How much backup gear do you take to a gig?

I always bring at least two back up Depends undergarments. When the first one soaks through just rip it off and throw it into the crowd; put the next one on and you're ready to rock!
 
Back up snare and back up bass drum pedal (plus spare heads, especially snare drum batter and snare side).
Never had anything else fail on me.
 
Spare parts and tools that fit in my stick bag: a clutch, some small hand tools, felts, spring, snare cord and I keep strapping tape in the car for rigging any stand or head failure. But I don’t really get paid much very often, and don’t have any spare’s anyway
 
My thought process is to carry as few things as possible.

I keep an extra snare head in my truck.

I switched to the Gibraltar quick release hi hat clutch a while back. I just threw the original clutch in my stick bag as a spare.

I used to bring an extra pedal. However, I’ve been using just the primary pedal from my double lately. Since I have an extra spring and beater already installed that I could quickly swap if needed, I no longer bring the backup pedal.

I have a roll of grosgrain ribbon in my stick bag in case the snare straps break. Also have a small multi tool in the ‘ol stick bag as well.

One thing I’m considering picking up is the Aquarian kick patch repair kit. Breaking a bass drum head at a gig would be THE nightmare scenario.

I take good care of my stuff and use quality gear. In 30 years of gigging I have had minimal issues.
 
I always do a pretty thorough gear-check when I'm at home AND when I'm setting up/tearing down, so I really don't carry much. I always use top felts so I don't need to carry any spares and can't remember a time when I actually needed a spare.
  • I keep an Aquarian KickPATCH in my cymbal bag instead of a full bass drum head.
  • I have a 1' length of gaff tape stuck to my cymbal bag and I tear it off as needed.
  • Stick bag has a spare drum key but I always have one on my keyring, too. I usually keep two pairs of my regular sticks and then some others that I'll use on occasion.
  • a spare pedal in the car
  • a backup snare, but more to accommodate weird sounding rooms than for fear of breakage.
  • In the summer I bring some of those electrolyte powder packs you can drop into a glass of water for hydration.
  • For jazz gigs in venues I am unfamiliar with I'll bring two ride cymbals.
 
I'm surprised to discover how many spares you take !
Your cars must be roomy enough !
I'm kind of heavy hitter but I've never brought extra drumheads to any gig. And I've never broke any skin during a show (sticks yes - double yes)
If it's my kit, I know how worn the skins are, and anyway, on a 2/3h show I would never have time to swap any skin.
I generally take a snare strap, because I've been through an uncomfortable failure once, a few cymbal felts and wing nuts for the cymbal stands, in case I lose them while installing.
Maybe I should take some spare for the bass pedal and a repair patch - thank you guys for the idea.
Of course, I take a bunch of sticks and drumkeys / tool. But it's not spare stuff. Drums sticks are consumable, and tools are just essential.
I take extra ear plugs and... extra shirt or t-shirt !
Back up t-shirt is more essential than a back up snare ! I Don't have enough room and time to take extra heads, extra snare or pedal.
I tend to check and double check a lot before gigs.

If I play on someone else kit, I take my pedal, hihat clutch, cymbals and snare drum and an extra cymbal stand.

I don't know about you, but the piece of gear that failed me twice and got me in trouble was the hihat pedal : the chain or to be precise the link to the pedal. Once on my own stand and once on a house kit in a pub.
 
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Not much...extra snare head..snare straps..cant think of anything else. A must have is my Evans torque key.
 
spare sticks and drum key
 
I always bring an extra pedal and snare drum. I also have my home-made "Drummer's Survival Kit" with felts, washers, drum keys, screwdriver, adjustable wrench, snare string etc..

Now that I'm a little more technologically advanced I've added extra cables and wires for my in-ears, metronome, and headphone amp.
 
As a drummer, I brought a load of extra sticks, and that was about it. I think my stick bag may have had an extra clutch and a couple of felts in it.

I never really had any spares to bring; I was always the guy who just owned the one kit I used. I couldn't justify the expense of space to store extra snares, pedals, cymbals, etc, so once I bought something new, the old gear was sold off (unless it was being replaced because my caveman technique had broken it).

I've gotten a bit better though. These days, my main instrument is bass, and I will bring extra cables, a spare set of strings, an extra strap, a fresh 9V battery (active bass ftw), and a DI box in case my pedalboard takes a complete nosedive (so that I can at least send some sort of signal to FoH).
For local gigs where I'm driving myself to the venue, I'll even bring a spare bass just in case (get it, because it's in a case?).
 
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DrumDoug said:
I listened to a podcast yesterday where the drummer said he has an extra snare, kick pedal on stage with him. He said it’s easy for his drum tech to put there just in case. Must be nice to have the room and help carrying your gear. The only extra gear I have on stage with me are extra sticks. That’s mainly because I drop them not break them. I have an extra hihat clutch and snare head in my cymbal bag. I have a backup kick pedal in the car but I don’t bring it in. I’ve never needed any of this stuff. It’s better to have and not need than to need and not have.
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a snare, couple xlr cables, sticks of course, a HH clutch, a couple different kick beaters, Gaff tape , some Felts, Moongels, etc
 
IBitePrettyHard said:
In the early 2000s I was setting up for a gig and the Delta hinge on my DW 5000 pedal broke in half. Apparently DW used inferior aluminum on the earlier Delta hinges, because I've had 2 of them break. Luckily I had enough time to run to the music store and buy a new Iron Cobra before the gig.

Ever since then, I've brought an extra pedal, and I always bring a spare snare drum as well.
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i better start bring a spare pedal then, lol
 
I have extra felts, a spare hihat clutch, and several tools with me. No spare pedals, as I've only ever had one old 5000 break, and I was able to fix it with parts from Home Depot.

I should probably put a spare head in my snare case, though...
 
Just sticks and a pedal. I have a Leatherman tool, and gaffer's tape for anything else.
 
I have a toolbox with all the necessary extras like hi-hat clutches, keys, tension rods, etc.
As for extra gear, I'll sometimes bring another snare drum for those times when something mechanical just comes apart that I can't fix on the fly (which happened once on the last song of the first set, so I took the break to fix it).
Rarely do I have to bring anything else as after years of acquisition, most of what I play is at the pro level.
 
Sounds like a lot of you guys bring a lot of backup gear and yet haven't really had to use any of it.

I'm curious about what backups you bring specifically because of a horror story!

For example, I had a little screw on a very old kick pedal come loose and get lost while we were setting up once. Luckily it was 15 min from home and I grabbed another and finished setting up 5 min before showtime. I've thought twice about leaving an extra pedal at home for every gig since.
 
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