maxneal.com - drums -

Big surprise, I play drums. Here is some random stuff about my drumming!

This is my handpan in D minor from Isthmus Instruments. I have two albums that I recorded at Burn United Records and have them up in a lot of places for sale/listening:

Check out my band RUINS at ruinsmusic.com.

This is my current setup. It is pretty simple but it works for what I play and makes it easy to get on and off stage. I was endorsed by SJC Drums in January of 2018...just in time for our singer to quit the band! We are starting a new project called RUINS, but the SJC drums still rule! I placed an order to get a thicker snare which I'm very excited about. I saw a picture of Pearl's "low boy" rack and thought that was pretty cool so I recently upgraded to that to get the ride/crash/china on and off with ease.

Thanks to Steve Porter Photography for this awesome picture below!!!

Currently I am playing a SJC Paramount seven-ply maple kit in a walnut finish:

• 12x8 rack tom
• 14x14 floor tom
• 16x16 floor tom
• 22x18 bass drum
• 14x6.5 snare...a SJC maple M5 (five really thick plies) is on the way
• 13x3 maple Pearl side snare

Cymbals (Sabian):

• 14 Paragon Hi-hats
• 16 and 18 AAXplosion Crashes
• 8 AAX splash
• 21 Hand Hammered Raw Bell Dry Ride
• 19 Paragon China

Hardware: all Pearl, mostly 800 series. Slug Drum bass drum beaters and impact pads. Sticks: Pro-Mark 5B Oak Wood Tips.

Pearl Eliminator Double Pedal with red radical cams.

Heads:

• Toms: Aquarian Super 2s on top, Classic Clears on bottom.
• Snare: Aquarian Texture Coated with Power Dot (single ply on Kapur snare), Hi-Impact (two ply on steel snare), or Triple Threat (three ply on Phosphor Bronze snare) for top heads, Hi-Performance with tabs on all bottoms. PureSound Percussion snare wires on bottoms with marked straps.
• Bass drum: Super Kick II on hitting side with Slug Percussion impact pads, Regulator on front with artwork from drumart.com.

I might play the kit with an extra crash on my right and a china on my left:

And here is what my dream kit would be...

Drums:

• 12x8 rack tom
• 16x14 and 14x12 floor toms
• 22x18 bass drum
• 14x6.5 snare
• 13x5.5 snare

Cymbals (Sabian):

• 14 Paragon Hi-hats
• 15 HHX Groove Hi-hats
• 14, 16, 17 AAXplosion Crashes
• 18 AAX Studio Crash
• 21 Hand Hammered Raw Bell Dry Ride
• 8, 10 AAX splashes
• 19 Paragon China
• 17 AAX X-Treme China

Electronics: Korg Wavedrum, 2box DrumIt5 module for bass drum trigger and two electronic Roland bars for triggering an 808 kick.

Hmm, what else? One of my good friends in college and I would come up with crazy ideas for drums: the Liberty Bell for a cymbal, etc. I made this drawing with all of our crazy ideas. I misplaced it and almost a decade later he gave it to me as a birthday gift (well, I drew it) which was a huge surprise. It is called "What If Terry Bozzio Hung Out With Max And Jim," Terry Bozzio being a drummer with an enormous kit; the SS Bozzio.

If you're still tuning in (why???), then check out my YouTube channel for some goofy drumming jokes that I made as well as my electronic drumming songs that I made using the computer...they are weird.