5 Famous Drum Set Quirks

Some drummers can sit down at any house kit and find their signature sound. But for a lot of drummers, the pieces of their drum kits are just as important to their personalities as the way they play. Below are some of rock’s most unique drum kit quirks out there—and these setup oddities are just as memorable as these players’ amazing chops.

Thomas Pridgen’s 19" Hi-Hats

This year, cymbal companies are rolling out lines that include hi-hats going up to 16", but even those seem teeny-tiny when compared to Thomas Pridgen’s monster 19" pairs. Pridgen—who’s played with acts like the Mars Volta, Trash Talk, Suicidal Tendencies, and countless gospel and R&B artists—makes an unholy racket on his huge kit, and the root of it all lies in the canyon-deep grooves he pounds out with the massive swish of his giant hats.

Thomas Pridgen - "The Big Drum Solo" (Live, 2008)

Brendan Canty’s Farmer’s Bell

Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty’s funky beats anchored the angular, experimental post-punk legends’ complex guitar interplay, but the thing that stands out on his kit is the giant farmer’s bell hanging to the right. Purchased at a market in D.C. by Fugazi guitarist Guy Piciotto, the bell became the most recognizable part of Canty’s setup, both sonically and visually. When you hear a loud, ringing clang smacked in between sections of a song, there’s no mistaking it for anything but Fugazi.

Fugazi - "Waiting Room" (Live, 1999)

Keith Moon’s Missing Hi-Hats

Moon the Loon’s hallmark was his ability to work up a wall of sound with his kit. In a live setting, he often traded a pair of hats for another giant cymbal. Subtlety and dynamic articulation were never Moon’s strong suits, so why get bogged down with a pesky little hi-hat when he could wail on another washy ride? The hats popped up here and there on some of the Who's studio work, perhaps most famously on the uncharacteristically restrained opening shuffle of "Who Are You?" Nonetheless, the bombastic bashing is what Moon is best known for. A lot of possible explanations are offered up as to why he frequently abandoned his hats, ranging from an inability to keep time with his left foot to simply not finding them necessary in an environment where he was battling against a wall of high-wattage amplifiers.

The Who - "Substitute" (Live, 1977)

Bob Bert’s Scrap Metal

Early Sonic Youth drummer Bob Bert joined noise-rock outfit Pussy Galore in the mid ’80s and moved on to banging away on scrap metal to create his harsh beats. Ladled with sheets of steel and big, heavy springs laid out across his drums that he used to create a bizarre, shrill sonic palette, Bert's kick-drum-mounted traps table looked more like the back of a scrapper's truck than part of an instrument. This setup perfectly complemented the demented noise created by John Spencer and Neil Michael Hagerty. The tin-can plinks and iron-chain clunks became just as much a part of the band's twisted sound as their raging, out-of-tune guitars.

Pussy Galore - "Pig Sweat" (Live, 1987)

Danny Carey’s Spiritual Recycled Cymbals

In the early 2000s, legendary drum tech to the masters Jeff Ocheltree—who’s worked with the likes of John Bonham, Lenny White, and Billy Cobham—started manufacturing a line of snare drums called Spirit of 2002. They were beautiful, 20-pound drums made up of old melted-down Paiste cymbals. Tool drummer Danny Carey got the Spirit of 2002’s star treatment though, by having an entire seven-piece kit custom made for him, complete with two 100-pound, solid-metal bass drums. The drums work up a one-of-a-kind punchy, dark, and complex tone—not unlike that of an old, worn-in, tarnished cymbal.

Tool - "Lateralus" (Drum Solo)
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