Alan White's North Drums
Jerry Griffin
Can anyone explain to me what sonic purpose the North drums fulfilled
for Alan White on the 1977-97 Yes "oing for the One, et. al. tours?
For those of you who've never seen or noticed them, scattered around
Alan's standard 5-piece drumset were 3 green North toms -- single headed
tom-toms that flared out into a bell, like a tuba.
(see http://nfte.org/fy/gfto_tour/live_shots.htm )
I had a chance to play on a set of North drums once (in a seedy
country-western dive on SW 29th in OKC). And as cool as they look, I
found the sound of them absolutely horrible. Obviously, the idea is to
"funnel" the sound toward the audience, but from the drummer's point of
audit all I heard was a dull thud from each drum. I couldn't even tell
the sound of one tom from another (which could very well have been that
particular drummers tuning).
(The sound was almost identical to a Ludwig "innovation" called "sound
scoops" -- a 1/4 sphere of plastic velcroed to the open end of the tom.
I had a 10-piece vistalite set that had these -- but I tore them off,
stored them, and still have them, though I sold the set years ago.)
So, does anyone know what Alan got, or was looking for, from these
drums?
--
|************************ JERRY GRIFFIN ************************|
|*** mailto:gr...@telepath.com ***|
|*** http://www.telepath.com/griff ***|
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riddim
>
> Can anyone explain to me what sonic purpose the North drums fulfilled
> for Alan White on the 1977-97 Yes "oing for the One, et. al. tours?
>
> drums?
I can't speak for Alan, but if you check out Gerry Brown' work on Stanley
Clarke's School Days LP/CD, or on Return to Forever (3) live, it's virtually
identical to the sound he got live. And the bass drum -- whew!
jbre...@my-deja.com
Jackson Brown's Runnin on Empty album cover. One of my favorite covers.
I had a North hi hat stand that I used for about 15 years - well made
etc. Still have it on my practice set. I'm sure you all really care.
In article <39C06B...@telepath.com>,
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
jbre...@my-deja.com
Jackson Brown's Runnin on Empty album cover. One of my favorite covers.
I had a North hi hat stand that I used for about 15 years - well made
etc. Still have it on my practice set. I'm sure you all really care.
In article <39C06B...@telepath.com>,
gr...@telepath.com wrote:
Drumguru
twenty five years old. Well made.
--
George Lawrence, Nashville TN
Drumset artist, teacher, author
http://www.drumguru.com
"Just play dumb" - Jeff Porcaro
benrand
I thought I read that somewhere...
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------
"Perseverance is more prevailing than violence; and many
things which cannot be overcome when they are together, yield
themselves up when taken little by little." --Plutarch
Drumguru <drum...@home.com> wrote in message
news:39C0D23B...@home.com...
Jeffrey Speegle
They were around in the early 80's, along
with the original Simmons SDS1s'. There was
even a rival company that made drums along the
same design as the North...can't remember the
name, but the kick was a double port.
It actually looked like a fat girl's shorts
turned on their side with a drum head stretched
across it. ;-)
The drums were made of fiberglass and all that
I saw came with FiberSkin heads. They were
SUPER loud. The FS heads added a little warmth,
but not a very good sounding set.
They even made m marching percussion for a short time.
Spirit of Atlanta marched North in ~83 and almost
got tick'ed to death. It seems that the drums were
SOOOO directional that the snare players were having
a tough time hearing, so Brad Caraway and Brad
Johnson (Spirit instructors) told me.
Never the less! They look sharp on the front
cover of Jackson Browne's Running On Empty. ;-)
JWS
http://reality.sgi.com/speegle_huntsville/drums.html
benrand wrote:
>
> Is there some wierd story to the companies demise???
> I thought I read that somewhere...
--
Jeffrey
---------------------------------------------------------
Jeffrey Speegle | System Support Engineer
SGI Federal | Huntsville, Alabama 35806
256-864-3461 | spe...@sgi.com
---------------------------------------------------------
http://reality.sgi.com/speegle_huntsville
---------------------------------------------------------
I t ' s a l l j u s t z e r o s a n d o n e s !
---------------------------------------------------------
Drumguru
>
> North was pretty much a novelty item.
> They were around in the early 80's, along
> with the original Simmons SDS1s'. There was
> even a rival company that made drums along the
Staccatto?
Pervect Catastrophy
> I don't know about how North drums sounded, but they look great on
> Jackson Brown's Runnin on Empty album cover. One of my favorite covers.
> I had a North hi hat stand that I used for about 15 years - well made
> etc. Still have it on my practice set. I'm sure you all really care.
My drummer (Billy D) has a red set of Norths, kinda beat.
They sound good, and he's supposed to be getting another set of 'em in
black this week.
JOn
--
Even *bad* drummers get more solos than bassists
Bass: The Final Frontier... the Din of Iniquity
http://www.mp3.com/HeadrushDemo
http://www.mp3.com/Evolution1
riddim
There was
> even a rival company that made drums along the
> name, but the kick was a double port.
> It actually looked like a fat girl's shorts
> turned on their side with a drum head stretched
> across it. ;-)
Ray can tell us a bit more about them.
They were called Staccato. The firm was owned by Chris Slade. drums were
made in the UK and also, I believe, under the auspices of one Ray Ayotte
(who, at the 1982 Chicago NAMM, had a booth promoting them next to Long
Island's Mr. Congeniality, Bob Grauso). That would make them truly north,
no? That's the first place I saw the lugs that would later turn up on his
wood shelled drums.
Jerry Griffin
have some good poop on North. I guess my next research stop is the JB
album.
Jeffrey Speegle wrote:
>
> North was pretty much a novelty item.
> They were around in the early 80's, along
> with the original Simmons SDS1s'. There was
> even a rival company that made drums along the
> same design as the North...can't remember the
> name, but the kick was a double port.
> It actually looked like a fat girl's shorts
> turned on their side with a drum head stretched
> across it. ;-)
>
I rememeber ads for those in MD. They were even rectangular, weren't
they?
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Name: speegle.vcf
> Part 1.2 Type: text/x-vcard
> Encoding: 7bit
> Description: Card for Jeffrey Speegle
Brandon Paluzzi
The competitors would be Staccato drums.
RE: Drumcorps. THe Concord Blue Devils marched North Tri-toms in 1976
(with a primarily Ludwig battery). The show was "Channel One Suite".
In 1986 when they played C1Suite for the ten year anniversary, they
brought the North toms out again, this time as a second set of toms (3
players on the north tris, 4 players on the Yamaha quads that matched the
rest of the line)
Brandon
On Thu, 14 Sep 2000, Jeffrey Speegle wrote:
> North was pretty much a novelty item.
> They were around in the early 80's, along
> with the original Simmons SDS1s'. There was
> even a rival company that made drums along the
> same design as the North...can't remember the
> name, but the kick was a double port.
> It actually looked like a fat girl's shorts
> turned on their side with a drum head stretched
> across it. ;-)
>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
bra...@bpaluzzi.net http://www.bpaluzzi.net
Carnegie Mellon University
Kiltie Band Drumline Instructor
Rev. Poindexter incognito
> --------------B054902112843EDFCC9E13C3
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
> North was pretty much a novelty item.
> They were around in the early 80's, along
> with the original Simmons SDS1s'. There was
> even a rival company that made drums along the
> same design as the North...can't remember the
> name, but the kick was a double port.
> It actually looked like a fat girl's shorts
> turned on their side with a drum head stretched
> across it. ;-)
>
> The drums were made of fiberglass and all that
> I saw came with FiberSkin heads. They were
> SUPER loud. The FS heads added a little warmth,
> but not a very good sounding set.
>
I got the call to fill in for a drummer in a country band 12 or 13 years
ago. It was at a club we played often and his white North kit was already
set up. Aside from the small sizes (I was playing my Phonic Pluses in those
days), I liked them. They were definitely different. I couldn't tell much
about the actual tone of the kit - the room acoustics were horrible.
RP
Visit the Unofficial Sonor Virtual Museum at
http://www.sonormuseum.com
Mark Talbott
tone they produced. I still have and use the hihat stand and he still has the
cymbal boom stands. Durable h/w.
Kevlar9296
used were sitting in the bandroom of a high school here in Goleta (next to
Santa Barbara) CA. A friend of mine who taught there a few years ago aquired
them from Tom Float somehow about a decade ago.
Jerry Griffin
revealed himself as brilliant with Manfred Mann, entered the superstar
arena playing for David Gilmour and Jimmy Page (the Firm) and was last
known (by me) to be thrashing it out for AC/DC?
riddim wrote:
>
> There was
> > even a rival company that made drums along the
> > same design as the North...can't remember the
> > name, but the kick was a double port.
> > It actually looked like a fat girl's shorts
> > turned on their side with a drum head stretched
> > across it. ;-)
>
> Ray can tell us a bit more about them.
>
> They were called Staccato. The firm was owned by Chris Slade. drums were
> made in the UK and also, I believe, under the auspices of one Ray Ayotte
> (who, at the 1982 Chicago NAMM, had a booth promoting them next to Long
> Island's Mr. Congeniality, Bob Grauso). That would make them truly north,
> no? That's the first place I saw the lugs that would later turn up on his
> wood shelled drums.
--
Kristallin01
James C. Nevermann
> My drummer (Billy D) has a red set of Norths, kinda beat.
> They sound good, and he's supposed to be getting another set of 'em in
> black this week.
Where did he find the set [obvious question, since North's have been
out of production for at least 20 years]?
--
Jim Nevermann [usual disclaimers]
James C. Nevermann
>
>There was
> even a rival company that made drums along the
> same design as the North
Right... I remember that brand. The top part of the rim [on the
audience side, not the head side] looked pinched in: a very odd shape
> They even made m marching percussion for a short time.
> Spirit of Atlanta marched North in ~83 and almost
> got tick'ed to death. It seems that the drums were
> SOOOO directional that the snare players were having
> a tough time hearing
The Blue Devils marched five sets of North triples when they won their
first DCI in '76.
Pervect Catastrophy
<jcn...@qtip.ca.boeing.com> wrote:
> Pervect Catastrophy wrote:
>
> > My drummer (Billy D) has a red set of Norths, kinda beat.
> > They sound good, and he's supposed to be getting another set of 'em in
> > black this week.
>
> Where did he find the set [obvious question, since North's have been
> out of production for at least 20 years]?
Pittsburgh is a veritable junk heap of
wierd out-of-production gear, at <sometimes> reasonable prices.
JOn
<Ya wanna buy a Bogen??>
Rev. Poindexter incognito
n...@infi.net (Pervect Catastrophy) wrote:
>
> Pittsburgh is a veritable junk heap of
> wierd out-of-production gear, at <sometimes> reasonable prices.
>
> JOn
> <Ya wanna buy a Bogen??>
BWAHAHAHA!!! We used one of those eons ago. It was a noisy piece of crap...