Resuming the Brisbane band interview series, GEARED talks some serious drums with JOHN PICKERING – the skinsman for local indie hopefuls MONTPELIER (warning: John is extremely passionate about his Ludwig kit).

GEARED: First of all, can you tell us a little bit about your drums John?

JOHN PICKERING: Absolutely! I’ve got two drumkits – the black Pearl one, which is the one I most commonly use and my practice kit that I take around, and a good big Esther. She’s a Ludwig and I’ve only used her a handful of times – that’s my main drumkit. That’s my baby, so to speak.

G: How long did it take you to put Esther together?

JP: Realistically, it took around ten years.

G: Wow.

JP: I’m saying that because I got the Pearl kit in 1995 – that was my first drumkit, but after about five years of having it I realised I wanted and needed a new pro kit. Basically, the Pearl is just an amateur kit – it’s an Export series. I started to think what sort of a drumkit I would like, and the long and the short of it is it took ten years to (a) save up for it and (b) also work out exactly what I wanted. I wanted to invest in a drumkit that would reflect who I am as a drummer, with the sound and all sorts of things. It climaxed when I flew down to Sydney to consult the Ludwig specialists at Billy Hyde in Surry Hills, who were awesome, and when I ordered the custom kit, it took six to seven months to arrive. When it finally arrived in Brisbane, I had a VIP launch party for her in May last year – I named her Esther, booked out a room in the city, brought a PA in, invited thirty-something of my closest friends to earmark her arrival and did a presentation on the history of Ludwig drums.

G: Is Esther set up the traditional way?

JP: The configuration itself, in terms of the number of drums and cymbals, is very traditional – it is quite simple. The size of it, however, is quite large – kinda the swing era or even early Britrock, Led Zeppelin/John Bonham style. I’ve got a 26-inch kick drum, a 14-inch rack tom, which is quite large, and a 16- and 18-inch floor toms. As for the cymbals in particular, they can sometimes be overlooked in terms of their importance.

G: …?

JP: I spent just as long tuning the cymbals as I did the drums, and my hi-hats are not conventional at all – 18-inch. Most hi-hats are 13- or 14-inch, maybe the odd 15-inch, and my bottom hi-hat is an 18-inch Zidjian K-Custom Session Ride and the top hi-hat is an 18-inch Zildjian Constantinople Crash. So I’ve got a dirty and dark, but at the same time crisp and sharp when I want it to be, hi-hat sound. And then I’ve got a collection of 22- and 24-inch crash cymbals which I use around the kit – a 22-inch Zildjian K-Crash Ride, a 24-inch K-Light Ride, a 24-inch K-Custom Dry Complex Ride and finally a 22-inch Constantinople Medium Thin High Ride, which is a lovely, warm, rich kinda-sounding cymbal. Large sizes is the defining feature of the drumkit in general, and that reflects the sound I want to create – very open, with a lot of wash and resonance to both the drums and the cymbal, which I think really suits Montpelier and also my playing style – it’s complementary in that sense.

G: I haven’t honestly heard anyone talk about drums and cymbals with such knowledge and passion.

JP: You can probably see why it took me ten years to get that drumkit because I’ve left no stone unturned. I’m very fond of my drums and what drumming does. One of the things I love about drumming is that it’s such a primal, instinctive thing to do and it’s about rhythm, of course. When we listen to a band or a song, it’s quite easy to connect with, say, lyrics: we can hear and understand words that resonate with us and hum the melody, but there’s something that affects people about rhythm that is really hard to identify. For example, it’s very rare for a reviewer to attend a concert, see a great drummer play and write “I was really captivated by the underlying feel, rhythm and pulse that was emanating from the stage” in their review. It’s a subconscious, innate thing that the drums can project and it’s those things I’m attempting to tap into – it’s a feeling that people get and I find that big drums, large cymbals and resonant sounds add to that experience.

Check out www.myspace.com/montpeliermusic for MONTPELIER music and gig dates. For info on Ludwig drums head to www.ludwig-drums.com.

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