VIDEO OF THE DAY: Tom Sawyer by Rush featuring Neil Peart Drummer Neil Peart just celebrated his 40th anniversary with the Canadian progressive rock trio, Rush. So to commemorate the auspicious occasion, here is a classic track from their seminal 1981 release Moving Pictures. Neil is simply superb. He executes some brilliantly orchestrated drum parts that continue to increase in complexity as the song progresses. Neil also contributed to the songs lyrics along with Pye Dubois from Max Webster. Neil Peart was recently voted one of The 50 Greatest Drummers of All Time by the readers of Modern Drummer Magazine. Interesting notes on Neils kit: This was Neil Pearts second album using this Tama rosewood kit. He had switched to this kit from his black Slingerlands on the previous Permanent Waves album. At this point, he retired his gong and timpani and replaced them with a pair of gong bass drums - the larger of the two used as a second floor tom - also in rosewood to match the kit. All of the drums were Vibra-Fibed by Neal Graham of The Percussion Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The Vibra-Fibing treatment involved spraying a thin layer of fiberglass resin to the inside of the drum shells. The process helped to improve the natural warmth and resonance of the drums and remove harmonic inconsistencies while sharpening their attack and making them more reflective and adding to their projection. Many other artists like Kenny Aronoff, Billy Cobham, and Wild Mick Brown had their kits Vibra-Fibed. Kenny Aronoff even had Neal Graham Vibra-Fibe a brake drum along with his entire kit for John Mellencamps Scarecrow tour. Vic, being such a Neil Peart fanatic, had his original chrome over wood 12 piece Slingerland kit Vibra-Fibed as well. The Percussion Center also brass plated all of the hardware on the shells including the stands. Neil was still using an old Rogers offset single tom holder on his left bass drum to mount his 8x12 tom. It was the only way to mount that tom almost dead center over the bass drum. This enabled him to position his two bass drums as close together as possible without having the 12 and 13 toms collide. For greater stability, Neil replaced the Rogers single tom holder on his next kit, the Tama Candy Apple Red one, with a custom Tama single tom holder. At the time, Neil was still holding both of his drumsticks backwards or butt end. He would switch to traditional grip whenever he had to do double stroke rolls. The snare drum was an old 5.5x14 Artist series Slingerland model that Neil purchased used for only $60. Its previous owner had modified the bottom bearing edge near the snare beds. Neil attributes an increase in attack and snare sensitivity to that modification. Neil is using Ludwig Speed King pedals and a Slingerland hi-hat stand. Neil is using Evans Blue Hydraulic oil filled heads as resonant heads for his four double headed toms. It totally defies conventional wisdom! But hey the drums sound good, dont they?
Posted on: Wed, 30 Jul 2014 22:05:00 +0000
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