Tony Palermo has been a Pearl endorser since 2008, and for his most recent set the company custom-made shorter-sized floor toms to give them a faster decay. MD caught up with Palermo to get more details about his setup changes.
“I used to use a lot of bigger drums,” he says, “a 14" rack and two 26" kicks. Then we played a show with Good Charlotte, with my good friend Dean Butterworth on drums, and I was standing side-stage. His 22" kick drum was thumping, so I started talking to the guys about going down in drum sizes. I really like the feel of 26s and 24s, but when I went smaller, it’s just a tight, punchy sound. Just setting it up right out of the cases, our sound guy has it dialed up. And it’s easy to tune.
“I don’t like my drums tuned too high or low,” Palermo continues. “Obviously, each drum shell has its own [inherent] pitch. I try to [tune to] that and get it to where there is a one-note sound. I just like that punchy good tone.”