My first live recorded performance of 'Dystopia', the first track from TESSERACT's new album Polaris.
Recorded and mixed by Al Heslop at Creative Control Studios, Bracknell - www.creativecontrolstudio.com
Polaris is available worldwide through Kscope and eOne music:
US - www.merchconnectioninc.com/collections/tesseract
EU - www.bandstores.co.uk/shop/tesseractstore/
A huge thank you to all of the companies I work with who helped to make this happen:
Crush Drums and percussion - Sublime Bubinga 10, 12, 13 and 16 toms, 22" kick.
Planet Earth 14x6.5 Teak Stave snare
Sabian cymbals
Vic Firth 5b Sticks
Evans drumheads
Porter and Davies
This is a very special recording for me as not only is it the first live video of a new TesseracT track but it's the first time I've recorded a drum that I've made myself.
I've never felt qualified as a drummer to talk in depth about my drum sound. I've always just gone with what I've known and not really explored the sounds of different woods, shell depths and diameters, bearing edges, hardware and all the other tiny variables which go into giving a drum it's signature sound.
So I spent the past eighteen months obsessing over and researching drum making methods. I decided to make my own stave drum from scratch. I teamed up with an old and very good friend and together we have made something I'm extremely proud of. It's a 14" x 6.5" Teak stave shell, 20mm thick with a 45 degree bearing edge. I used 3mm triple flange hoops and a Trick throwoff, and to make it even cooler it used to be a school science desk!
I'm most certainly at the start of a new journey into the world of drums and while I feel like I've learned a lot already, I know this drum is just a drop in the ocean, on a planet, in a galaxy, in a universe, in a multiverse of possibilities.
