< PreviousModern Drummer November 2021 26 Are there any challenges recording percussion in a home studio—whether it’s isolation or signal bleed or room tone? There are always challenges recording percussion in a home studio. Usually, when you’re dealing with percussion, drums, or anything that’s acoustically very loud, the room is very important to the sound of what your microphones are going to pick up. So, it was definitely a challenge to get my room to sound really good, and I thank Auralex for that. A great engineer at Auralex helped me design the acoustic space and correctly place all the necessary panels and diffusers in the room. They also helped me figure out exactly how many bass traps I needed to attain an optimal room sound. I compare my current sound to all the other studios where I’ve recorded—which are huge studios out in L.A. and Miami—and I’m really happy with the sound that I get in my home studio. I kind of like my sound a little bit better. Maybe it’s because I’ve gotten more used to it. I know exactly where to place the drums and how far away the mic should be from the drum, because those are very important things. I’ve come up with a formula that sounds beautiful, and I don’t have to do much to the sound in post-production. It just sounds amazing right from the original recording. What is your typical miking approach for various percussion instruments? It depends on the song and the instrument. It depends on a lot of things, actually, but I have a formula, and some go-to mics that I use. For example, I deploy my AKG C414s and Sennheiser MD 421s a lot. I also use mics from Lewitt and Earthworks. I’m not married to one particular brand of microphone, and that’s because every percussionist is different, and every genre has its own important flavor. That’s the great thing about having your own studio—you get to do a lot of these trial-and-error things. You can really come to understand how sound—and capturing a particular instrument— can add magic to your song. That’s definitely something I love to do. As I am a producer and a percussionist, I understand what a track needs to sound like, both musically and sonically. How do you like to arrange the soundscape for your productions? Are you into extreme panning, or prefer to have everything sit in a balanced stereo field? Do you consider the overall frequency range and process elements to your production concept, or do you like to let the natural sounds of the instruments and vocals stand pretty much as they are? I love to pan the whole stereo spectrum as much as possible in my mixes. I love to go wide—especially with percussion stuff. In the music that I record and produce—which is tropical and salsa music—there are so many percussion instruments that everything gets mushed together if you don’t hard pan anything. So, panning some elements to the extreme right or left of the stereo field helps you spread out your mix, and ensure everything is heard clearly and stands out. I mean, some things don’t go so wide, right? But for something with timbales, for example, you will have overhead mics, a mic on the cowbell, mics on the bottom of the two shells, and maybe mics on the top and bottom of the snare. There are usually a lot of microphones, so you definitely want to pan it all to make sure all your sound is there. In terms of processing, I don’t like to go too crazy, because it kind of shapes the sound a little too much into something it’s not supposed to be. I love the organic nature of the instruments— especially in my style of music. I think of how people listen to a band when they’re in front of the orchestra, and I want to replicate that in the mix so they feel like they’re listening to it live. If you add too many plug-ins and change too much of the sound, you’re going to lose a little bit of that organic magic. Yeah, it could be cool, and it could be very contemporary and fresh, but it’s that natural, retro sound that really moves people. It gets people off their chairs. There’s a reason that style has worked throughout the years. Although my productions are very modern, I never lose the essence of the music—especially the magic of retro sounds, because that’s what I love, and what I live and earMusic Tony’s Percussion Crew Latin Percussion Tony Succar Signature Timbales, Latin Percussion Galaxy Fiberglass congas and tumbas, Latin Percussion Galaxy Fiberglass bongos, Latin Percussion Tony Succar Signature Cajon.November 2021 Modern Drummer 27 breathe. Arranging sounds is such an important consideration because dense tracks can create an intimidating onslaught of sound. It must be difficult managing all of those textures to create a comfortable listening experience. Yes. My mixing engineer always tells me, “Tony, man, this is crazy!” I can have up to 200 tracks in a song, and he’ll be like, “How do I even tackle this?” A lot of times, I’m fusing different genres together. I’ll throw a little bit of trap into the mix, or R&B, soul, and rock elements that bring a whole new can of worms of instrumentation into an already dense Latin track. Latin music has many elements already, but you have to be able to manage those textures by basically building from the bottom up. That’s my concept. It always starts with the percussion and the bass, and then you go onto the harmonic instruments. You keep building by adding horns, vocals, and everything else, but you’ve got to start somewhere. The first instrument for me is the congas—which are like the spinal cord of the entire track. It’s very important that those are always heard, as they kind of tie everything together. Then, you’ve got timbales, bongos, and guiro, and all these other percussion instruments that, at the end of the day, all act as one drum set. Remember, in Latin and salsa music, there is no real kick or snare like there is in pop music to drive your beat. In Latin music, it’s all these little elements that drive the groove, and it’s super important to create a comfortable listening experience where nothing stands out and everything is in its place so it just kind of jives as one strong organism. Compression has to do a lot with this, so you definitely want to make sure you bus everything according to the groups of instruments. You can’t just put everything together. It has to be a little organized. Organization in a mix is something very important for this genre, because there are so many tracks and there’s so much going on. It’s important to hear that organization of sounds accurately, of course. You chose KRK monitors for your home studio. Why did you select this system over other monitor systems? I’m currently using the KRK V-Series 6 Gen 4 Powered Reference Monitors, and I like the power and clarity they offer while tracking and mixing. On the mixing side, you want something that you will feel and understand—something that will spark emotion. You also need to make sure that whatever you’re mixing translates to all these other listening platforms, such as a mobile device, car stereo, a club, and so on. I feel like these KRK V6s are the sweet spot for me. They’re extremely high definition. When I’m tracking stuff, I can hear every little frequency and overtone. That’s very important, because sometimes the room will cause something to sound off. For instance, maybe there’s something rattling or a less-than-desirable frequency getting captured by the microphone. You want to make sure you have a very high-definition monitor so you can listen to every detail while you’re tracking, and fix any anomalies so that you don’t have any problems in the future. What are some of the elements of modern Latin production that may be different from tracks recorded in, say, the ‘60s and ‘70s? In my Latin productions, I use a lot of modern sounds and a modern approach. For example, Unity is my Latin tribute to Michael Jackson, and that project showed me how cool Latin music can be. If you just add a couple of elements from different genres—like rock, R&B, soul, and funk—there’s so much you can do. I’m definitely not stuck in the past. I do love traditional salsa and tropical music, but I will always have productions where I fuse different elements. Right now, I’m experimenting a lot with trap, so I’m actually programming, as well—using Roland TR-808 drum sounds, and things like that. Imagine having salsa with all of that and making it all mesh and work together. It’s very important for me to keep pushing the bar and help the genre keep going in its evolution. Who are some of your percussion and/or drumming heroes and why? Tito Puente is my biggest industry hero because he was a timbalero—which is my favorite instrument and the one I play. Not only was he a great musician—and the king of timbales—but he was a great composer, arranger, producer, and all-around great band leader and artist. That’s what I wanted to be my whole life―not just a percussionist. He was the king of balancing it all, and he was the reason I went to school to become a professional musician and producer. There are also guys like Giovanni Hidalgo, Changuito, and Alex Acuña. As far as drumming heroes, Alex would be one of them, as well, but also Steve Gadd, Dave Weckl, Vinnie Colaiuta, and Buddy Rich. There are so many of them. They all have a special place in my heart, according to the timeline of my life when I was able to discover their music—especially when I was at school studying them as part of my whole experience of getting better at different genres. You have been honored with Grammy wins and nominations. What do you feel are the elements of your productions that have stood out enough in the industry to garner such accolades? It has been a big honor to win a Latin Grammy—especially for producer of the year. It’s something I never thought I would be able to reach. I understand there are a lot of guys who get this after many years of work—and proving their quality time and again—but I think what makes me different, and what opened the doors, is my search for extreme excellence. In every way, shape, and form, I was looking for excellence in my music. I was looking for the top-quality possible, but not necessarily quality in the sense of musicality or something being extremely difficult to play. It’s more about taste and quality in every sense—how everything was just sort of placed. Modern Drummer November 2021 28 I think when you match innovation with extreme quality— which is basically excellence in music—that’s when you have a phenomenon. That is what happened to me. I’m a completely independent artist, and as an indie person, it’s really hard to cut through and stick out from the crowd. There are a lot of people trying to do this, so I think you have to have something special— magical. You must reach people’s hearts, but at the same time, turn the heads of your peers. The Grammys are not like the Billboard or social media awards. The Grammys have nothing to do with sales numbers. It’s completely down to the quality of the music. In interviews, you have mentioned the financial difficulties in your family when you were growing up, and yet you and your brother and sister have achieved high-level careers. Do you feel there is an intangible or tangible work ethic informed by your early struggles that has helped you find success in a tough industry? I feel like what happened as I was growing up has made me stronger, and has actually helped me value everything, every step of the way. I would say those early struggles are something that I am thankful for. I’m thankful for every win, but I’m thankful for every obstacle and everything else, because it’s all part of my story and it’s what I truly need to keep myself motivated and marching forward. I think it’s very important to always give thanks for, and feel proud of, everything that you have done. I feel that gratitude is natural when you have a crazy work ethic, and you’ve had to go through all those early struggles and obstacles. It is the work ethic—all those nights of no sleep—that got me where I am today. I still operate that way. So, even though I’m reaching my dreams, I never stop. If anybody would have just given me things when I was growing up, and I didn’t have to work for things that hard, I don’t think I would have found success. I mean, this industry is made for tough people because it’s a tough industry. It’s made for people who are resilient. Sometimes, it’s easy to make it the top, but it’s harder to maintain yourself once you’re up there. It takes so much hard work, and you can get lucky maybe once or twice, but you’re not going to get lucky all the time. Nothing has to do with luck. For those looking to become producers themselves—especially home-studio-based creators—do you have any advice for maximizing their talents? My best advice for all those producers is to be very disciplined and very patient. Maximize your talent 100-percent. Apply all those things that I’ve talked about regarding excellence, innovation, and unique. Sometimes, you need to copy to learn. You have to follow the steps, and that’s where patience comes in. You can’t just think you’re going to come up with the best project in the world overnight. No, it’s all a process, and you’re going to have to start out feeding off other people’s work because, when you do that, you learn their skills. If you copy many different people, you’re eventually going to come up with your own recipe. You’re going say, “I like this particular aspect from this producer, this aspect from this artist, this aspect from this record.” Then, you’re going to put all of those things together into your own pot—which is going to define your sound. That is what will be innovative. That’s what’s going to be you. But, again, all of this comes with time, patience, and a lot of discipline. At the end of the day, talent is only going to get you so far. It’s about the hours you put into it, and having the patience to understand that god’s timing is perfect. You have to accept everything that comes to you, and just keep working hard. Doors will open, but I don’t think anything happens fast. If something does happen fast, a lot of times it’s because you got lucky. Are there any up-and-coming percussionists and/or producers we should be looking out for? Marcos Lopez is one of my favorite timbaleros ever—a young cat straight out of Berklee College of Music. At Berklee, you just have to open a practice room door, and you’ll find amazing people. In terms of producers, I can’t find young producers working in my genre. So, I actually invite all of the young producers out there who like this genre to just jump in, because I think it’s an open lane right now. Many of the current producers are older people, so it’s a perfect opportunity for younger producers to get into salsa music right now. We need more young people in this this genre! Back when you were deciding whether to play soccer or become a musician, were you actively involved in music? Even when I was focused on playing soccer, I was also playing music in my parents’ band. That was my chore, basically. But, once I got into FIU, I really started getting the stick control, and I started to realize everything I needed to learn to become a competitive musician—one with an actual career. Before that, I always practiced my music, because my dad put me with a private teacher. I didn’t take too many lessons, but I learned the basic rudiments and techniques—double-stroke rolls, paradiddles, and all that stuff. I also played along to a lot of records. I’m talking about a lot of old-school Fania and Ray Barretto. I loved the El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, Latin jazz albums, and everything I could get my hands on. All those songs—I ate them up. I would put on the music on super loud, play congas right over the songs, and sing along. That’s where I grew my passion for music to the max. earMusicANALOG SOUND IN A DIGITAL WORLD SCAN FOR MORE SCAN FOR MORENovember 2021 Modern Drummer31 A stadium tour during a global pandemic could have been a disaster of epic proportions. But thanks to vaccinations being finally available, as well as stringent COVID-crowd controls, open- air venues, and a mammoth dose of good fortune, the Hella Mega Tour’s crucible of 30,000+ music fans per concert didn’t explode into a super-spreader apocalypse. Instead, it was a welcome return to a bit of cultural normalcy, and perhaps even a grand statement on the healing power of music. Hella Mega started with quite the fanfare when Green Day, Fall Out Boy, and Weezer simultaneously announced the tour on September 10, 2019, with each band also releasing new music. Too bad COVID had to crash the party. Concert dates had originally been scheduled from March to August 2020, but between February 28 and July 15 of that year, virtually every leg of the tour was cancelled or rescheduled as the pandemic smacked down the music industry (and, well, just about everything else). But Hella Mega would not sink meekly into the abyss. As COVID cases started to wane or stabilize in early 2021, all three bands jumped back on board, and a fourth act, the Interrupters, was added to the event. The reignited American run kicked off in Arlington, Virginia on July 24, 2021, and ended in Seattle, Washington on September 6, 2021. Happily, as the tour rolled on, there were no major health scares or other problems. For Hella Mega, at least, it was a summer of no bummers. At press time, the European leg of the tour remains on the schedule for June 19, 2022 through July 2, 2022, with the bands hitting stadiums and arenas in Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, England, Ireland, Scotland, and France. After a long season of financial devastation and uncertainty in the music industry, Hella Mega 2021 proved that a great product could still produce a blockbuster. The 21-show tour grossed more than $67.3 million. Approximately 659,000 tickets were sold. At least 15 of the dates were sell outs. Each tour stop racked up an average attendance of 33,000 fans and took in $3.36 million. Given the beneficial impact on the industry, music fans, and the country, the tour was aptly named. Thanks to the Hella Mega management and publicity teams, Modern Drummer was able to interview all four drummers on this historic tour—Tré Cool, Andy Hurley, Patrick Wilson, and Jesse Bivona. Each one of them was gracious enough to provide MD readers with an “all-access pass” detailing what it took to get back on the road, what it meant to perform for fans again, and how they delivered the musical and technical goods. Greg Schneider Brothers in Arms (left to right)— The Interrupters’ Jesse Bivona, Green Day’s Tré Cool, Fall Out Boy’s Andy Hurley, and Patrick Wilson of Weezer. Andy Hurley climbs atop the “mega” riser for Fall Out Boy’s set. Los Angeles ska-punkers the Interrupters opened the show. Green Day takes the stage. Stage presence—Patrick Wilson’s mon- ster set up for Weezer included six kick drums and a phalanx of giant floor tops.Modern Drummer November 2021 32 I t’s clear that Sly Stone is a musical genius, but is he clairvoyant, as well? When he sang the chorus to “It’s a Family Affair,” could he have been beaming from the ‘70s into the late 2000s, and witnessed the literal “band of brothers” that is the Interrupters? Well, it’s a good story at least. But the family aspect is all true. The Bivona brothers—guitarist Kevin, and twins Justin (bass) and Jesse (drums)—formed the Interrupters in 2011 with vocalist Aimee Allen, who is married to Kevin. If that wasn’t wild enough, the entire family lives together in a private musical commune in Southern California. When the COVID quarantine descended, the band decided to pull together and work on a new album in their complex’s home studio. “We recorded this whole record by ourselves in the back room of our house,” says Jesse. “It will be out in 2022, and while the album is a reflection of what we did during COVID, you’re not going to hear anything on it about the pandemic. We wanted to make a timeless record, because the music that inspired us was always timeless—the Ramones, the Clash, and two-tone ska. We also felt it was important to give people an escape from any negative thoughts that COVID may have triggered.” The Hella Mega Tour brought the Interrupters out of the band’s safe haven, and, not surprisingly, served up a lot of Jesse Bivona The Interrupters’ Family Affair By Michael Molenda Felipe LaverdeNovember 2021 Modern Drummer 33 Felepe Laverde Felepe Laverde good feelings and opportunities—not the least of which is this cover story that includes Jesse Bivona. “Modern Drummer is such an important magazine for me, and for all drummers,” he says. “I’ve been reading it since I was a little kid. When Tré [Cool, Green Day drummer] told me this was going to happen, I almost cried. I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ He was like, ‘No, man, you’re going to be in Modern Drummer.’ I’m so honored.” How did COVID affect the band’s creativity? When the pandemic began keeping everyone home, we took it day by day. It was like, “Let’s see how long this is going to go on for.” Then, we realized it was going to last a long time. So, we upgraded our home studio and recorded our new record there. Kevin is producing. Tim Armstrong from Rancid produced all of our previous records, but during COVID, it wasn’t possible to travel to his studio to work together. Were you ever tempted to hassle Kevin by telling him Tim would have done everything differently? Not at all. For one thing, we had Tim’s blessing to do it ourselves. Then, we’ve worked with Tim so much that if we ever hit a wall, we could just stop recording and say, “What could Tim do in this situation?” Even better, if the four of us couldn’t agree on something, we’d ask, “What do you think Tim would say right now?” He was always the deciding factor—a fifth member of the band who had more than enough experience for us to learn from. In fact, he’s still a major part of the new record. He co-wrote a few of the songs, and now that it’s a bit safer to be together, we’ll probably go to his studio to wrap up some loose ends. When you devised the Interrupters’ style of ska, you seem to have chosen a ska/rock synthesis, because there are a lot of ska acts out there that decided to swing it more. What was your rhythmic concept for the band? Oh, that’s a good question. Our main influence comes from two- tone ska [an ‘80s fusion of traditional ska, punk, and new wave]— backbeat on two and four, kick on one and three. So, that kind of a straightforward rock beat was the foundation for our first record. We were very conscious about playing it straight and easy. I didn’t want to play anything complicated, or go too far out, because our music has a dance feel, but it’s also rock and roll. With each record, I’ve tried to get a little bit more creative and experimental with the beats and the fills, but my job is really to keep that dance floor going. We don’t want to break up the mosh pit [laughs]. The guitar is typically the big billboard for the ska sound. When you hear those upstrokes, you know what you’re getting. How do you and your bass player work around those parts? Well, that’s the interesting thing. We have a keyboard player with us now, but we are basically a three-piece band. My twin brother is the bassist, and we’ve always had a connection when we play together, but he’s technically the lead-guitar player. I’m kind of playing four- on-the-floor, and Kevin is just skanking upbeats, so Justin has to hold down the low end, but also play melodically. He can’t just ride the roots because we need something more interesting going on to drive the band. So, he’s the melodic lead player of the group, and he has to do that without walking all over the vocals. In some of the band’s live videos, I noticed that you bark the hi- hat like old-school ska, but you also open it at times to do some more adventurous accents. Are those moments spontaneous or studied? I’m a student of ska, and I’m still learning all about it. When I was in high school, a friend had a vast collection of old Jamaica music, and we actually started a rock-steady ska-reggae band back then. I learned how Lloyd Knibb [Jamaican drummer, 1931-2011] would play traditional ska, and then I absorbed all of the two-tone stuff. John Bradbury of The Specials is a great example of ska drumming in general because he didn’t just play straight. He would sometimes use interesting fills and beats. So, yes, it’s a very conscious effort of mine to pay homage to the originators, as well as take off and try things that aren’t traditional. I’m glad you picked up on that. Not everybody focuses on the little intricacies of a ska drummer. Because of the dance aspect of the Interrupters, is it possible to bring the dynamics way down when Aimee is singing? Don’t you have to hit hard all of the time to keep the dance groove popping? There are certain tricks for controlling dynamics in our situation, such as using more or less crash cymbals. Green Day was the first band that meant anything to me, and Tré Cool was my idol. Now, he’s a very crash-y drummer, but he uses crash cymbals in a very interesting and musical way. So, I picked up on how placing crash cymbals on certain beats can elevate and change the dynamics of certain sections. Maybe I’ll play a closed hi-hat with no crashes or open up the hi-hat so it’s slushy and add more crashes. This is how I control dynamics. But we are also one of those bands where dynamics don’t always mean quieter or louder. Sometimes, we delete elements. We’ll take the keyboard out of a section, or the bass or guitar. Aimee loves those approaches. During rehearsals she’ll often say, “Why does this song Cheryl AltermanModern Drummer November 2021 34 Cheryl Alterman feel boring? It’s like nothing is changing.” There are always different pots to pull from when you’re arranging dynamics in a band. Any revelations about playing an enormous stadium gig? Well, it’s a crazy experience. We opened the show, of course, so it wasn’t always packed when we played, but it would still be thousands of people. It was always a trip to think, “All they are hearing right now is us.” Something we learned from Green Day when we toured with them in 2017, is that it’s so important to make sure everybody in that arena feels like they are a part of the show. You don’t just play to the front row of the pit—you have to reach the people who are sitting way in the back, too. That’s a lot. You play to the video cameras so that the people watching the screens feel like you’re acknowledging them. It can be nerve wracking because you don’t want to screw up in front of 15,000 people. But it’s also exhilarating to see all those heads dancing. Then, Aimee or someone will say, “Everybody jump,” and everybody starts jumping. You’re like, “Holy crap—this is nuts!” Did you increase your crew for these big shows? Not at all. In fact, I don’t actually have a drum tech. Our sound guy is the production manager, as well as my “stand-in” drum tech for soundchecks. He sets everything up for me, but I still have to go out there and make sure everything’s in order. Even though all the drum hardware is memory locked, there are always little things that are different or need more adjustment. I also have to make sure my mic is placed right. When I talked to Tré, he said Green Day didn’t do soundchecks on the tour because of the COVID protocols. It makes sense—why expose yourself and your crew to possible infection if you don’t need to. But musicians are so ingrained to do soundchecks before shows that it surprised me. Oh, yeah. They never soundchecked. Weezer never soundchecked. Fall Out Boy never soundchecked. Actually, the sound crews for Weezer and Fall Out Boy would go out and rip a song or two. But we were pretty big on soundchecks—especially as we weren’t used to playing stadiums on these huge stages. For the first half of the tour, we’d go out there and play a few songs to make sure our in-ear mixes were right, and we’d check out the stage. It just put us more at ease. Later on, we played some shows without doing a soundcheck, and everything was just fine. Is there a difference in tuning your kit for a stadium gig when the Felipe LaverdeNovember 2021 Modern Drummer 35 drums are going through a huge sound system as opposed to playing in a small club? There’s a certain region of parameters I stay within, but there is definitely a difference between tuning for a small stage, a big stage, or even the studio. I’m lucky, the front-of-house guy who has been part of our crew for years is also a drummer. We have conversations at soundcheck about drum sounds. For example, he’ll hear some overtones and we’ll work back and forth to solve any problems. In a small club, I’ll dampen some drums because I’m kind of a hard hitter, and if I don’t deaden things a bit, the drums will bleed into all three vocal mics. On bigger stages, I don’t have to worry about signal leakage. I’m on a riser a ways back from the vocal mics, so I can have the drum sound as open and loud as I want. As a singing drummer, is it difficult to keep from speeding up or slowing down as you negotiate the phasing of your vocals? It’s not the easiest thing. I’m already using all four of my limbs to play drums, so singing means adding a whole different part of muscle memory to performances. But it’s fun, and I have a supportive band to advise me if I’m slipping up on the groove. In fact, it’s a topic of conversation in most rehearsals. They might say, “Hey, when we go into the chorus, you’re speeding up too much.” I’ve had to learn if the vocals are on top of the beat, I need to ease back on the drums. If the vocals are laid back, then I need to push ahead in a section so that the song doesn’t slow down. I just have to be aware of what’s going on. And, honestly, we’re a rock and roll band, so we understand that tempo fluctuations are sometimes what you want. The verse doesn’t always have to be the same tempo as the chorus. Sometimes, the chorus clocks in at a different tempo. We don’t play to tracks or anything, so we’re free to fit tempo fluctuations into a song if they are appropriate and enhance the feel. Feel is the deal. I remember a Paul McCartney interview where he said the Beatles never cared about keeping metronomic time. For them, it was all about the vibe and mood of the song. I think Ringo was once asked if he played to a click track, and he said, “I am the click track.” That’s a great quote. Let’s delve into the mysteries of siblings. Do you find that psychic connections between your brothers are a real thing, or is the communication no different than if you were making music with strangers? There’s definitely a language we can speak as a family where the communication is quick, and we understand each other. Our musical language is the same. When we’re writing songs in the studio, if I’m not playing something right, Kevin can say, “Maybe try this,” and I’ll understand exactly what he’s talking about. I can do the same with Justin. We’ve been playing together since we were little kids, so when we’re working out drum and bass stuff, everything is almost automatic. There are also all of the inside jokes we have where we can break someone’s balls about something, but just move on and keep the good vibes going. I imagine that in a close family, there are few hurt feelings or quagmires of warring egos to worry about. Exactly. There’s no beef. If there is any type of bad vibe, it immediately gets addressed and squashed. I was intrigued when I heard the band has a kind of Interrupters complex where you all live and work together. We live in the San Fernando Valley on a multi- family property. From the inception of the band—nine years ago at this point—we’ve all lived there together. There are a couple of houses, a big backyard, and a garage—half of which is our studio, and the other half is our tour and gear storage. I often feel that our gradual success is because we’ve always been together. You don’t ever go, “Dude, I just spend six months on the road with you, and now I have to bump into you in the kitchen all the time? No. It’s all good love. Bivona’s Buddies Drums Orange County Drums Newport Series. Snare Ludwig Black Beauty, Orange County Drums (various models). Pedal DW 5000 Series. Cymbals Zildjian: 18" K Dark Crash Medium Thin, 18" K Cluster Crash, 20" K Dark Crash Thin, 23" K Sweet Ride, 14" K Sweet hi-hats. Hardware DW. Drumsticks Zildjian Super 5B, Zildjian/Stars and Straps Travis Barker Signature. Microphone Telefunken M80. Cheryl AltermanNext >