Stephen Perkins on Adding Timpani to His Kit with Porno for Pyros
What were your thoughts behind adding a timpani to your drum set?
When Jane’s Addiction broke up, Porno for Pyros was around the corner, and I really wanted to take the drum set and color it. With Jane’s Addiction, John Good taught me that I didn’t need 12”, 13”, and 16” drums. He said to go with 8”, 10”, 12”, and 14” drums, and I did, and the melody started to show up and unveil itself.
With Porno for Pyros, I thought, what would be the next step? So, I added a timbale and some bongos, and instead of a floor tom, I had a timbale on each side. I thought, wouldn’t it be cool to replicate the timpani part I was playing in recording sessions on stage? So, Don Lombardi built a pedal and helped me figure out the possibilities of the left foot working the timpani pedal. The timpani was maybe 6 feet away, so I mean the leverage we had to have, and the torque was just incredible, but it felt so smooth, and I became so ambidextrous with my left hand and my right hand, forcing me to become a more musical player. That’s kind of what I was going for with the drum set. I wanted to add color and be more lyrical, and obviously, the frequencies from high to low are so different in a drummer’s world. You can have the little high-pitched bell at the very top and an 808 sub at the low, and you can hit those together and achieve so much on the frequency of the mix. So, the timpani brought this well-rounded experience for the listener through the PA system because the drums have this punch and attack, and when you go to the timpani, it’s like this air moving.
My timpani pedal still works. My tech, Mike Gryciuk, and I got the pedal oiled back up. Porno for Pyros is going out in February, so I’m bringing the timpani back out. I was talking to the stage manager about what my footprint is going to be on stage because my drum set itself is 8’ x 8’. You add the pedal and the timpani, and it’s another 4-6 feet to the left, so you’ll see a massive community of drums on the stage. The timpani is just a beautiful musical instrument. I always find that when you get a new snare drum, if you’re lucky enough, or some new cymbals, or perhaps a percussion instrument as large as a timpani or as small as a bongo, it changes your ideas of what rhythms can do, and how small or large rhythms can be and how they connect to each other.
I spend a lot of time with my drum set listening to different sounds like Bozzio or Neil Peart or some drummers with bigger drum sets, and I think about why they are there. What’s the purpose of having these different sounds? It’s about real estate in the mix. What part of the mix do you want to use and bring attention to for the listeners’ experience? I love going to a movie. There’s so much dialogue. There are full sounds, there’s the music, and the mixing job is just so important for a movie. It’s the same with rock ‘n’ roll, jazz, R&B, or hip-hop. You start with the kick drum and the bass, and it has to have a highway that you can feel, and then there are the vocals and the cymbals, and a little bit of the keyboards can be above them tinkling down, and then the punch. The song has to punch you right in the face. I always think about this when I’m playing my drums. The timpani brings a sound so foreign to rock music. It’s more of an orchestral drum, and it’s tuned to the orchestra or the symphonic moment, so I love bringing timbale, bongo, and timpani into the punch of rock ‘n’ roll to add these different flavors from the drummer.
We’re so lucky as drummers because we can play punk rock, jazz, and reggae, and that’s all in one song. We can pull from anywhere and put that into our drumming, which is my favorite part of finding new drummers. It’s trying to figure out what music they listen to, how they got there, and why they play that way.
Hands, Feet, Mind, and Soul project:
I’m lucky because my dream was to drum, and it came true, so I wake up and take care of my body. I eat well and exercise, and it’s all because I want to play well. When I get on a drum set and feel good and creative, I think it comes from keeping my body strong and, somehow, my spirit lifted, because we are all going to get bad news. We all get good news, too, but the good news goes quickly. Bad news somehow seeps in deeper and stays with you, so my job as a drummer, musician, and entertainer is to wake you up so you can feel the good news.
As a young drummer, I learned the beginning of a Van Halen song. It was a left-handed cowbell part with high hat, and I was so proud to show everybody. My friends came over, and I saw them beaming, and I thought, this is cool because I not only put in the time to learn something but also hit the target. And now I’m sharing this, and I’m seeing people heal. They’re feeling good. They’re getting away from any pain or bad news. They’re dancing to my drum beat. So that infuses my playing. I want to have great chops and great technique. I want to understand different time signatures, but what’s the point of playing? It’s to make people feel it, feel good, think, and provoke thought.
When I listen to some of the great drummers in my record collection, sometimes the song comes second. It’s the rhythms that I’m attracted to. I don’t even notice there’s a song. It heals the soul and takes you out of your normal everyday experience. Music can change the way we think, and the drummer has power. I love the small shows at The Baked Potato, for example, when everyone’s watching you, but I love the big shows when no one can even see you, but they can still feel you, and they’re moving, and it’s almost more impressive on mother nature not to be seen and just heard, and I think that’s the great thing about drumming. It’s connecting my hands, feet, heart, and soul, and somehow freeing other people.
Hear the rest of the conversation, including Stephen’s experience with Jane’s Addiction and Porno for Pyros, along with some exciting behind-the-scenes stories on DrumChannel.com HERE!
