When people think if bands, they normally think of the person fronting it. For example, example when thinking of Greenday — rocker Billie Joe Armstrong comes to mind. Or when the mention of pop punk band Paramore is made, it's hard for the image of a vibrant-colored haired Hayley Williams not to enter your mind. It seems that that's always the way it's been, band's become defined by the person we see or hear the most.
But in some cases, other member of the band can shine front behind the magnanimous flow of the lead singer— take Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz, for example. Even though it was frontman Patrick Stump's voice that fell into our ears, fans could hardly ignore the eyeliner-obsessed bassist who became most recognized in the band. Or, most popularly, Travis Barker who—though just the drummer of Blink 182— seems to have been regarded as the most famous member of the band.
Barker has collaborated with a myriad of artists since Blink 182's heyday and has shown there will always be an artist in need of a drummer to back their set. And such was the case for American rapper/singer Machine Gun Kelly— who brought on Rook as his official drummer in 2012. Rook has since made a name for himself as one of the most talented drummers in the industry and— as with most backing members of a band— comes an untold story. Here's everything we know about MGK's drummer Rook.
7 Who is Rook?
Rook (whose actual name is JP Cappelletty) is a drummer who was born in Toledo, Ohio on October 13, 1993 and attended Sylvania Southview High School. He comes from a musical family where his father, Johnny Cappelletty, was a band member of American metal band Damien. In 2012, he became the official drummer for Machine Gun Kelly.
6 Rook Was Very Serious About Becoming A Rock Star
JP Cappelletty had always known he had wanted to pursue music professionally and, because his father was in a band, he always had drums at his disposal growing up. As he began to hone his skills, Rook was adamant about diversifying his approach to the drums and, didn't limit himself to one style of drumming.
“I tried not to stick on one type of music because as time went on, I was like ‘If I want to make this a career and do something with it, it might not be just a rock or rap band that wants you,” he said, in a SoundDriven interview with Samson. “I wanted to be ready for any opportunities that would be able to come.”
5 Who Are Rook's Musical Inspirations?
In his interview with Samson, the drummer shared that, growing up, he tried not to look to other drummers for inspiration because he didn't want to "make himself appear like another drummer." Regardless of his reservations, Rook named heavy metal drummer Tommy Aldrige—adding that he played along with the drummer's aunt Ruby Starr in the 70s— and Tommy Lee of Mötley Crüe his main idols. Rook also shared that he got the chance to meet Lee through Machine Gun Kelly, calling him "super cool" and saying that they spend quite a while together.
4 How Did Rook Become MGK's Drummer?
The story of Rook becoming Machine Gun Kelly's drummer stems back to 2012 when JP Cappelletty was still in High School. Back then, he had been sending videos of him drumming to Machine Gun Kelly. A 17-year-old Rook was sitting in class, during his senior year of High School, when he received the phone call that would change his life. When he checked to see who was calling it said: "Slim MGK". Cappelletty walked out of class to answer the call and traveled to Cleveland with his uncle to audition for the rapper.
In his SoundDriven interview with Samson, Rook spoke about the process saying: "“What was driving me throughout the whole [initiation process] is…like I said, ‘I’m in love with the drums’ I’ve never ever had a day where I thought ‘maybe drums weren’t going to work out’ — I didn’t give myself that option."
“Once I got that opportunity…I’m from Toledo, OH; it’s a small city; there’s not nothing going on there; people don’t get opportunities like that where I’m from. So it was on me like, ‘this is it,'" he continued.
After the audition, the drummer was invited to play a show in Michigan with the rapper at a venue called The Blind Pig. The show went exceedingly well and Cappelletty was invited to play at more and more shows until eventually— he dropped out of High School and became the band's official drummer.
3 Are Rook And Machine Gun Kelly Close?
Machine Gun Kelly and Rook are, in fact, super close. The duo became good friends on the MGK's 2012 ‘Hostile Takeover tour. On occasion, Rook refers to the rapper as his brother and nicknames him "Kels". In fact, the drummer even taught his MGK how to play drums in the Mötley Crüe 2019 Netflix biopic, The Dirt, where the rapper portrayed Tommy Lee.
2 How Did Rook Feel When MGK Started Working With Travis Barker?
Rook has been Machine Gun Kelly's drummer since 2012 and fans may have been surprised to see the rapper collaborate with legendary Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker. The duo have collaborated on songs like "Forget Me Too", "I Think I'm Okay" as well as Barker joining him on the 'Mainstream Sellout' tour. It's easy to believe that there may have been some bad blood between Rook and Barker as they are both talented drummers, but in an interview on The Journey podcast, Cappelletty cleared things up.
"...He has the formula, he has the ear, and it's more than just drums. I had a lot to learn from him... I learned light years of s**t from him.".
Cappelletty went on to add that Barker is just "a great guy" who is really respectful to him through the entire process of the collaboration happening.
1 In 2021, Rook Ended Up In The Hospital
In 2021, when the drummer was walking in the Hollywood Hills suburb of Los Angeles at 8 PM, two masked men pulled up, jumped out of a vehicle and tried to rob him. A physical altercation ensued and resulted thousands of dollars worth of property stolen from Rook. It was also reported, by TMZ, that— somehow the drummer was hit by a car, injured his foot and his arm.
The drummer posted a photo after being admitted to the hospital with his bud Machine Gun Kelly. The photo was taken when the rapper paid the drummer a visit while he was in the hospital. Along with the photo, the drummer posted the caption: : "Don't Worry I'll Bounce Back.". He has made a full recovery since then and can be seen on his social media accounts, rejoining the band and performing alongside Machine Gun Kelly.
