumming, his compositions, his work ethic and his complete dedication to his craft - all of it is now legendary and well-known in the worldwide drumming community and beyond.
His artistic output is constantly pushing the limits of what is possible and even comprehensible.
A personal highlight for me was when I project-managed the album cover art for Virgil's 2013 album 'In This Life', which featured the artwork of my dear cousin, Lars.
I've made a playlist of YouTube videos which I think are all good examples of Virgil's musical mastermind. And I've also made a 2 hour Spotify Playlist Introduction to that of his music which is available there.
Here is to 25 years of friendship - and many more!