The Addams Family - Sal Mazzotta
Sal Mazzotta's setup for the North American Tour of The Addams Family at the State Theatre New Jersey in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
Sal's write-up and gear list below photos.
The Addams Family Tour Band - Left to Right: Sam Dimov, Carmelo Villegas, Josh Roberts, Sal Mazzotta, Nick Rimanic, Luke Molloy, Sam Groisser, Tom Fosnocht, Mike Parisi, Megan Howell
The Franchise:
"The Addams Family - a beloved franchise approaching its 90th year. While there have been many iterations of these kooky characters since Charles Addams drew his first comics, it feels like a particularly relevant time to be producing this show, as the hit Netflix-series, Wednesday, propels the franchise back into the hearts of mainstream audiences.
Globally, Wednesday has even topped Stranger Things as the number one all time most watched Netflix series, currently having over 252 million views. From hype alone, our show has been selling really well since the beginning, but from what I gather, the audiences are really loving it too. I invite anyone reading to come check out our production, because this is not exactly the same show that everyone knows from the original Broadway run, or even the licensed version. We changed a few things.
The Show:
I believe that the licensed version comes from the First National Tour, which had significant changes from the Broadway run. About 80% of our production is the same as the licensed version. As for the other 20%, we reworked scenes throughout and changed the score to match. There is repurposed material, newly composed music, and songs that have been cut all together.
For example, 'Gomez’s What If' has been cut entirely and replaced with a reprise of 'Trapped', and 'Fester’s Manifesto' has evolved into a medium-up swing to match the later 'But Love Reprise'. There are also a few new scene change numbers based on existing material. A common idea here is the melody from 'When You’re An Addams', which appears multiple times throughout the show, performed in various styles.
Not to give too much away, but there’s also an entirely new section of 'The Moon and Me' to match new staging, and unfortunately, the prog rock section of 'Tango de Amor' has been cut. I was a little disappointed with that at first, but it started to grow on me when I realized it was to make room for an entirely new finale.
Lurch’s 'Move Toward the Darkness' is now only a small part of a much more involved number - cleverly adding an element from Wednesday that is very popular with younger audiences. Even when I’m remote, I can still hear the fans of the Netflix series cheering in my in-ears. I won’t spoil what that is. You’ll have to come see the show.
It wouldn’t be The Addams Family without a little twist, and I knew there would be changes going in. What they were exactly was a mystery at the time, so I tried to make sure to prepare as best I could with the time I had.
The Preparation:
Having been told there would be notable changes, I knew that I wanted to be flexible with the material. For me personally, it’s much easier to play freely when I both have the music memorized, cold, and understand the intent behind it. After listening through the cast album with the score a few times, I decided it would be best to go to the source before I even started getting the physicality of it in my hands.
I was lucky enough to connect with Damien Bassman through a mutual friend, and we met up at his studio. I chose several excerpts from the drum book that I had questions about, and I recorded him playing them for me to transcribe and learn later. More importantly, I spent a lot of time asking him about his influences and what he was thinking when he wrote these parts.
I figured that this way, if I did end up being asked to change parts for our production, I could try to put myself in Damien’s shoes and create new parts from a similar intent. This ended up being key during tech, which were two long and ever-evolving weeks.
For many of the new numbers, I was reading from piano-vocal scores covered by scribbles that only I’d be able to make sense of - much like a workshop for anyone who’s been in that kind of situation. Those moments can be pretty stressful, but for this one, the new parts kind of wrote themselves. I just kept in mind that Damien has a strong concert and world percussion background, loves prog rock, and especially The Beatles.
Eventually, I made quick drum charts when I had time that I would fill out with more detail throughout tech. By opening night, one of our music supervisors had engraved my charts into digital copies. The drum book has been mostly set since then, but one month in, we’re still messing around with slight variations to see what we like. Our Music Director, Tom Fosnocht, is open to collaborative input, which all of us in the band appreciate.
The Setup:
Even though I had the option to use gear provided by the producer, I decided to build my setup mostly of my own equipment in exchange for a weekly rental stipend. While the extra money wasn’t the main motivation for my choice, it’s a nice bonus.
This is a show that I really wanted to feel that I did right - for me, for the street cred, for the love of it. It’s a pretty difficult book on top of the regular pressure of having a hand on the steering wheel. I wanted this to be an experience that I got better from, and that I enjoyed playing every day, so I chose my equipment pretty meticulously.
Having toured on this level before, I knew the realties of the kinds of spaces that I would be playing in, and the realities of having to set up and break down in the same night. Meaning, A 5-piece set with a 22” kick drum just wouldn’t work on the road if I wanted to maintain as much of Damien’s original setup as I could.
The Drums:
As far as shells, I chose my trusty Sonor AQX Jungle kit, which has only a 16” kick drum and a 13” snare drum. These drums are small, but the heads, tuning, and muffling all shape the sound into something much bigger. Unfortunately, even with a smaller sized kit, I still couldn’t bring everything.
After discussions with Tom (Musical Director), we came to the compromise to ditch the cajon. I was originally going to bring just a Djembe, but luckily, the LP Travel Conga is working out really well with it’s relatively small footprint. It adds a lot of color back into the book, and since we’re not touring with a separate percussionist, timbres and textures are something that I really wanted to make a priority of, cymbals too.
The Cymbals:
I usually play Zildjian cymbals at home, but I didn’t want to bring my K's on the road. I also wanted something a bit different that I could leave with the tour - something affordable that sounded good, but unique, and maybe even a little weird.
I had been to Jon Singer’s 3rd Floor Percussion Bāzār a few times since the end of the COVID lockdown, so I was already acquainted with him and his Name Brand Cymbals. If you’re not familiar with Jon, I like to think of him as the Steve Weiss of Brooklyn.
Overall, I knew that I wanted darker sounding cymbals to match the modern trend of the last decade or so, but I also wanted cymbals with clear, articulate, bells.
I needed at least one to cover swells, one to be trashy to add live presence in the room to Tam Tam samples and other effects, two different ride cymbal sounds, and dry, yet slightly trashy, hi hats.
This took a few attempts coordinating with Jon to match everything in the way that I wanted, because on top of these choices, I also wanted the pitches of all of these cymbals, and their bells, to work harmonically. I wasn’t thinking of any specific chords or intervals. It was one of those things that I knew I would know when I heard them all together. If it sounds good, it’s good.
The 20” Boutique Sand Washed Ride ended up becoming the center piece, the glue to bind all of the cymbals together into one cohesive instrument. After I knew that I wanted that one, I set up other cymbals around it, letting the different sounds all bleed into each other until I completed my set.
The Toys:
Another sound that I was particular about was actually the triangle. I’ve been using an Alan Abel 04” triangle for the last several years, and before that, I used the classic 06” version. Both of those are pretty stock at this point. You see them everywhere. I no longer own the 06” version, and have never been totally sold on the 04” model.
They definitely both have their place, but I remember being shown a larger triangle with a lower fundamental pitch by my late mentor, Dean Witten, back during my time as a student.
It sounded so majestic to me, and I felt that I could really hear the space between all of the overtones better since the pitches were lower. That hollowness, for lack of a better word, always came off as either beautiful and festive or creepy and noir-esk. That’s the sound that I wanted for Addams Family.
My new Black Swamp 7” Arch Bronze Triangle is exactly that. It’s so weird. I love it, and it deserves to be played well. That’s where my new Miller Machine and Hand Held Beaters come in. I finally upgraded to the Horizontal Mount. It’s honestly a must-have for any gigging professional. The playing flexibility alone is a reason to get it, but the fact that you can hang multiple instruments changes the game.
When planning, I wasn’t sure if it wanted to use two different triangles, a single triangle and a finger cymbal, or even two triangles and a finger cymbal, but that didn’t matter. A single Horizontal Mount can do all of that. Plus, it holds your beaters.
When you only have 25 minutes to set up before sound check, you can’t be fussing with extra pieces of equipment. Everything needs to be streamlined. This thing is a life saver, and it pairs perfectly with the new Miller Machine Hand Held Beaters.
I’m loving the brass ones, especially since the audio team wanted to close-mic my triangle. Now that I don’t need to have a super aggressive articulation, I can go for the warmer sound and focus more on bringing out the overtones to get that hollowness that I mentioned earlier. As a musician, I can’t think of many things better than playing an instrument and getting the exact sound you were imagining in your head. It’s so rewarding. I know that you all know what I’m talking about!
Side Note:
Make sure to check out Damien’s new show Death Becomes Her! I audited him in the drum booth not too long ago. The score is great, and the drum parts are really creative. It was an awesome experience for me to see how his vocabulary had evolved since The Addams Family. While they’re two different shows, you can definitely tell it’s Damien on the throne."
Drums: Sonor AQX Jungle in Black Midnight Sparkle
- 15" x 16” Bass Drum
- 6" x 13” Snare with X-Percussion CLICK
- 7" x 10” Tom
- 12" x 13” Floor Tom
-
Tandem Drums Drops for Muffling
Hardware:
- Roc-N-Soc Manual Spindle Drum Throne
- DW 6000 Strap Drive Kick Pedal
- DW 6000 Ultralight Hi Hat Stand
- DW 6000 Ultralight Snare Stand
- Pearl Mountable Trap Table
- Yamaha Heavy Weight Boom Stand
Cymbals:
Jon's 3rd Floor Percussion Bāzār
- Name Brand 20” Boutique Sand Washed Ride
- Name Brand 14” Boutique Jellyfish Hi Hats
- Name Brand 18” Boutique Signature Crash
- Name Brand 18” FX Cymbal
- Name Brand 16” Boutique Vintage Crash
- Name Brand 8” Darklarity Splash
Percussion:
- Remo 14” Mondo Djembe
- LP 11” Giovanni Compact Conga
- Black Swamp 7” Arch Bronze Triangle
- Meinl Finger Cymbal
- LP Session Shaker Small
- LP Jam Block Red
- LP Cowbell
- Triangle Machine Plus with Horizontal Mount
Electronics:
- Yamaha DTX-Multi 12
- Apple iPad Pro 2018 11” with forScore
- Shure SE215 In-Ear Monitors
Sticks/Beaters:
- Vic Firth 7A Freestyle
- Vic Firth 5A Dual Tone Swizzle
- Vic Firth WB Jazz Brushes
- Hand Held Beaters by Billy Miller
Tour Website:
https://theaddamsfamilytour.com
The Addams Family - Tour - Sal Mazzotta
January 2025 thru Present
