Ody of course handles most of our drums – the animal at the kit! For this we often use another studio with much better facilities and acoustics for recording percussion instruments. While we still use a mix of shakers, tambourines, hand drums and various other bits and pieces, the core remains Ody’s right hand and leg providing the rhythm for the music. There are plans to experiment with an electronic kit which would make things a lot easier, though nothing compares to a real kit in the room. How the two translate in the context of a mix remains to be seen… to be continued!

From time to time we use canned drums, due to equipment constraints or specific sounds like those 80’s synth drums or odd little bits and pieces. “Mic’ing drums is an art unto itself“, Pellie said; “I’m well aware of the techniques and equipment to use, but in practice I find it much trickier than vocals, wind instruments or guitar amps. I’m very happy to be able to delegate a fair share of that to a guy we know who does a cracking job of it!“.

“I know he [Ody] has his reservations about electronic kits, but they do offer a lot of flexibility and they’re a breeze to record, of course. Any instrument that will talk MIDI makes your life as a producer easier, and drums are perhaps one of the best examples of that, I find.“. As the old adage says; if someone in a band is going to be replaced, it will be the drummer first. Pellie disagrees, though; “You would think! [laughs] Ody and I were working together before Mr Roland was really a full time member. Now that I play practically all our bass parts and still haven’t got a real bass player, I think we’ve proven the rule to have exceptions!“.

While the entire band partakes in some parts like vocals and percussion, there is only one true drummer at the throne. “On the note of thrones, I use Ody’s old drum stool in the studio – I love it, and I made a second, longer pipe for it in order to use it comfortably at the keys. He told me it’s still a ‘throne’, so I’m honored to take place on it“.