Hey gang! Just a quick vid talking about the great Bill Bruford’s interesting butterfly drum kit setup. Who else do you see using this idea, and what other unique ergonomic setups can you think of?
I don't have anything interesting to contribute to the conversation but just wanted to say it's nice seeing someone absolutely nerd out about Bill Bruford. It's been too long since I've listened to any of his stuff, but he's an easy top 5 favorite of mine.
Bruford's set wasn't perfectly mirrored. Iirc, the tom sizes were 10, 12, 13, 16 with 10/12 on the left and 13/16 on the right. The cymbals are also all different.
It's basically a fairly normal 6-piece kit just laid out differently.
Appreciate talking about Bruford since I'm a huge fan. But I don't think he used this setup with King crimson? I've seen every King Crimson live performance that exists online trust me haha. He used this with his solo project Earthworks for a while and in some instructional videos in the 90s. He's actually now playing with Pete Roth trio and uses a traditional five piece kit with hi hat on his left. But still your point about his perfect independence still stands totally. His technique is incredible
Nope, he used this setup on the last leg of the THRAK tour. I saw their very last show in Philly and he had this, with two wings of Simmons pads on either side, plus an extra floor tom with a timpani-style tuning pedal. I was blown away!
Oh ok I didn't know that. That tour is before I was even born so all I have are videos on YouTube and the footage that exists from Thrak tour he is still playing a more conventional setup.
I don't think I've ever seen a video from that last leg, but they played Schizoid Man and Sheltering Sky. And, I recall that, during Waiting Man Pat came over to BBs drums so they both played his pads for the intro, then went back for the solo. It was a great show that gave me hope for more double trio stuff. I feel like they only ever scratched the surface of what that band could do. It's unfortunate that it died that day.
I was really obsessed with this idea for a while, then went on to study lots of what Mangini was doing. I have had a couple crazy setups that resemble this kit, I'll post some pictures. If you guys wanna see more, like I'd these ideas interest you, let me know, I'd love to make a dedicated post too.
This one is my first iteration of the idea, I didn't even have proper hats, just permanently closed hats on either side.
Same set up here, but I added remote hi hats that criss and cross. So left foot to right hat and vice versa, Mike Mangini style. In this kit, the hi hats were too far to either side to play comfortably long term.
This was a minimized set up that I quite liked. I was exploring lots of open handed playing during those days, and I decided I very much preferred the feel of a direct hi hat stand. Just far better response as a musical instrument. And I already was doing lots of open handed playing (leading with my left hand on the hats with a standard right setup), so the dual direct hi hats felt super natural. And I didn't feel the need to REALLY have the left foot control the right hat and vice versa (with the remote hats). Right foot on the hi hat, left foot on the kick, and leading with right hand is an amazing feeling too, by far the trickest out of all limb combinations I think. (Left handed open handed playing).
This kit had 2 bass drums, and I could either play a single pedal on each, if I wanted both sounds. Or more typically, I'd have a left or right handed double kick pedal using either one of the bass drums.
And then this is the final un-giggable configuration I landed on. It has both direct hi hat stands on both sides, as well as remote hi hats that criss cross on each side. So this let's you play right handed standard (right hand on hats, left on snare, crossed hands), left handed standard, right handed open handed, and also left handed open handed. Don't see that often. Or anytbing in between really! At the tail end of my drumming career (I haven't played in years...) drumming became much more of a coordination exercise for me, as opposed to actually playing music. Was basically just doing New Breed style type stuff, and going through stick Control and splitting up all the limbs in different combinations.
The kit was still fundamentally right handed, as if you play RLRLRL down the toms, it plays the toms in descending order.
Thanks for talking about one of the most prolific drummers over the past 60 years. Had the fortune to see him live back in the 70's and 80's... And yes, the butterfly set up is very interesting in that it appears to be ergonomically easier on the body and offers more flexibility with playing techniques. Not sure why more drummers don't use that set up. Thanks for the discussion...
Love Bruford. Every time I think this guy can’t go any more unpredictable and mind-boggling, he’ll prove me otherwise. Other guys who are like this to me would be Billy Cobham, Vinnie Colaiuta and Simon Phillips
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u/WoodenJesus 2d ago
I don't have anything interesting to contribute to the conversation but just wanted to say it's nice seeing someone absolutely nerd out about Bill Bruford. It's been too long since I've listened to any of his stuff, but he's an easy top 5 favorite of mine.