Abe Cunningham

Abe has a lot of style, he always comes out with inspired beats, not the typical ones you automatically play following the guitar; there's always a little twist in his rhythms with linear drumming, interesting bass drum patterns using 16th notes and groovy fills with rests that sound unique.

I love the way he uses the bass drum, always so syncopated, have a listen to the chorus of this song:

https://youtu.be/xHYmbQGBdEs
 
I don't think Abe is ever playing the same song as the rest of the band. Heavy part, soft part, doesn't matter, Abe is just playing his trip-hop beats and feeling the groove. I think he is the reason Deftones are one of my favorite bands.
 
abe cunningham is a totally underrated drummer. i wish he would stick to single bass but then he uses his double bass pedal (iron cobra powerglide if i'm not mistaken for those who are interested) like a single, say for quick triplets or something and maybe he just likes the fact that it is easier to pound that way live rather than trying to pound out a triplet on a single bass set -
(And don't say 'bonham could do it' because bonham is so deified it's impossible to tell what's truth> people saying on the pearl drummers forum that 'they recorded loads of their songs with the drum mics in the room ABOVE the room bonham was drumming in because he played so loud! and he had everything tuned real low so he was definitiely SMACKING those drums [ie - s*** technique] etc'. fact is bonham, like abe cunningham, went for quick a high tension to help with resonance and used a refined wrist-with-a-little-finger motion to get his playing how he did. more of his talent is in hte particular grooves he came up with and also managed to make the drums in rock sound intelligent, in a way that a lot of the players of the day played only what i can describe as in a 'dumb' way ()and i hate that ().) -
abe cunningham's particualr drum sound, his style, his patterns, his not overplaying that borders sometimes on overplaying but never gets so unsatisfying as that...wonderful drummer. to me, the drummer dave silveria could have been had he not decided to go for a dumbed down drum sound (less articulate) a simplified style and a disgusting smacking technique. i thought really that give nthe operation he had to have on his writst, maybe that was why the drumparts had 'simplified' but from what i can see it's becuase he's just decdied to be like morgan rose etc nad smack the hell out of things. poor.
well done abe. he really plays with passion live. when he plays the opening drum pattern to 'around the fur' (which he does on a single bass pedal, not between his two feet - ie why bother having a double pedal at all when that's the closest thing to 16ths that he does on the bass), he has this way of nodding, looking pleased but getting enough sexy energy into it and looks like the music is moving him. very impressive



I dont believe he uses any double pedals because I remember Stephen mentioning in an interview that everyone in the band has a different style and how he likes Abe's style even though he doesn't use any double bass pedals... But I think he doesn't if anything...mayb uses double strokes on his single pedal like on Girls Telephone Boys?
 
The drumming on the White Pony album was inspiring, to say the least. It seemed like at every live show I went to after that album came out, every drummer played the RX Queen drum beat during sound check. That really says something. The thing about Abe's drumming, though, is that it isn't timeless. It doesn't stand alone. Outside of the Deftones, he's just another rock drummer.
... Well it can be that maybe drummers were just playing a similar/same drum beat just cause and not necesarily because of Abe.
 
He's ridiculous. Genius. Perfect for the deftones. It makes it so Raw, and in your face. His pedal work is amazing (I thought he only had a single-bass drum pedal?)
... I believe he does. In inteviews and interactions within the band I get the understanding that he uses only a single pedal. Im pretty sure he does.
 
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