Designing and building the kit for ProgJect was a blast, and a dream come true. I decided I wanted to play this gig authentically, which meant the combining of many drum kits into one - after all, in order to cover Phil, Bill, Carl and Neil to start, I was going to need (twist my arm), lots o' toms, a variety of cymbals, cowbells, wood blocks, tambourine, bongos and congas, glockenspiel and crotales, a gong, and yes... a set of chimes. Side Note: I'm sticking with single kick and leaving the tympani home... for now.
I’ve narrowed down my extensive collection of instruments for the best rig possible for live shows for ProgJect. I get that mighty organ roar using a Hammond with a Lounsberry Organ Grinder pedal and a Leslie speaker, rip leads on the classic and legendary Minimoog or Tony Banks’ signature ARP Soloist, weave a shimmering wall of string, flute and choir textures with the Mellotron, and achieve the rest of my signature sound using MainStage plug-ins such as Arturia and IK Multimedia’s SampleTank.
I’m very grateful for my musical instruments and equipment. But I don’t fetishize gear the way some players do; I have a very utilitarian relationship with the stuff. In the recording studio, I get a sound in my head, try different things until I achieve it, and then pretty instantly forget what I’ve just done. When people ask me what I did to get a specific sound on a specific song, I usually can’t remember. For live work, I keep things as streamlined and simple as possible – once a live rig gets too complex, it stops being fun for me to use.