First bar gig with my Jungle Kit

[N2Bluz]

Finally got a chance to take advantage of a small kit. We played a new venue on Friday night. I had never been there before and it was 2hrs away. The owner said the biggest band they had so far was a 4pc, with no drummer, and it was a tight fit. I figured with 7 of us, I should use my jungle kit. I'm glad I did....it was definitely TIGHT. We ended up using just one 10" powered monitor for the PA system (just vocals) and left the 15" speakers in the truck. We had to leave some space for a dance floor. My back was literally against the wall. I couldn't move my right elbow behind my back without hitting the door jam, so I had to use my left hand across my body to hit the floor tom and crash on my right side. Building this jungle kit was the best thing I ever did. It sounded fantastic. You'd never guess from the sound that it was so small. It allowed me to compete with 6 other band members and have a full drum set sound Ina fraction of the space. For cymbals, I used 14" Paiste Sig hats, a 10" Wuhan splash, 14" Wuhan crash and an 18" Wuhan crash/ride. The Wuhans worked out perfectly and their dark tone makes them sound bigger than they are.

As far as the gig, it went extremely well. The place was packed. It seats about 40 to 50 and people were standing anywhere they could. They had a horse trough full of bottle beer on ice and were hauling 35Gal trash cans of empty beer bottles out the back door every 15 minutes, LOL. Everyone was dancing, including the owner, bartenders and waitresses.There were also owners from 3 other area bars there, all of which asked for our booking info.

[G-man]

That sounds like it was a lot of fun. What's your regular kit? Assuming you had room for it!

[myk]

Very cool, looks like a fun place,congratulations

[N2Bluz]

That sounds like it was a lot of fun. What's your regular kit? Assuming you had room for it!

It was a total blast. One of the most fun gigs we've played. It's a small town out in the middle of nowhere. Real small.....like a population of about 40, LOL. There's only 2 buildings (a bar and a church), and a handful of houses. Dirt streets, and people ride horses into town during the summer. Actually, it's where the movie "To Wong Foo" (Patrick Swayze, Wesley Snipes, Robin Williams) was filmed back in 1995. In fact, if you watch the movie, you'll see the bar.

My regular kits are all standard 4 or 5 piece (22/13/16 or 22/10/12/16) with a couple more cymbals. The depth is about the same, but I put an extension arm on the hi hat to hold the splash. That eliminates a cymbal stand. The 16" bass and 10" tom allow me to move the ride cymbal in a lot closer, and the 13" floor tom allows the other cymbal to move in closer as well. In all, it's a lot more compact in width.

[funkyruss]

It looks and sounds like a lot o fun! I'm using my Stewarts more often these days for my gigs...they may have worked in that place too!

[kay-gee]

What kind of beer is that on the table?

Cool place. Been in tight places like that as well. I might even have dropped the toms and ran only the essentials, like bluegrass fashion.

all the best...

[kay-gee]

It looks and sounds like a lot o fun! I'm using my Stewarts more often these days for my gigs...they may have worked in that place too!

Stewarts! Now there's a good old time brand!

all the best...

[MDK]

Sounds great, what kind of kit is it? Where are the pics and details of the kit? I am thinking of adding a small ****tail type kit to the repertoire.

Kaygee that looks like Busch beer to me, you do not often see it in a bottle.

[JoePasko]

I definitely dig the instrumentation. I played bass & accordion in a group 20 yrs. ago where we mixed electric guitar/bass and drums, with acoustic/bluegrass instruments (fiddle, mando, dobro, etc.). Looks like the joint you played at had the perfect ambience for what you guys were laying down. No doubt they'll have you back.

So you used a 16" FT as bass drum, right ? What's the depth of it ? I am interested in the idea, myself. It's just seems that in various Jungle Kit photo's I see, the length of the horizontal FT protrudes forward that I wonder how much space the drummer is actually saving vs. just re-directing it. Of course maybe it's just an optical illusion, and just looks like its protruding more than it really is.

[kay-gee]

I definitely dig the instrumentation. I played bass & accordion in a group 20 yrs. ago where we mixed electric guitar/bass and drums, with acoustic/bluegrass instruments (fiddle, mando, dobro, etc.). Looks like the joint you played at had the perfect ambience for what you guys were laying down. No doubt they'll have you back.

So you used a 16" FT as bass drum, right ? What's the depth of it ? I am interested in the idea, myself. It's just seems that in various Jungle Kit photo's I see, the length of the horizontal FT protrudes forward that I wonder how much space the drummer is actually saving vs. just re-directing it. Of course maybe it's just an optical illusion, and just looks like its protruding more than it really is.

16" floors are generally 16" in depth.

all the best...

[crispycritters]

16" floors are generally 16" in depth.

all the best...

14" deep 16 FTs are becoming fairly common on sets these days. The questlove breakbeats set has a 14x16 kick as standard. It seems many manufacturers offer the option of shallower FTs (generally 12x14 and 14x16) but 'square' 14x14 and 16x16 FTs are still available.

My Sonor Jungle is 16x16 - and so is the Floor tom on my Pearls but both of those sets are around 15 years old.

[N2Bluz]

What kind of beer is that on the table?

Cool place. Been in tight places like that as well. I might even have dropped the toms and ran only the essentials, like bluegrass fashion.

all the best...

Busch Light in long neck bottles! That's all anyone around here drinks. That's the nice part about the jungle kit. I can keep the full kit sound. Our set list covers everything from Bluegrass, Texas Swing, Rock-a-Billy, honkey-tonk and Chicago style blues to rock like Zeppelin, Cream and the Stones. We can (and do) rock out as hard as any of the local rock bands around here as the night progresses. So, I still need the sound of a full kit, depending on the song. You can't see it in the pic, but along the wall on the left side are guitar amps and a pedal steel guitar, LOL.

Sounds great, what kind of kit is it? Where are the pics and details of the kit? I am thinking of adding a small ****tail type kit to the repertoire.

Kaygee that looks like Busch beer to me, you do not often see it in a bottle.

This is the home made jungle kit I built from some cheap orphan shells. The bass is a 15x16 floor tom that I converted using a Pearl JG16 kit. I think I have just over $100 in the build. There's a thread on the build...

http://www.drumchat.com/showthread.p...ghlight=Jungle

[N2Bluz]

I definitely dig the instrumentation. I played bass & accordion in a group 20 yrs. ago where we mixed electric guitar/bass and drums, with acoustic/bluegrass instruments (fiddle, mando, dobro, etc.). Looks like the joint you played at had the perfect ambience for what you guys were laying down. No doubt they'll have you back.

So you used a 16" FT as bass drum, right ? What's the depth of it ? I am interested in the idea, myself. It's just seems that in various Jungle Kit photo's I see, the length of the horizontal FT protrudes forward that I wonder how much space the drummer is actually saving vs. just re-directing it. Of course maybe it's just an optical illusion, and just looks like its protruding more than it really is.

Oh yeah, we'll be back, but probably not until late Spring. It's too far to drive and too many hills and dirt roads to try and plan a winter gig. They loved all the music and the mix. The younger ones (20-30yr olds) loved the Bluegrass and old country, but the older ones (30yrs+) actually liked the Chicago style blues and Rock stuff best, LOL. The older lady that owns the place is in her late 70's and was a huge Eric Clapton and Stones fan.

Your right, it doesn't save much space from a depth perspective. Since the bass is so small in diameter, you can position the snare over the top of the bass a little bit. That does help save a little depth. I'd say it's only 2/3 as wide as even my basic 22/13/16 (1up/1down) kit. Even the modest space savings it offers allows us to get another guitar player squeezed in....or even enough room for me to have access to my kit without crawling over the top of it, LOL.

[dangermoney]

Looks like a cool place to play. I'll bet you guys had a blast. It looks like your jungle kit fit perfectly in the band's setup space allowing extra room for a guitar player or two ...

[SpazApproved]

glad it all worked out to your advantage!

[Ricardo]

Seven players in such a tiny space !
No way we could do that.

Funny how we all have different set-ups.
I'm currently griping for our sound-man to bring an additional 6000 watts of subs to the next gig.

[Pearl MCX Man]

Is that peanut shells or cigarette butts on the floor. Looks like you had a lot of fun N2Bluzz. Even the fiddle player looked like he was just a dancing around playing his fiddle. Hee Haw.

[N2Bluz]

Seven players in such a tiny space !
No way we could do that.

Funny how we all have different set-ups.
I'm currently griping for our sound-man to bring an additional 6000 watts of subs to the next gig.

Ha! We ain't exactly up to your level yet....and never will be. We're too old to haul that much stuff and lack the talent to put it to good use. But, we ALWAYS have fun! Never any stress. If it doesn't all fit in the back of my F250, we don't bring it. I would love to be in a really good band like you guys and play the big shows, but I can't imagine missing out on all the cool little "hole-in-the-wall" places.

Is that peanut shells or cigarette butts on the floor. Looks like you had a lot of fun N2Bluzz. Even the fiddle player looked like he was just a dancing around playing his fiddle. Hee Haw.

Peanut shells. Can't smoke in the bars here (thankfully). Every table has a big basket of peanuts. You get drunk, eat peanuts and throw the shells on the floor. The oil from the shells gets ground into the wood floor....cleans, polishes & protects it all at once. It's the small places like this that make it so much fun. Everyone is extremely friendly and hospitable...like you're family. They give you hugs and buy you beer during the breaks and make it hard to leave at the end of the night. We always interact with the crowd as much as possible. We get them to sing along for certain songs, tell stories and jokes between songs, do requests, etc.. We try to make them feel like a part of the show. One older lady there was having a birthday that night. Her husband asked us to play her favorite song, but we had never played it before. So, we looked it up during a break and played it in the next set so her and her husband could dance to it by themselves in front of everyone. She was pointing at us on stage and screaming, "You guys ALL ROCK!" as her husband drug her out the door to take her home, LOL. ........

And yes, our fiddle/guitar player uses a wireless system, so he walks around in the crowd while he plays.

[Cdeleone]

what town were you in?
it's funny seeing an actual picture of you. I always thought you were 100 years old (based on your profile pic)!

[N2Bluz]

what town were you in?
it's funny seeing an actual picture of you. I always thought you were 100 years old (based on your profile pic)!

Loma, NE. About an hour NW of Lincoln and 2hrs from my house. I'm only 47, but I play drums like I'm 100.....slow & sloppy I forgot about my profile pic. That's actually an ancestor of mine on my mom's side (not sure of his name though). We use him as the fictional mascot for our band. Our band name is "Corn Cob Bob's Custom Blended Music". I don't really care for the name, but it fits well with our persona and style of music. Here's a copy of our new band poster that I created. This will give you a better idea...

[JoePasko]

I love that Cobmobile ! The Monkees got nuthin' on you guys !

[inthpktplayer]

Looks like a good ole' fashion Roadhouse. Fun places to play.