Source: www.andrew olson.com
Neil Peart’s drum kit always inspires drummers‘ (and non-drummers’) imaginations. I always think of the first time I saw Rush in 1984 on the Grace Under Pressure tour. Before the show, a red curtain covered the entire kit. Then, right before the house lights went down, Neil peeked out from behind the curtain like the Wizard of Oz. The lights went out, the curtain came off, and the band took to the stage. After the show, people lined up against the front of the stage to get a look at the Tama Artstar prototype as the crew packed it away into cases. It was like looking at a Ferrari. Same color, too.
If you’ve wondered why Neil has such a large drum kit, it’s actually pretty simple: He uses all those drums the same way a piano player uses all the keys; it simply adds more melody to his playing. In a power trio like Rush, Neil wants to be able to fill those musical holes in interesting ways.
“The drums are made by DW, with a custom red sparkle finish.
“The bass drum is 22″, the toms are 8″, 10″, 12″, 13″, 15″ (two), 16″, and 18″. The current favorite snare drum is a 5″ x 14″ DW Craviaotto, and I’m also using a 13″ DW piccolo snare, miscellaneous LP cowbells, and DW pedals and hardware.
“Out back, and hidden all around, are Roland V-drums and trigger pads, accompanying the Kat mallet controller and Shark pedals, all feeding into Roland TD-10 modules with expansion cards, Roland 5080 sampler, line mixer, and midi converters.
“Drum heads are Remo white-coated Ambassadors, and cymbals are Avedis Zildjian ― 8″ splash, 2 10″ splashes, 13″ hi-hats, 14″ X-hats, two 16″ crashes, 18″ crash. 20″ crash, 22″ ride, 20″ Low China, and an 18″ Chinese Wuhan.
“(That sort of thing I understand better ― you just hit them with sticks. Promark 747 “Signature” ones, in this case.)
“Someone has also written at the end of this list that I have “a really great drum tech.” That would be Lorne Wheaton, better know as “Gump.” Or is that “Grump?” Time will tell…”
