{"id":1712851,"date":"2025-12-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1712851"},"modified":"2025-12-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T21:00:00","slug":"tools-danny-carey-explains-the-art-and-craft-behind-his-alex-grey-designed-drum-kit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1712851","title":{"rendered":"TOOL’s DANNY CAREY Explains The Art And Craft Behind His ALEX GREY\u2013Designed Drum Kit"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Tool<\/strong> drummer Danny Carey<\/strong> has shared a new three-minute video detailing the story behind his striking Alex Grey<\/strong>\u2013designed touring drum kit, created in collaboration with Sonor Drums and the visionary artist whose work has long been intertwined with Tool<\/strong>‘s aesthetic.<\/p>\n

Grey<\/strong>, of course, has famously contributed artwork to Tool<\/strong>‘s albums Lateralus<\/em>, 10,000 Days<\/em>, and Fear Inoculum<\/em>, as well as the band’s live visuals and merchandise. In the newly shared video, Carey<\/strong> explains how the idea came together and why he wanted his drum kit to become a deeper part of the overall show.<\/p>\n

“I’ve had a lot of people ask me about the drum set that I’ve been playing on the last few years,” Carey<\/strong> said. “There’s a guy that’s done a lot of artwork for us named Alex Grey<\/strong>. He’s contributed to our onstage visuals and our album covers for \u2014 God \u2014 probably 15 years now. He’s done a fantastic job, taking the combination, a synergistic quality of the artwork and blending it with the music.”<\/p>\n

Carey<\/strong> explained that the concept was simple: give Grey<\/strong> full creative freedom: “I came up with an idea to have [Alex<\/strong>] do all the artwork on [the drum kit], just to make it more part of the show,” he said. “I didn’t want to tell him what to do.”<\/p>\n

To bring the idea to life, Carey<\/strong> worked closely with Sonor to design a high-end kit from the ground up: “I had Sonor make me a really high-quality kit. I got to pick all the woods. The initial kit was beech wood and ebony, which is kind of what the old Sonor drums were made of in the early ’80s.”<\/p>\n

The drums were intentionally finished as a blank slate before being sent to Grey’s New York studio: “They just painted ’em white \u2014 like a blank canvas \u2014 and sent them over from Germany. Then I sent them to New York where Alex<\/strong>‘s chapel and studios are. I just turned him loose on it.”<\/p>\n

Grey<\/strong>‘s artwork incorporated many of his signature motifs, but Carey<\/strong> says one piece stood above the rest: “The coup de gr\u00e2ce was he did a gong drum. He surprised me with that. It’s actually a portrait of me and a native hitting a drum. He represented the sound waves going into my ear and then affecting my brain \u2014 kind of the process of inspiration.”<\/p>\n

Concerned about damaging the original hand-painted kit on tour, Carey<\/strong> later commissioned a second version: “I liked them so much, and I was so worried about damaging ’em, I had Sonor make me another kit,” he explained. “This one’s bubinga and maple instead of ebony and beech.”<\/p>\n

That second kit features scanned wraps of Grey<\/strong>‘s original artwork, allowing Carey<\/strong> to preserve the hand-painted drums while still performing with the same visuals onstage: “They’re both amazing pieces of art, and I’m so flattered to have ’em. It was so nice of Alex<\/strong> to do that for me.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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