Chad (War//Plague – drums)
SPB: Walk us through your kit and how you chose its various pieces?
Chad: I've always been a huge fan of TAMA DRUMS ever since I was a kid! This hasn't always been my traditional set up, like everyone in War//Plague it has been a series of decisions over time to get my set up to its current placement. Everything has its place, I'm a big fan of a loud, crushing drum sound. One thing you'll notice about my kit is that it's tuned mid-to-low and the cymbals I play are loud and defined. I've been at war with tuning drums for the majority of my time playing them, but have always strived to have a real organic sound. I think I have a good grip on getting the best sounding tone out of each drum finally and that's really all I'm looking for, not how to get the "Slayer" drum sound. To me, the way to finding your sound as a drummer is to really, just spend the time understanding what tension is actually doing to those heads, figure out that specific drum. and the rest is just playing it.
I am currently sitting behind a 6 pc Tama Super Star "Hyperdrive", all maple shells. The snare I'm playing is a 14" Mapex "Black Panther," full maple shell; this thing is loud and punchy! I specifically chose this kit for the shallow rack toms, being able to keep ‘em a bit lower allows for a more versatile set up. My kick pedal is a Pearl "demon drive" double pedal with direct links. Cymbals on this kit L to R are as follows: 16" Meinl MB10 "fat hats," 19" Meinl byzance Medium thin crash, 20" MB20 Heavy Hammered crash, 14" Meinl Classics Medium X hats, 24" Meinl MB20 Pure Metal ride, 22" Wuhan china. To date this is the best sounding kit I've ever put together!
