Jeremy Logan's drum set setup for Kiss Me Kate at the William R. Boone High School in Orlando, Florida.
"This is a very interesting show to play. While it has the staple 'old school Broadway' sound, the revival book has more modern elements to it. One of the coolest parts is in the song 'Cantiamo D’Amore' where you modulate from 7/8 to 4/4 then 2/4, all while keeping that 7 feel constant.
'Too Darn Hot', which opens the Second Act, is a blast to play. It’s an uptempo, Krupa style, swing tune that really sets the stage for the excitement musically in this act. Plus, I got to use all my cymbals on one song!
It’s an involved book that has you playing a ton, with multiple songs approaching 4 1⁄2 to 5 minutes in length. The show itself runs about 2 1⁄2 hours as well.
I was in an interesting place as they decided to put the orchestra underneath the main set on stage. The positive to this was I didn’t have to worry about overplaying the orchestra as we were all miked and the percussion was behind a few of the curtains. The negative was that we were so spread out and without monitors that listening to each other was impossible. This caused a bit of a headache before we convinced the director we needed to be monitored. I was getting piano, bass, some winds, and voices through a bodypack and was using my Sony MDR-7506s to listen. That helped clean up a lot of stuff really quickly.
The use of Middle-Eastern/Brazilian hand percussion in the show was really interesting. While not playing traditional patterns on the instruments they were used to evoke the Middle-Ages/Renaissance style of playing. I was very set early on using more traditional instruments for these parts even though it said toms could be used. I think it was nice to hear the timbral change with these instruments during the Shakespearean scenes as opposed to the more traditional kit during the other songs.
Probably the best investment I have made to my setup was the Gibraltar Stealth Rack. The footprint of my kit, especially being in the back of the stage where actors were constantly coming through to get on stage, was so much more manageable than using multiple stands. As you can see from the photos the amount of stuff I used, versus the number of feet on the floor, is staggering really. I can not recommend the Stealth Rack enough. It really is perfect for pit applications."
Drums: Yamaha Stage Custom (circa 1999):
- 20” Kick (with an Evans Dixson Bass Drum Lift)
- 10” Rack Tom
- 12" Rack Tom
- 14” Floor Tom (converted from hanging floor tom)
- 14” Stage Custom Snare (with PureSound Equalizer Snare Wires)
Heads: Evans
- Toms - Coated Genera G2 Tom Batters with Genera Resonant under toms
- Snare - HD Dry Snare Batter with a Reso 300 underneath
- Bass Drum - Coated EMAD Kick with EQ Pad inside
Cymbals: Sabian
- Sabian 20” Hand Hammered Jazz Ride
- Sabian 18” HHX Thin Crash
- Sabian 18” AAX Dark Crash
- Sabian 16” Hand Hammered Crash
- Sabian 14” Hand Hammered Regular Hats
- Zildjian 6” A Custom Splash
Hardware:
- Cymbal Stands - Mostly Gibraltar with one Yamaha
- Gibraltar Stealth Rack System (GSVMS and GSSMS)
- Gibraltar No Leg Hi-Hat Stand (9707NL-DP attached to rack with SC-EA100)
- DW 5000 Accelerator Kick Pedal
- Lowe’s $10.00 USB Fan (probably the most indispensable part of my setup)
- Roc-N-Soc Hydraulic Throne w/Backrest (also indispensable)
Percussion
- Miller Machine with Triangle
- Miller Machine with Finger Cymbal
- Toca Doumbek (mounted)
- RhythmTech Drumset Tambourine
- Pearl Pandeiro (mounted)
- LP Temple Blocks
- Studio Lab Drumtacs
- Snareweight M80 Snare Dampner
- Cympad Cymbal Washers
Sticks/Mallets: Innovative Percussion
- IP-7A Vintage Series Drums Sticks
- IP-5A Vintage Series Drums Sticks (with added moleskin)
- WBR-1 Retractable Medium Wire Brushes
Jeremy is a proud endorser of Innovative Percussion Sticks and Mallets
Kiss Me Kate - Regional - Jeremy Logan
March 2020
