Thanks man!

Didn't even know Craig left Shroud of the Heretic. Good band, when's the new album coming out... also where are the drum pics?

He left in 2012 right before 'Boiled to Death' came out on vinyl. We had an album come out March of this year (also on Blood Harvest) on vinyl and cassette. CD is coming at some point. We're almost done writing the next one which we hope will be for 2015. Getting back to drums I'll take a photo tonight at Behexen. Currently they are all jammed into my vehicle and not that interesting. You guys are welcome to pm me so we don't get this too off track.

Here's some questions for everyone!

What's the weirdest piece of drum equipment you own and/or what's the next thing you want to replace?
If you haven't always played metal what have you done or modified specifically to play metal?

I'll get the cd of that new album, didn't know that came out either.

about the only weird thing I have is a busted cow bell. I don't know how I got it honestly. I think it's still in my shed somewhere buried under the broke cymbal graveyard. Don't have any immediate plans to replace anything but I have a ride (crash) that'll need to go soon cause it's getting cracked to pieces.

I started out trying to model myself after Pete Sandoval and Patrick Robert. From that point I just got better.

Weirdest piece of drum equipment???? Hmmm....... well on my practice kit in place of a splash cymbal I have a bell that I took out of a broken AAX Dark Crash . Next thing I want to replace are my heads, they're starting to get a bit nasty looking .

I;ve played metal all my life. I had a little bit of a punk phase, but that ended up being metal as well

I don't really have anything weird in my kit, unless you count the bucket of paint and drywall compound behind my slave kick. I really need to get a new seat. I was recording a long improv song a couple years ago and the seat broke halfway through, I almost fell off. The red stuff on the legs is tape that holds the whole thing together now, but it's still pretty flexible and loose.

My 8" splash is the most 'weirdest' thing I have for my drum kit, not extremely death metal but nothing too odd either

Oh I guess I could say my seat as well since it's just a regular 24 or 26 in wooden barstool.

More photos at the end of the post under the spoiler. I play a Gretsch Catilina kit with an 18 inch bass drum. The rack tom is a 12, the floor is a 14, and the second floor I added is a 16. I bought the additional floor from Craigslist. It had this horrible spray painted, damaged wrap on it so I pulled it off, stained it and put a clear coat on it. The previous owner spray painted the hardware too which was a pain. The weirdest thing on my kit is the small cymbal in between the floor toms. It's a field cymbal which is one of those super heavy thick ones that get clapped together on a football field. It was stolen by a friend from a high school 16+ years ago. It's loud as fuck and rings forever. Another thing that I really love is that years ago I put a mesh retro screen on the front of my bass drum. It makes it loud and helps keep it in tune. They don't make them anymore though so I'm always really paranoid that something bad will happen to mine. It looks black in the photos but it's actually similar to the material on a screen door, just really really fine.

I don't know how you guys play with broken seats and bar stools. Buying a non broken seat helped me so much. Being able to sit really high was so crucial to preventing fatigue. I'm actually trying to buy a new seat soon that is more tractor style.

It can sometimes help to add some duct tape on the cymbals to reduce endless vibrating of it (not just flat on the cymbal but stick it in a _/\_ fashion if this makes sense by this symbols)

p.s. I hate nylon tips but that is just me.

I ended up on a bar stool when my friend that I was playing in a band with needed one and he threw me his stool to hold on to till he bought a new seat. he never did and I never stopped playing so I just got used to it and now prefer it, cause like you were saying that you can sit up higher... I def sit up higher than any other drummer that I've seen. I just find it much more comfortable. I can play on a regular stool but it's just not nearly as comfortable and I actually can't get them up high enough for my tastes. Seems like most stools just don't have the range to get up that high and then it always has that inch or two give whenever you sit down on it. Don't like the swivel on most thrones either. I want my ass planted right where I want it when I sit down.

The most unorthodox thing I've got is a stack made out of a bunch of broken cymbals. There are I think 6 cymbals of various sizes in it and I use it as both a stack and a second hi-hat. As for kit modifications, I did a Blacksoul Seraphim show last year using a "Ghost" kit, that being one kick, snare, and a floor tom on either side.

I remember way back in the day when I started drumming I was doing the duel highhats on either side with one open and one closed and same with having an additional floor tom on my left side. Everyone laughed and told me I was stupid since at that time you didn't see anyone doing it or at least not that I was aware of. if I had the room I would set up like that again just to try but I'm limited on my space with what I have.

I have the dual hi hat action on my kit, didn't do my last recording with it though.... played my show this past Monday and barely ever touched my x-hat. Kinda uncertain to keep it or get rid of it.... but I'll play it by ear and see what happens

I probably wouldn't need it I rarely ever need it closed, I like the whiiiissshhhh while blasting.

It was a lot easier to blast with a hat on my right side for a while, but my practice kit at my bands jam space only has a hat on the left, so I got used to doing that and getting comfortable and more up to speed with it....so now the other hat is just kinda "there" :\

Yea I thought it would be easier for me when I was doing it I still found myself doing the normal traditional crossed arm blasting.

Additional question to throw in with this, what is everyone using for mics on their kits and how do you like them?

I use a shure mic kit:
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ ... oCbF_w_wcB

with an additional pG52 for my floor tom and an extra PG56.


They are great and solid and take a great beating. been using then for 5 years now.

I use Audix. Everything thats in this set, with an extra tom and bass drum mike (which I dont use since I ended up just running my bass drums through my triggers... its easier)

http://www.audixusa.com/docs_12/units/DP7.shtml

I own two mic packs, but I forget what brand they are. In the studio, I use a mixture of Shure and Sennheiser; the latter for the toms, the former for everything else.

I would like having 2 hi hats but one with huge cymbals instead of the normal ones. I once put a couple of... crashes i think on the hihat mechanism and it sounded huge.

I think Meinl has some hi hats that are hats but insanely big and heavy lol

I remember years ago seeing a Youtube video where a dude had a "ride-hat". It was exactly like it sounds.

yea the biggest I tried for giggles was 16in high hats. was pretty pointless.

Here's my kit: A seven piece set by PDP, All Maple -series. 8", 10" and 12" rack toms, 14" and 16" floor toms, 14" snare and 22" bass drum.
15" hi hat, 20" and 18" crashes by Alchemy, Istanbul Agop's 22" Traditional Heavy Ride and Sabian's 19" Holy China. Hardware by DW excluding the two cymbal stands to far right.
Sounds (and looks imo) awesome.


I've been thinking about adding another china cymbal and a third crash.

Very pretties.

AAX 21" raw bell dry ride (true love); AAX 14" stage hats; AAX 16" stage crash. Next addition will be a bigger crash, not sure where I'll go after that. The picture is terrible because I play in a spooky dark basement and skeletons poke out all of the lights with their boney fingers, I find this to be conducive for playing metal.

Dats purrty. Ever think of putting a symbal stand in the bass drum mount you have ad having a splash in the middle or anything.

The idea has crossed my mind. I'm not going to add splashes though. Never been a bing fan of them.