There are certain drummers who are as remembered for their iconic setups as their contributions to some of modern music’s greatest hits. No, we’re not talking about Bonham, Moon, and Peart — there are entire volumes devoted to these greats. Here we honor three artists who have been more reluctant to enter the limelight.
Carter Beauford (Dave Matthews Band)
There are three things you’ll never see Carter Beauford of Dave Matthews Band (DMB) perform without: a battery of Zildjian cymbals, an impeccably racked Yamaha Recording Custom, and a smile. While many artists spend lifetimes seeking a sound and a creative outlet that soothe their musical proclivities, Carter found his groove, his band, and his Yamahas at a relatively young age. Not that any of that has kept the 60-year-old Charlottesville, Virginia native stale in his craft. Carter and DMB have managed to push envelopes with each new release, once famously scrapping an entire major-label recording session and delaying their 2001 release of Everyday when vibes weren’t flying in the studio. “It turned out we weren’t ready musically,” Carter told Drum! magazine in a 2010 interview. “It started to sound like something put together, like, ‘Oh, another record.’ Creatively, it just wasn’t happening.”
Catch Carter today, and his beats are just as solid, his precision single strokes and barline-defying fills just as unthinkable, as ever. Beauford’s trusty Recording Customs are positioned in a tight crescent shape to accommodate his ambidextrous open-handed, left-hand-lead technique. Suspended high above are a constellation of mostly Zildjian K and A Custom cymbals, and peppered throughout are a smattering of world and hand percussion instruments: blocks, bells, wind chimes, and more.
Second only to his inspired beats and polyrhythms, however, it’s Carter’s snare that generates the most discussion online. Carter credits his early Jeff Ocheltree cymbal bronze snares for his unparalleled recorded sounds — though if we were to guess, we’d say Carter’s technique, and perhaps just the tiniest help from samples, play a part.
Danny Carey (Tool)
Danny “Longlegs” Carey, the gentle giant of prog rock, has been foundational to Tool’s success from the outset. The 6’5″ “wannabe basketball player” and UMKC (University of Missouri–Kansas City) grad’s dizzying use of polyrhythms, orchestral textures, tribal beats, and hand percussion have taken Tool’s brand of experimental rock and metal to groundbreaking heights, paving the way for groups like Porcupine Tree, Soen, the Mars Volta, and Animals as Leaders to enter the mainstream. But for Danny, sole beatkeeper and percussionist of Tool, reproducing these textures live requires a sophisticated setup, for which Danny looks to Synesthesia Mandala electronics. “The beauty of the Mandalas is it knows from the center to the edge where you’re hitting it. You can apply that parameter to whatever you want: panning, opening filters, pitch change. It’s up to your imagination.”
Danny claims that metaphysics and a belief in sacred geometry — “basic philosophies of how things are put together and what’s harmonic, what vibrates in your soul” — command his setup. His double-kick Sonor Designer Series drums, Copeland- and Palmer-inspired Paiste Signature and 2002 cymbals, and Korg and Mandala electronics are judiciously arranged in a symmetrical semicircle around his hulking frame. Though for a band as notoriously impish as Tool, known tricksters at their fans’ expense, it’s tough to say whether this pulse truly resonates within the band or whether Danny’s setup relies more on ergonomics. Regardless, there’s no denying that Carey and the boys have tapped into something special throughout their career. Carey continues to inspire younger generations through in-person clinics and workshops.
Meg White (The White Stripes)
Meg White — “the best part of [the White Stripes]” according to co-founder Jack White — brought a primal energy and wide-eyed enthusiasm to the band’s radio hits and sleepers. It’s this energy that Jack would go on to cite as his muse in a 2005 Rolling Stone interview. “When Meg started to play drums with me, just on a lark, it felt liberating and refreshing. There was something in it that opened me up.”
Along with her elastic, song-suiting kick and snare beats, Meg gained a reputation for the tricolor peppermint-swirl Pearl Exports and Ludwig Classic Maples she used onstage and in music videos, born out of a love of peppermint candies. Meg became an established Paiste artist by 2005 and could be seen playing classic-sized Paiste Signature and 2002 cymbals up until the White Stripes’ final performance in the summer of 2007.
Meg has been the subject of controversy ever since the White Stripes crash-landed onto the 2000s Detroit garage rock scene. While many have caroled her simple approach to the drums and unconventionally un-rock-and-roll air in concerts and interviews, a vocal minority have skewered her for the same. Not surprisingly, Dave Grohl, another drummer whose brilliance the industry was slow to recognize following his four-year stint in Nirvana, praised Meg’s drumming in a 2013 Sound City Q&A, calling her “one of my favorite drummers of all time. Like, nobody plays the drums like that.”
Another credit to Meg’s name is that she and her candy-swirl kit made the drums, an instrument with a historically masculine reputation, fun and accessible to female players throughout the aughties. A decade later, her authority behind the kit continues to be a beacon to drummers everywhere.
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