Danny Carey
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Daniel "Danny" Edwin Carey (born May 10, 1961 in Lawrence, Kansas, USA) is the drummer for the art/progressive metal band Tool.
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[edit] Biography
Danny's first encounter with the drums began at the age of ten by joining the school band and taking private lessons on the snare drum. Two years later, Danny began to practice on a drum set and began working with a private teacher. His private teacher had a specialty in bongos, henceforth bequeathing bongo skills that Carey uses frequently, as well as skillfully. In his senior year of high school, Danny joined the high school jazz band and began to study under a new teacher specifically for jazz drumming training. As Danny progressed through high school and later college at the University of Missouri - Kansas City, he began expanding his studies in percussion with theory into the principles of geometry, science, and metaphysics as well as delving into Sacred Geometry and certain hidden aspects of life and the occult (hidden). Danny also played jazz while attending college and got to experience the jazz scene in Kansas City.
A major commitment to life as an artist convinced Danny to leave Kansas and travel to Los Angeles, California where he was able to perform as a studio drummer with bands like Carole King and perform live sets with Pigmy Love Circus. He also played in Green Jello as Danny Longlegs and recorded the album "Cereal Killer". He would later find his way to Tool after coming to know singer Maynard James Keenan and guitarist Adam Jones and practicing with them in place of drummers the two had requested but had never shown up. Besides Tool, Danny also finds time for other projects new and old such as Pigmy Love Circus, Volto, and ZAUM.
[edit] Religion and the occult
Although Danny has not officially aligned himself with any particular school of philosophy or religion, he has projected a deep interest in and understanding for the magical arts and sciences, among them various occult teachings. Enochian symbols, geometric designs, and special symbolic percussive devices are featured on and in his drum kit.
[edit] Geometrical Designs
Danny has laid claim to various drumming techniques that use sacred geometrical figures such as the unicursal hexagram. The final product is very recognizable, fluent drumming, although to him it is much more: the official Tool website claims that Danny uses drumming as a ritual similar to occult rituals, with purposes varying from spiritual exploration to "a gateway [which] summoned a demon he has contained...that has been delivering short parables similar to passages within The Book of Lies."[1] Another geometrical reference from the website was the inclusion of Nothing in This Book is True... by Bob Frissell on the band's recommended reading list, a book that deals with sacred geometry and the evolution of human consciousness.[2]
[edit] Side projects and other musical endeavours
Due to Carey's work as a session drummer, and his reputation as being one of the world's best, he has contributed to a number of projects:
- Drums on the Carole King album Colour of Your Dreams with Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash playing on select tracks.
- Drums on the track Somewhere from the Collide album Some Kind of Strange
- Green Jellÿ
- Pigface
- The electronica-oriented project ZAUM.
- Pigmy Love Circus who have recorded several albums.
- In 2003 performed as a guest musician on Skinny Puppy's album The Greater Wrong of the Right.
- Contributed to Adrian Belew's Side One and Side Three projects with bassist Les Claypool.
- Made an appearance on the 1997 album Free Mars by former Tool bassist Paul D'Amour's band Lusk.
- Plays in the largely improvisational fusion band VOLTO!, who are planning to record an album late this year if it does not clash with Tool's touring plans.
[edit] Equipment
Danny has recently gotten a brand new Designer kit from Sonor, which he has used on Tool's recent 10,000 days album and tours. The set-up is as follows:
Drums (SONOR Designer Series Bubinga): (Diameter x Depth)
- 14"x8" Bronze Snare
- 8"x8" Tom
- 10"x10" Tom
- 14"x16" Tom
- 16"x18" Floor Tom
- Two 18"x24" Bass Drums
Danny has been a Paiste cymbal endorser since 1992:
- 13" Signature Sound Edge Hi-Hat
- 7.5" 2002 Cup Chime # 2
- 8" Signature Bell
- 6" 2002 Accent Cymbal
- 8" 3000 Bell
- 8" New Signature Dark Energy Splash MK I (inverted)
- 10" New Signature Dark Energy Splash MK I
- 22" 2002 Novo China (custom)
- 18" Signature Full Crash
- 18" Signature Power Crash
- 22" Signature Dry Heavy Ride (custom)
- 22" Signature Thin China (custom)
- 20" Signature Power Crash
- 11/18" Noise Works Dark Buzz China Set
Drum Heads (Evans):
- Snare: Power Center on batter side, Evans Hazy 300 on snare side.
- Toms: EC2 clear on batter side, G1 clear on resonant side.
- Bass: EQ3 clear on batter side, Retro Screen Mesh on resonant side.
The hardware is mainly composed of Sonor stands, Pearl or Axis Pedals (Pearl or SONOR beaters) and a DW 5000 hi-hat stand.
Danny uses his own signature model of drumstick made by Vic Firth[3]. He previously had endorsed a signature model with Trueline Drumsticks (now Trueline's Tribal Assault model [4]).
Recently, Danny began using an electronic drum pad previously designed exclusively for him by Vince De Franco, These pads are called the Synesthesia Mandala Drums, and have replaced the numerous Simmons SDX pads formerly in his setup. He uses a program called Battery, from Native Instruments, on an Apple Mac G5 to manage the samples.
Additionally, he uses a Korg Wave Drum and a Roland MC-505 and Handsonic.
Previously, Danny was switching between two drum kits, one being his old SONOR Designer series, the other his Paiste 'Drumtree' kit. The latter are Custom Cast bronze drums made from recycled Paiste cymbals, manufactured by master drum tech and drum maker Jeff Ocheltree.
[edit] Drumming Techniques
In search of new techniques, Carey has studied tabla with Aloke Dutta. Carey's popularity among drummers and non-drummers stems from the diversity of his sound, his supreme technical ability, and his frequent uses of odd time signatures.
He has stated in interviews that he practices rudiments, used for sticking techniques, on his feet to improve his double bass drumming.
When drumming beats in multiple time signatures, as Danny does often, it can obviously get hard to time. Danny's solution to this, if there is a moment in his drumming where one hand needs to rest a step, is to flip his stick to count the rest in his head.[citation needed]
[edit] Trivia
- Danny is a fan of the University of Kansas Jayhawks. He occasionally wears a Kansas basketball jersey at Tool concerts, with the number 22 and name "Carey" on the back. The jersey's name and number are that of Jeff Carey, who played at Kansas from 1999-2002, they are not related to each other but Jeff Carey's roomate and fellow teamate of the Jayhawks Eric Chenowith was a fan and told Jeff about the idea. Danny was happy to wear the jersey to show his Jayhawk support.
- Danny has been known to play in the NBA entertainment league, at different times his team has included actors such as Ray Liotta and Michael Rapaport, who have played games against sides featuring rap icons Ice Cube and Snoop Dogg [5]
[edit] External links
- Recent Modern Drummer Artist Update with Danny
- Danny Carey's drum set (not fully up to date)
- Danny Carey's setup on paiste.com
- http://www.saludacymbals.com
- Recent picture of Danny Carey's Drums at paiste.com
- Danny Carey Interview on skinnymag.co.uk (October 2006)
- http://www.dannycarey.org/
- http://synesthesiacorp.com/
- http://www.vicfirth.com/
- Danny modestly playing the end of Lateralus
- Danny playing one of his difficult solos in Forty Six & 2
| Tool |
|---|
| Danny Carey | Justin Chancellor | Maynard James Keenan | Adam Jones |
| Paul d'Amour |
| Discography |
| Opiate | Undertow | Ænima | Salival | Lateralus | 10,000 Days |
| Popular Songs |
| "Prison Sex" | "Sober" | "Stinkfist" | "Forty Six & 2" | "Ænema" | "Schism" | "Parabola" | "Vicarious" | "The Pot" |
| Related articles |
| Tool tours | Progressive rock | Bill Hicks | A Perfect Circle | Peach | Pigmy Love Circus | Lobal Orning |
