Frank Moezelaar


Location: Leeuwarden

Challenge: Paralyzed left arm

Website: www.frankmoezelaar.com

Frank Moezelaar is a drummer and bass player, born 1988 in Groningen, The Netherlands. Frank was born early and suffered a bleeding in the brain wich left his left arm and leg partially paralyzed. He adds "I have been competitive all my life to conquer my body and not letting my handicap win so I played soccer and did all the things a normal boy would do just to blend in".

Frank's love for the drums started in the attic of a close friend. He adds "I discovered him drumming along with Metallica despite his handicap I thought that that was so impressive, I right away linked to overcoming your handicap by doing something you love. That’s when I realized that drums was my instrument to be". Frank then did some research and discovered Rick Allen of Def Leppard. He adds "Rick showed me that drumming with a disability is possible if you want it more than anything!"

A love for drumming was born! Frank started practicing to get his only good arm in to the groove and to this day he is still going strong. Frank lists his other heros as Gavin Harrison, Phil Rudd, Lars Ulrich and Neil Peart.

At the age of 11 Frank started to get into Metal. He adds "Together with my best friend I started to listen to my first bands in this genre; Slipknot and Metallica. We started the band Santeria and began chasing our dreams; Being the first succesfull handicapped metalband We had a blast in those days with some wonderful shows and despite of Santeria no longer being active I'm very grateful for the experience and fond memories and the friendship with my best friend".

In 2009 Frank did an audition for the Academy of Popculture in his hometown of Leeuwarden. He says "I really wanted to grow as a drummer and I saw that as the ultimate possibility to do so!" Although his audition was not the best they ever saw, they saw potential in Frank and his inspiring story so they welcomed him to the school. Frank started getting lessons from Sietse Huisman (with one arm behind his back) and there his journey to become the best drummer he can be began. He adds "I started learning independence and grooves with my trusty right arm and slowly I progressed".

In 2015 Frank graduated the Academy of Popculture being the first handicapped student to reach the Bachelor of Music degree. In that time he was active in the Doom-Metal band Black No.1. After a few great years with cool shows and their debut-album "It’s Night Again" the band stopped due to personal reasons.

He is working on a workshop right now and together with music teacher Evert Groendijk I'm doing projects on schools for children with learning problems or handicaps.

By playing music together they want to achieve fun and self-actualization by showing the power of music! He adds "We also lead a big band of people with handicaps. Together we tell stories with the help of matching music and also we perform this a few times a year". For more info on this project, please click www.evertgroendijk.nl.

Recently, Frank picked up a (short-scale) bassguitar to learn to play bass. I use tapping and hammers/pull-offs to acheive the string-movement. He gets a big inspiration from Bill Clements.

He also started his own Youtube channel to play covers, give tips and to inspire musicians all around the world.

He currently plays in the Rock Coverband "Bulletpoint"


Frank Moezelaar - One (Metallica)