The Neal Peart 30th Anniversary Drum Tour, sponsored by Sabian and hosted by Peart’s drum tech Lorne Wheaton, was in Las Vegas yesterday. DrummerWorld was able to spend a few moments talking with Lorne about Peart, the drums, and some great news for Peart fans for Christmas. “We’ve just finished putting the final touches on a DVD called ‘Anatomy of a Drum Solo,’ due out for the holiday season,” Lorne told us. “Neil breaks down his last three big solos, and goes into detail about what inspired them.
There’s also a book by Neil that will be out at about the same time, and we’ve got an amazing high definition concert DVD that’s at least twice as good as the Rio concert DVD!” Lorne was kind enough to sign a Wuhan 16” china for us, and his infectious smile when he talked about Peart’s love of Wuhans made it clear why it took so long for Sabian to finally convince Peart to switch to Sabian chinas.
Thanks Lorne for taking the time to talk with us.
- Dog Breath
Lorne Wheaton - DogBreath
Questions and Answers
Originally Posted bybilltubs
What did Lorne said about tuning? How does Neil tunes his heads? (tight batter, or resonant or what ever; specific pitch?)
THANKS!
Lorne said that Neil like the heads on his drums almost identical in tuning, with the batter head just slightly tighter than the reso. He also said that Neil likes his snare drum heads very tight. As soon as he said that, I looked behind me at this snare. I can't tell you how tempted I was to reach over and give it a pop with my finger. It's the exact snare that Neil Peart uses, but with a different throw-off. Lorne said that Neil had one that has a quicker throw off, so he replaced the one that he uses and keeps the original DW throw off on all of the copies that are sold. Originally Posted bymediocrefunkybeat
Does anybody have any idea how long it takes for the roadies to set the kit up?
According to Lorne Wheaton, it takes four stagehands 3 1/2 hours to unpack the 12 cases ( ! )
of drums and equipment. Then Lorne himself does the final setup, and finally Neil Peart does his own tuning. Every night, every show. Unbelievable.
Of the entire kit, I think this may have been my favorite part:
a custom-built, gold-plated stand....to which was affixed a four-dollarbicycle bracket....holding an eighty-five-cent bottle of water.
