Drumming fashions

Pollyanna

Platinum Member
A while ago I posted a link and a couple of people commented that it was 70s drumming. I never realised it. To me, I was just drumming and that's what came out.

I look at this site and there are so many people who use twin kick pedals it makes me wonder if one day single kick pedals will be thought of as old-fashioned in more and more genres. Most times I don't like double kicks because I like more space at the bottom end but that could be old thinking too.

I have no intention of becoming more modern, but it's interesting to see what goes on in drumming fashions.

What's do you think is in at the moment? What's out? What's on the way in and on the way out?
 
in:
custom drum kits (eg. sjc, truth, c&c)
virgin bass drums
single large rack tom mounted to left on a floor stand
more than one floor tom
cymbals mounted high and flat
double kick pedals (of course!)

out:
deep (long) rack toms
multiple rack toms mounted on bass drum
two bass drums

it kind of depends on the genre though. like in metal drumming the trends are completely different.
 
My opinion is that there's room for everybody. There will always be people who cling to the music they came up with. Bluegrass coexists peacefully with murder metal, like different rooms in the same house. That's the beauty of music.The world of fashion is much less forgiving methinks.
 
Good thread Polly, although double pedals are in right now, I think they've peaked and are on the way out soon. That depends very much on genre though. I use a double pedal but only for some fills & the occasional groove. I also tend to rely on the pedal to the detriment of my single pedal technique. Most unfortunately, because I have some leg disfunction due to a spinal tumor, I'll probably have to keep the damn thing. I used to play a double kick kit in the late 70's. I kinda miss that. If transport wasn't an issue, I'd have a double kick kit now. Mine was 24 x 20 and 20 x 20. Lots of bottom end flavour. I'm at my most intuitive when I play single pedal. I still do most of my double kick in groove stuff with a single pedal and it feels so much more organic due to slight ghosting (poor technique but kinda cool as well) Sorry, got a bit techniquey and off thread there.

Unfortunately, the trigger happy era is upon us. Like the continuous fart that it is, it'll soon run out of gas!

I see a taste for vintage style kits coming back. I like that. Also a taste for small & simple. I like that too.

Great to go against the grain too. I played small tom sizes and 20" kick with piccolo snare in rock during the early 80's. I was the only guy around doing that. Everyone else was into double 24's, single mounted 14 tom, 16 + 18 floors and a snare as deep as George Bush's love of the oil business! I still play the small sizes today, and now it's as popular as male grooming products (yuk)!

"you're worth it", "Take care" AAARGGHHHHHH!
 
Double pedals peaking and on their way out?
Man as much as I hope this is true, I doubt it. I think double pedal dominance will be around for at least another generation.
Next thing will be bass drum pedals that you can play with your hands, so you can clutter the music up even more. (My opinion, not meaning to diss anyone, I like what I like)
Things do go in circles though. It always comes back to whence it sprang....eventually.
 
Isolation mounts, not knocking it, I'm just saying if it's not an extra snare stand (which I'm guilty of) it's iso mounts on cymbal or there own stands. To each there own. The toms mounted to a bass drum are becoming more of a rare find.

I'm also seeing more and more shallow rack toms, like a little too shallow for my taste.

Bass drums treated as laundry baskets. Unless you're looking for a specific sound (a clicky thud) I generally attribute it to inexperience. When I think of the quintessential bass drum sound, I always think of the openess of Bonham's kick on "When the Levee Breaks". THUNDEROUS!!!

Brushes, I'm afraid to say, I feel are going by the way side. Unless it's specifically for jazz, I rarely see people playing with brushes. Damn shame too, a lot of technique goes into playing a set of brushes well.

I'd have to agree with Larry on the double pedal thing. Metal and all of its incarnations is becoming more accepted and I don't think I've seen a metal drummer use a single kick unless there was another bass drum there. All of my friends who play drums set their singles aside ASAP and went double. And they sit there and keep asking me, "so when you are you getting a double pedal". All I can say is, "I'm way too stubborn to get a double pedal". Especially when you hear cats like Thomas Pridgen or Gerald Heyward who in my opinion has some of the best foot technique I've ever seen (I could be wrong, there are probably others through out time). But I'll let my foot fall off trying to attain that technique before I go double.

For us die hard single peddlers out there, below is a clip of Pridgen at Memphis Drum Shop. Pay attention to around 1:20. One foot baby!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHYHbJpGrwI
 
in:
equipment
anything travis barker does
ridiculously deep kick drums 20"+
1 up 2 down
short toms & floor toms
black drum heads (wtf? so weird)
lacquered hardware
reinforcing rings
musical trends:
gospel chops (never even heard this word until a few years ago)
overplaying
click tracks (especially live, more and more bands are doing this now)
drummers incorporating loops

out:
equipment
hanging floor toms
fusion set ups 10, 12, 14 20
powertoms
piccolo's
roto-toms
large set ups
rack mounts (i used to see drummers with a 4 piece kit using those things)
wrapped finishes

musical trends:
swinging (so sad to see this dissapearing from rock and even BLUES stuff now)
simple fills
4 on the floor
dynamics
 
Large kits generally seem to be popular - the double floors, rack toms, heaps of crash cymbals. It's almost like the scene is polarising; most people either seem to have a lot of gear or small kits - not so many mid-sized kits, eg. three mounted toms and a floor. Yes Dairy, definitely more double floors. Was that Danny Carey's doing?

Kick drums have long made good laundry baskets. I've dampened since the 70s. I agree that there's something special about a good, well-tuned kick drum played open, though.

Obviously open kicks can't work in high speed multi-pedal metal, which needs clean, compressed sounds to achieve the machine-gun feel. KIS, what makes you feel that double-kick pedals are on the way out? I mean, more and more non-metal guys (like you!) are using them.

One trend I like is having closed hats over to the right so a right-hander can groove open-handed without playing goofy-handed. If I wasn't a cheapskate and lugging-phobic I'd get the extra hats & stand.

McBike, I forgot to mention gospel chops - funk with Ian Paice fills :) When people first talked about "gospel drumming" I imagined simple country-style drumming played along to He's Got The Whole World In His Hands to accompany a bunch of religious black Americans wailing away in a church - lol

Deep rack toms. Does anyone remember the old octobans, popular in the 70s? I had a couple of roto-toms in the old days - very flexible and cool but the tone wasn't great. They probably deserved to go.

Looking at the trends, in the post-punk years drumming is once again creeping towards more complexity, more expensive gear and more setting up (eg. loops). The trends are all making music less accessible to kids who aren't from rich families. A bit like the prog scene in the 70s. Shame about the loss of swing/shuffle feels. You hear it nu-jazz occasionally.

Putting my Nostradamus hat on it seems to me that the way things are going in the next decade or so the scene will be ripe for another reductionist movement to grow from the slums and ghettos like funk and rap did last century.

I never used brushes in the old days and now I use them a lot, so that's a bit weird. I guess. But I never got into the pointy stiletto thing or any other fashion either ... T-shirts and jeans will always be in fashion to me, which is probably equivalent to my drumming style :)
 
Who said your drumming reminded them of the 70's? Nerves of some people..

Drumming fashion today: Flat high toms, drumming without clothing(especially in the studio), heavy sticks, hitting hard and ugly caps, independance and doublebass. Ugh..
 
Who said your drumming reminded them of the 70's? Nerves of some people..

Drumming fashion today: Flat high toms, drumming without clothing(especially in the studio), heavy sticks, hitting hard and ugly caps, independance and doublebass. Ugh..

LOL ... you're not the only one. I'm curious ... what is 70s drumming? What are its characteristics? Do you mean that it has a loose-ish organic feel?
 
As someone who's worked on the drum retail side of things, yes, there are fashions, and always have been since the drum kit was invented.

Going back to the 1890-1910, the fashion was laying the marching bass drum on the floor, hooking up a pedal, and playing more than one drum at a time.

Around 1920, maybe a bit before, the fashion was sound effects all around the drum kit.

In the 1930's tunable toms became more important than sound effects.
Then hi-hats replaced low boys.
To the 1940s, the ride cymbal became more important.
As be-bop came into prominence, drums went from 28" bass drums down to 18"'s.

Of course, in the early 60s, the big fashion became a Ludwig drum set, in black oyster pearl, with the logo on the bass drum (prior to Ringo, logos were not stock items on a bass drum head, and only appeared on name artists kits).

Late 60's into the 70's became all about single headed toms, and double bass kits (granted double bass kits had been used by Louie Bellson for some time).

In the mid 80's, concert toms were suddenly passe, but power toms came the new rage.
The 2 racks, 2 floor tomes, with two bass drums because the popular set up for so many hair metal bands. Drum racks, and flashy colors were also highly fashionable.

In the late 80s, long lugs took over as the must have. The idea of suspended floor toms became the new must have as well.

In the the early 90's, long lugs went out of fashion very quickly, and thanks to Nirvana, the 4pc make a huge come back. Even drummers who were known for large kits all of a sudden just had one rack tom. Double bass drum kits almost disappeared from the mainstream.

Also in the 90's and into the early 2000's, laquer and wood grain kits were most popular. Then in the last few years, wraps in retro colors made a huge comeback.

And now the deep drums are out, and shallow drums are in, and everything that was old is now new again. A lot more double bass kits have made their way their way back out of the closet.

What I find funny is for years, hard rock and metal drummers wanted big, deep drums, with big heavy cymbals, but now the trend is smaller drums, and thinner cymbals. Most of the new models of cymbals these days are on the thin side.

As for double pedals, I don't think they'll go out of fashion. So many drummers who would never play a double bass groove still have a double pedal for the occasional fill or big song ending. Others may only use a single with their band, but have a double at home.
 
as far as playing goes, this is what i see

in:
playing really, really hard all the time
linear fills
crash riding a lot
double bass fills

out:
triplets, or any kind of swing feel
ghost notes
dynamics
using effects cymbals (except for metal players)
using the hats for anything except bashing (probably because the left foot is always on the left bass drum pedal)
 
it seems like from what everybody is saying travis barker had a huge influence on drums in recent times. I know he wasn't the first to start using the huge ocdp cannon bass drums. In fact I saw him before he was in blink 182 with the aquabats, and also with suicide machines and used to play piccolo snares.

I remember seing ocdp kits before travis barker started using them, either way he definatley popularized the cannon kick drums, low flat toms, custom finishes, off-set lugs, multiple holes in the resonant head etc.

what other recent drummers have had an effect on drums? obviously all famous drummers have some effect, but not always to the point where something becomes a fad and other manufacturers start making kits in that style.
 
I do find it interesting to read on this forum how strong an effect (noose?) marketing has on the teenage crowd. There's a lot of "must have" junk. The large box stores really shape what the kids do.

Individuality drives all. Something's "cool and original" until everyone does it, and then suddenly the bubble bursts and then we're back to square one.

One thing that I do love about the current "fashion" is how "retro" is finally back in style. In the '90's, I had to custom/special order everything. Whereas nowadays, I can just get an existing shell pack.

-Ryan
 
I mean no offense to anyone, but I have to say it: There are a lot of posts in this thread that makes the posters sound like old men sitting on their front porch talking about the good old days, making it sound like everything from the old days was golden and everything now is rubbish. I'm having a hard time believing that every drummer in the 60's and 70's was an incredible player, with great swing feel, groove and dynamics. I'm guessing that the less skilled players and bands have long since been forgotten, along with trends and fads that came and went. It's just like when I remember my childhood... Every summer was sunny and warm, and every winter had deep snow, perfect for playing around in :)
 
The courage to be yourself and create the set that matches your style of playing. JoJo insists on playing his 4 piece, albeit, added to, set, while Steve Smith still insists on playing his (fusion setup) 3 rack toms (two still mounted on the kick!)

One of the biggest things I have seen since I came back after 12 years is having the extra snare hanging there by the Hi Hat. Used to be, only a few jazz artists did that. Now they're everywhere! (I do like that!)

Also, more and more people are playing simple four piece sets.
 
I mean no offense to anyone, but I have to say it: There are a lot of posts in this thread that makes the posters sound like old men sitting on their front porch talking about the good old days, making it sound like everything from the old days was golden and everything now is rubbish. I'm having a hard time believing that every drummer in the 60's and 70's was an incredible player, with great swing feel, groove and dynamics. I'm guessing that the less skilled players and bands have long since been forgotten, along with trends and fads that came and went. It's just like when I remember my childhood... Every summer was sunny and warm, and every winter had deep snow, perfect for playing around in :)


You make it sound like this is a bad thing! :p

-Ryan
 
One of the biggest things I have seen since I came back after 12 years is having the extra snare hanging there by the Hi Hat. Used to be, only a few jazz artists did that. Now they're everywhere! (I do like that!)

That's something I did recently. Speaking for myself, it's sooo much fun having it there. For a little while there I was sitting there thinking "I'm kind of getting bored with what my left hand is doing" mainly working the snare and periodically the hi hat. But I've got one snare tuned high and my main tuned to a mid range and being able to throw the snares on and off on either or both of them; it's almost limitless now.

The gospel chops thing. If you ever get a chance to see Kick Snare Hat (and do so by the way) it all kind of started with cats spending hours "shedding" and then going to church on the weekends to show off your chops, maybe the newest fill you worked up or something. A lot of it is blistering fast rudiments all around the kit. The term "gospel chops" can be attributed to Gerald Force (sorry about the incorrect spelling) in my opinion. I believe he was the guy that went around and taped all of those videos you now see on youtube.

And regarding the playing hard thing. I remember watching a DC Live with Jay Weinberg and Bennie Rodgers and Weinberg was mentioning (when playing with his band) that he plays for about a half hour or so and pretty much leaves it all on stage so that by the end of the show he's pretty much wore out. I think that may be a result of the festival craze (which I can't stand).

And Naige, I'm 25 and I like sitting on the porch and reminiscing once in a while. It's akin to the "you don't know where you're going, until you know where you've been" train of thought. Give it a try man.
 
Oh I forgot.

There are more female drummers than ever before

...YEA BABY...

You Rock Pollyanna..!

Thanks Chip :)

Actually, rocking is a problem. I'm rocking (or trying not to) while playing old jazz, blues and Motown standards. Old habits die hard. Or maybe I'm being innovative? :)

There are a few women hitting skins but there's a long way to go. If small kits become more fashionable it might appeal more. Once you start getting racks of stuff you move into heavy lugging territory.

I have to hand it to the developing metal boys of today without roadies - they're not afraid of hard work! I listen to them hammering away in neighbouring rehearsal rooms and thank my lucky stars that I don't have to go for it at 100 miles an hour nonstop for hours. After 5 minutes they'd be calling for a stretcher.

Naige, Dairyman might sound like an old guy on the porch to you but I really have noticed that nearly all the bands coming to our various local rehearsal rooms play really, really hard core. Back in my day ... (where's my walking frame!) very few bands played that fiercely. Personally, I'd like to see more dynamic variation but I ain't no spring chicken!
 
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