Do you write/draw on your batter heads?

topgun2021

topgun2021

Gold Member
I was first aware of people doing this from seeing Stewart Copeland's kit from behind on youtube.

I can't really write on my toms since they are clear coated. I don't write on my snare though. If I did, I would probably write words like, breathe, relax, look for cues, etc. If I was cool enough to change my heads for every gig, I would write down the set list.
 
What did he write on the heads?

I have Never seen anyone write on their heads.
 
Frank said:
What did he write on the heads?

I have Never seen anyone write on their heads.
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To be honest, what he wrote on his heads can't be discussed on this forum due to the rules on profanity. Needless to say, four words, directed at Gordon.
 
Sometimes when doing a tour, I might right the set list on the floor tom if the show isn't changing at all.

As a matter of habit I always write "are they dancing?" at the top of my snare head to remind me what I'm there to do.
 
I've never written on the heads, and wonder if it would distract me in any way.
 
FelipeJose said:
As a matter of habit I always write "are they dancing?" at the top of my snare head to remind me what I'm there to do.
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Now that I like. That's worth posting somewhere nearby. I might have to steal that. :)
 
I like the idea of writing and drawing on heads, though I wouldn't do it myself because I can't draw and my handwriting is a bit messy. My girlfriend is a great artist though, I should get her to draw something for me.
"Are they dancing" and "keep practicing" are good ones ;)
 
gusty said:
I like the idea of writing and drawing on heads, though I wouldn't do it myself because I can't draw and my handwriting is a bit messy. My girlfriend is a great artist though, I should get her to draw something for me.
"Are they dancing" and "keep practicing" are good ones ;)
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You just gave me an awesome idea for my senior art show for my Graphic Design Major. No one is allowed to steal my idea of using coated heads as a canvas ;).

I will also do this for all my coated heads on my set now.
 
For the longest time I had a coated Ambassador on my piccolo snare which depicted Wolverine bursting through the head. I still have that head somewhere, the drawing held up really well.
 

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I've never seen someone write on their batter heads.

However, most of the practice pads at my old drum shop had all kinds of writing on them. Along with, ironically, "please don't write on the practice pads".
 
At some point I began writing the date I had put the head on the drum - I thought it would help me keep track of how long heads were on before they needed changing.

The other day I noticed one of them had a date of April 1996 on it :) Maybe I'll change it in another couple of years then.
 
i now put the dates i installed the heads in small sharpie on all my heads (except BD). i have also drawn a small circle around 8 o'clock on my snare that represents the ultimate location (for the stick-tip) for the best / loudest rim click. i have a few pics from "back in the day" where i would write my band names in big artistic letters on my snare...i am about 90% sure it was influenced by Copeland's "F-OFF-YOU-C" deal. i was a huge Copeland "fan/clone" back in the day.
 
My melodic kit has the notes that each drum is tuned to written on the batter heads, similar to what Terry Bozzio does. Apart from that, I don't bother. The tuning is not as critical with my 6-pc. gigging setup.
 
I hosted an open mic,and people would just yank stuff around to adjust it,2 years of that put 10 years of wear and tear on those drums,so I wrote on the mounted tom head,"You are up here for 12 minutes,how much s%&t do you really have to yank around?"
 
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