Bio

Whether it is recording, touring, or playing live, Christiaan van Wyk brings tremendous drive, work-ethic and energy to his performances. A native to South Africa, Christiaan grew up with a variety of neo-traditional music styles, which were combined with westernized mainstream influences when he settled just outside of Vancouver, Canada in 2001. As an accomplished performer, Christiaan has had the opportunity to take his drumming across international borders where he has played amongst some of the greats like Jeff Hamilton (Frank Sinatra), Zoro (Lenny Kravitz), Chad Butler (Switchfoot) and Nate Robinson (Lecrae) to name a few.

Christiaan began his drumming in earnest when he was twelve years old and in addition to his on-going studies, he grew up in an area where there was and is a constant tour of drum clinicians that pass through. He has had the opportunity to be inspired and educated by legendary drummers like Billy Cobham (James Brown), Dennis Chambers (SANTANA), John Blackwell Jr. (Prince), Steve Smith (Journey), Chris Coleman (Chaka Khan), and many more.

Staying connected to his community Christiaan appreciates playing at local events and festivals, when he is not performing or recording for various artists he can also be found teaching at “Canada’s Music Store” Long & McQuade. Some of Christiaan’s most recent work includes playing, recording, touring, producing and managing the Canadian roots rock band ‘Awake O Sleeper’ (2012 – 2015), performing and working with singer-songwriter Andrew Christopher (2015’s Country Club Act of the Year, for the BC Country Music Association), working with ‘The Arctic’ (Worship collective project), as well as recently sitting in with the JUNO award winning songwriter Brian Doerksen.