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Brad Morgan
(October 2005 Issue)
Going Into Overdrive Driving
the
rhythm for a rock band with three guitarists and three songwriters
can be daunting for any drummer, especially one whose
drumset once
consisted of only three drums. For Brad Morgan of Drive-By Truckers,
the discipline of the less-is-more
approach has taught him to play more
for the song and less for the ego. "In the beginning, using a small kit
came about
because we didn't have much space in the music," Morgan
says. "I was also playing in four or five bands at the time and
didn't
have a lot of gear."
The Alabama-bred Drive-By Truckers took
the long-haul approach to success by
touring clubs for more than 250
days a year, usually in just a van. Then, in 2001, Rolling Stone magazine printed a
four-star review of the band's concept album, Southern Rock Opera, and things went into overdrive.
Until
very recently, Morgan played an old Ludwig 24" bass drum, a snare
drum, and a floor tom. For cymbals he used two old Zildjian
K rides,
one for a crash and one for a ride, and a pair of hi-hats. (Brad has
upgraded to a Pearl Masterworks kit with
Bosphorus cymbals.) By
striking the edge of his crash/ride and snapping away with his wrist,
Morgan learned he could return
to a quick ride pattern after a crash.
For accented crashes he sometimes uses his left foot to pound a quick
release on his
hi-hat while letting both cymbals ring between the beat.
"Whatever I play," Morgan says, "it's pretty much all about the
song.
And with a small kit, you learn to be creative."
Stacy Peterson
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