A Modern Day Touring Drummer's Gear Requirements...Holy Smokes!

Put another way... Do you push a button on the pad, or do you Cirque-Du-Soleil the shit out of that triangle.

I ran into almost that exact scenario/dilemma on the last two tours.

We needed a mark tree (bar chimes) for one song, to be used one time. Once. Just a standard gliss from high to low. One time only per show.

I have a lovely sample of that actual mark tree, but Al wanted it to be played live. So I brought it along, made him pay for a special arm for it, and for a clamp so that a dedicated mic could be mounted to the arm, with its line taking up a channel of its own, and our stage manager having to 'baby' the chimes for set-up and tear-down 60+ times on each tour.

Oh, did I mention that they get played... once?

Were the chimes in a solo spot, or was I lit up or otherwise featured? Nope. Did having live chimes sound any better to me or the audience, or did they somehow allow me to play the part better? Nope. Was I expressing myself or expanding musical or artistic boundaries? Oh please, they're bar chimes, played one time! But it's what the boss wanted. He who pays the drummer, etc etc.

And I'll end up doing the same in 2021. It's not that I necessarily advocate simplicity, but I could not determine any advantage to using the live version over the sampled version, other than perhaps balancing the right side of my rig with the left.

2018_tour.jpg

Yeah, you can tell I'm pretty happy about it.

Bermuda

PS: For those with a keen eye, yes, I'm wearing a Skins 'n' Tins tee shirt!

PPS: Yeah, I really should clean my cymbals more than once every never.
 
Last edited:
I ran into almost that exact scenario/dilemma on the last two tours.

We needed a mark tree (bar chimes) for one song, to be used one time. Once. Just a standard gliss from high to low. One time only per show.

I have a lovely sample of that actual mark tree, but Al wanted it to be played live. So I brought it along, made him pay for a special arm for it, and for a clamp so that a dedicated mic could be mounted to the arm, with its line taking up a channel of its own, and our stage manager having to 'baby' the chimes for set-up and tear-down 60+ times on each tour.

Oh, did I mention that they get played... once?

Were the chimes in a solo spot, or was I lit up or otherwise featured? Nope. Did having live chimes sound any better to me or the audience, or did they somehow allow me to play the part better? Nope. Was I expressing myself or expanding musical or artistic boundaries? Oh please, they're bar chimes, played one time! But it's what the boss wanted. He who pays the drummer, etc etc.

And I'll end up doing the same in 2021. It's not that I necessarily advocate simplicity, but I could not determine any advantage to using the live version over the sampled version, other than perhaps balancing the right side of my rig with the left.

View attachment 89346

Yeah, you can tell I'm pretty happy about it.

Bermuda

PS: For those with a keen eye, yes, I'm wearing a Skins 'n' Tins tee shirt!

PPS: Yeah, I really should clean my cymbals more than once every never.
Off topic: ¡love the color of those Luddies...!
 
I always assumed that was for tuning and not tamber.

Yeah, for someone like, say, Springsteen, who switches off every few songs, at least, but pretty much always a Tele (unless it's an acoustic), I'm sure it's for tuning, since I believe I've read his tech makes sure each of his guitars feels exactly like each other. But for someone like The Edge, who'll use at least a half dozen different makes and models per show, I suspect it's more feel and, perhaps the difference in timbre which he can hear through his IEMs, even if most of Wembley can't.
 
Oh, did I mention that they get played... once?

Were the chimes in a solo spot, or was I lit up or otherwise featured? Nope. Did having live chimes sound any better to me or the audience, or did they somehow allow me to play the part better? Nope. Was I expressing myself or expanding musical or artistic boundaries? Oh please, they're bar chimes, played one time! But it's what the boss wanted. He who pays the drummer, etc etc.

I admit I wasn't watching closely in Schenectady, but do you simply swipe the chimes, or do you sell it?

Does the lighting on them come up? Do you exaggerate/mime the physical raking motion with your whole body? Do you strike/emote a look of amazement/surprise/wonderment on your face when the sound is made, as if you didn't know how that machine worked and this is the first time you're hearing it? I mean, Stewart C literally/hilariously "blows off" his mallets in the earlier vid.
 
Last edited:
I admit I wasn't watching closely in Schenectady, but do you simply swipe the chimes, or do you sell it?

Does the lighting on them come up? Do you exaggerate/mime the physical raking motion with your whole body? Do you strike/emote a look of amazement/surprise/wonderment on your face when the sound is made, as if you didn't know how that machine worked and this is the first time you're hearing it?

No, nothing special about my playing of them, no acknowledgement from anyone, and I have to start them on one and rotate around so I can hit the hat on "&4" as a pickup to a verse. It's actually more coordination than if I simply hit the sample on the one, on the pad that sits next to the hat, for a more comfortable and smoother move to the hat just inches away.

Alas, I made it work every time, so it's not going to get changed until we stop doing "Don't Download This Song."

Bermuda
 
I don’t see 7 snares. I can see 3. One high and tight, 1 low and deep, and 1 in the middle. But I guess if you’re not hauling your own stuff, you wouldn’t care.
There’s a YouTube video with Steve’s drum tech showing what he’s got for a John Mayer show. It’s quite a road case full of snares. What’s more surprising is they aren’t all high-end snares. There’s a couple of Kent or Stewart snares in there, which lend themselves to the lo-fidelity vibe ?
 
There’s a YouTube video with Steve’s drum tech showing what he’s got for a John Mayer show. It’s quite a road case full of snares. What’s more surprising is they aren’t all high-end snares. There’s a couple of Kent or Stewart snares in there, which lend themselves to the lo-fidelity vibe ?

wow. Lol
 


btw. We could do a thread on stupid things people say when I play guitar, and the worst offenders would be drummers and keyboard players. Easily.
 
Back
Top