Last night, drummer/percussionist Terry Bozzio gave a drum clinic here in St. Louis. Sponsored by Sabian Cymbals, among other companies, Drum Headquarters presented this amazing sell-out event. If you are familiar with a range of artists from Frank Zappa to Korn, you may have heard Terry Bozzio. Bozzio got his first major gig as a drummer for Frank Zappa’s band, and went on to co-found the popular band Missing Persons, as well as play with artists such as Jeff Beck, U.K., and Korn. He is known for Zappa’s piece “The Black Page,” a piece known for its rhythmic complexities.
He plays a massive set up now: a large number of bass drums, as well as toms and cymbals. His setup is tuned as well… that’s right: tuned. The toms on one side are all tuned chromatically, and the toms on the other side are tuned diatonically. The bass drums are also tuned to various notes, allowing bass lines. Also, Terry’s kit uses VLT shells: an invention of John Good at Drum Workshop. This shell construction makes a drum have a much lower sound for its size: this proves very advantageous for Bozzio’s set up by allowing the use of smaller drums all over the kit, while maintaining the sound of larger drums. Here is the kit (pictures I took last night):
Terry Bozzio's current Set Up
Terry uses Drum Workshop VLT technology so more drums can be fit into a smaller space.
Bozzio writes pieces for this drum kit: melodic compositions. He uses the different bass drums for bass notes and then the toms and the cymbals for melody/harmony. He played for about and hour and a half straight, and then gave a mini-lecture on his kit and how it fits in with with his playing. He also answered questions, before playing some more to close the evening.
I’ve posted a couple more pictures below from the clinic last night. Also, check out an example of Bozzio’s playing in a video from the Zappa plays Zappa tour: an excerpt of the “The Black Page #2.”
-Colton
Terry plays one of his mind bending ostinatos.
Terry Bozzio steps out from behind the kit to talk and answer questions.
