02/05/2008 – Interview with TWISTED TOWER DIRE

Last year I had a great interview with guitarists Dave Boyd and Scott Waldrop of the Heavy Metal band TWISTED TOWER DIRE, who seem to be better known in EUROPE than in the USA, where they come from. The band released their last album, "Netherworlds", in February of 2007. Since both musicians were great in the answers, I reckoned the drummer, Marc Stauffer would be equally kind to contribute to this Drum Special. And he was. :-)

01. When did you start playing the drums and what triggered that desire?

I started playing drums when I was 7. It's hard to remember that far back, but as I remember it someone from the local high school played a snare drum solo at an assembly in my elementary school. I thought it was cool, so I mentioned it to my parents who immediately encouraged me to take lessons. I've been playing ever since.

02. How did you learn to drum: on your own or by taking lessons?

Yeah, lots of lessons. With all the lessons I've had I should be a much better player than I am. I started with snare drum lessons In elementary school. I took drum set lessons for two or three years in middle school/high school. I was a band geek pretty much from the time they offered band in school (played in the marching band etc.). Finally I graduated from college with a degree in music business (essentially a performance major with a business minor). So from the time I was around seven until I turned twenty one I was involved with some kind of organized educational music program which usually involved private lessons.

03. Who are your influences (other drummers)?

The first drum book I took lessons from was written by Carmine Apice which had a lot of influence on how I play. When I started playing drum set I also spent hours under the headphones playing along with METALLICA, SLAYER and VOIVOD. I played "South of Heaven" (SLAYER) and "Nothingface" (VOIVOD) for hours. SLAYER helped me with the endurance aspects and playing those lightning fast tom fills. At the time no one did that like Dave Lombardo. I think my style is derived more from Away (VOIVOD) particularly on the "Nothingface" album. I still play along to that album all the time. Some of my other favorite drummers over time would be: #1 GENE HOGLAN - In my opinion Gene is probably the best there is. It is amazing how he can play album after album and still inject new stuff into everything he does. Other drummers in no particular order: Sean Reinhart (CYNIC, DEATH) Mitch Harris (NAPALM DEATH) Ken Owen (CARCASS) and Pete Sandoval (MORBID ANGEL, TERRORIZER).

04. When did you buy/get your first kit? Which brand/model was it?

My first drum set was a piece of crap. I believe it was a "custom" brand kit. It was metallic purple and I played it until it was held together by epoxy and duct tape.

05. How many kits have you had over the years?

Due to my ability to never throw anything drum related away I still have every drum set I have ever owned (except the purple Custom kit which became unplayable). My next kit was a black Tama Swingstar kit. It was a pretty looking kit, but the shells were partially made out of fiberboard, so it didn't sound great. My next kit was a white Tama Rockstar kit Sounded pretty good, the toms were a little smaller than I would have liked, but I bought it used for a great price, so I can't complain.

06. Which kit(s) do you have now? (brand, model, skins, cymbals, hardware, ...)

I currently have a Roland v-drum electronic kit which is really only used for recording demos and practicing. My white Tamas were damaged in a fire at Scott's house last year. To replace it I had Drum Workshop build me a custom maple kit and it's by far the best kit I have ever owned. I am currently using Evans clear ec2 heads on my toms, Evans Emad heads on my kick and a coated ec2 on my snare (a Tama Warlord Masai snare drum). I use mostly Zildjan A & Z cymbals, DW 9000 pedals and a mix of what ever mutant hardware I have pieced together. The new DW hardware that came with my new kit is by far the best that I have. Oh yeah, I use Zildjan 5b sticks.

07. Are you endorsed by certain brands?

No. It would be nice to be endorsed, but I don't tour enough to make it worth a company's money to endorse me. Besides, half the time when I'm playing away from home I'm using someone else's kit. If a company is endorsing you...well, they don't like that.

08. How important is it for you to have a realistic drumsound when recording or performing live?

I prefer a natural drum sound. I tried using triggers with my old Death Metal band and found that most live sound guys didn't use them properly - too much trouble to set up for too little return in sound quality. I did enhance my snare and kick sound on "Netherworlds" using samples. Honestly I don't think I've heard a snare or a kick that wasn't enhanced with samples in years. You can use them without making your drums sound like your slapping a piece of plywood. It's hard to make kicks and snares punch through without them. TOWER doesn't have this problem as much as we don't downtune, but if your band tunes to "b" well good luck hearing the drums without triggers. In the last few years I have started doing more audio production and I definitely see triggers as a useful tool in the studio.

09. Do you use triggers? Why (not)? If so, in which situations?

I pretty much answered this on already. I'll just add my two cents on the trigger issue in general. Do I use triggers? No, I'll retrigger stuff in the studio, but that's about it. People who think using triggers in live or recording situation is "cheating" are retarded. It takes a hell of a lot of skill to play a triggered kit. Yes, it makes it easier to amplify your drums when you are playing a million miles an hour. You also then can't bash the hell out of your drums when you play slower. I like to bash the hell out of my kit - I don't use triggers. If I had an ounce of self control I probably would.

10. What makes a drumkit a good drumkit, in general or for the style you play? (material, setup, portability/movability, ...)

All these things. The drum kit helps, but a lot of tone in a drum kit comes from proper head selection and tuning for the style you are playing. This is an art form that I think every drummer experiments with for as long as they play. I change head types all the time just to see how they will make my drums sound. As far as portability etc. goes I recommend using stands instead of a cage/rack. If you have to play in a small club, you can make you kit fit with stands. With a rack - if it doesn't fit - well, you're fucked. Have fun playing your kick snare and hi-hat.

11. How much money can a professional kit like you use in studios or on stage cost? (rough estimation, despite different setups)

My DW kit cost $3,800 for the kick, floor tom, 3 rack toms and two tom/cymbal stands. My snare (Tama Warlord Masai) was around $600 (I just bought both of these so I know how much they cost). Add in around $1000 worth of cymbals and additional hardware and that covers my kit. The sky is the limit as far as what it is possible to spend on a kit.

12. How often do you practise? Do you then also try new things or just maintain what you're already capable of?

As often as I can. I work full time and practice with TOWER once or twice a week, so personal practice time is kinda hard to come by. When I do, I will work on new things, but as I get older I have to spend more and more time working on maintaining my kick speed. Working on new stuff is fun. Doing kick work for the sake of endurance is boring.

13. Do you stick to a certain style or can you play different styles?

I think it is important to be able to play more than one style (both Country and Western). I don't play any other style nearly as well (as Metal), but it's nice to have the "words" from other styles in your "vocabulary" if you need them.

14. Any advice you have for starting drummers? Or something you'd like to share in general?

Be prepared to practise. You get out of your instrument what you put into it. In retrospect I wish I had spent more time in college practising and less time drinking, but the drinking was a lot of fun.

15. For the 'famous'/very experienced drummers specifically:
a) Do you believe drums and drumming will evolve during the next five or ten years?
b) Do you believe instruments have reached a level where it will become stale or can it still be improved greatly?
c) What are the greatest weaknesses of drum kits now and what needs to be improved to reach a better sound or to facilitate the task of playing drums for you?

I am not famous. Do I get to answer these?

a) Good drumming comes from personal expression. As long as there are drummers dedicating time to the art there will be new amazing performances. Speed may become maxed out, but is it really all that impressive that you can blast or double bass at 300bpm? (ok, I can't and yes, it is impressive that you can) No matter how good you are, technically a machine will do it better (my point follows). Creativity is what music is all about and that aspect of music is limitless.
b) Well, what DW has done for drums is pretty impressive. The equipment is really the least important aspect. You have a bad drummer playing a $10,000 kit - he still sucks.
c) The only thing I can think of is making things last longer. A.K.A. I break too much stuff. It would be nice to get the tone I really love out of drum heads and not have them be mutilated after two sets. I'd like to be able to use paper thin crash cymbals without breaking them. New stuff is always being developed, so we'll have to see what come down the pipe.

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