Chords for Steve Smith Discusses Gear for the Upcoming Journey Tour

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Okay, as you can see_
I'm not gonna play!
We're just playing an interview! _ _ _ _ _
_ No, no sticks!
No, I'm not gonna play!
There's no playing!
_ _ _ Okay, _ so I'm here with Steve Smith,
who's been with Sona for many years.
Steve, how long have you been playing
[Bb] Sona drums, and why?
_ _ Well, Mike,
[D] I'm coming up on the 40th anniversary.
Next year,
_ 2017,
will be the 40th [Bb] year.
So I started in January [N] 1977. _
And back when
I was a student
at Berkeley, _ [Dm] two of my
favorite drummers played Sona drums.
Bernard [N] Burdi
and Jack DeJanette.
And I loved the sound of the instrument,
loved the quality, so
when I was playing with Jean-Luc Ponty
back in 1976,
1977, Jean-Luc asked me,
would you buy
a big double bass drum set?
Because I had a [A] little jazz kit.
[Dm] I said yes, and
basically then went to [A] the
Sona dealer _ [N] locally in
Boston and bought a gigantic
double bass, _ 224-inch
kick, [B] three rack toms,
you know, two big floor toms.
And that [E] was the beginning of my association
with Sona.
[N] By 1980
[Bb] I had come to Europe,
[F] met Oliver Link, at the
_ [Db] time his father
owned [G] Sona drums and
became [Bb] an endorser.
So _ _ [G] _ [Dm] I've officially
been with Sona for 39
[A] years, going on 40 years.
Well, [Em] also this is a big year for you.
We can now [B] talk about it.
You're going back out with Journey.
_ [N] _ Two year tour.
_ _ So the most important thing I
want to ask you about here is, will you
be going back to the same configuration drum
kit that you had back in the day?
_ I'll be going back to a double bass _ _ configuration _ similar to
what I had _ _
back in the late 70s,
early 80s.
I had 224-inch _ _ bass drums and _ various
_ configurations of tom, you know,
rack toms and floor toms.
But what I've come up with is
somewhat of a hybrid of
the double bass configuration
mixed in with what I've been using
for the last [Em] 10 or 15
years.
So I really like the
8, 10, [N] 12-inch
rack tom.
So I ordered a kit
with 8, 10, and 12
and then 14, 16, and
18-inch floor tom.
So
the three floor toms
and then for the bass drums
I love the sound of
these vintage bass [D] drums.
So [Dm] I ordered
two [D] _ 22-inch by [C] 14-inch
[D] vintage bass drums
because they have a [C] beautiful, [D] deep, rich
sound.
So it'll be
the two [N] basically beach
_ vintage bass drums. _
The toms will be
maple.
So, you know, more like
SQ2 you'd say.
And then _ I'm going to
have three snare drums
because I want to have a variety of sounds.
So I've actually come up with what will
become the 40th anniversary
Steve Smith snare drum.
So it's like this
vintage snare drum, which
well, I don't know if this [Em] particular one, but
5 3 1⁄4 [N] _ -inch
beach drum with the _ vintage bearing edge.
Eight lugs, but it'll
be modern lugs,
modern throw-off,
this same rim, but in
black chrome.
_ _ So it'll be
a beautiful, and the finish
that I ordered is a white
blacker with black chrome
hardware.
Then I'll have my
you know, my metal Steve Smith
signature drum is a detuned
5 1⁄2 by 14
and then a matching
_ _ 12 by 5-inch higher
pitched _ side snare.
So I'll have a variety of
[Dm] snare sounds [Db] with a different
tune, different [F] parts of the tunes.
_ [G] I'm personally really [Bb] looking forward
to seeing you [E] back out with
[Ab] Sonar drums.
As you know, [N] even though you're
with me, I've always been a fan of
your playing.
I know you work really hard.
Are you going to be practicing
that to get back into that rock
[E] playing?
Absolutely.
I'm already [Dm] working on
the music and getting familiar, re-familiarizing
myself with the tunes.
[N] I haven't played these songs
in 30 years, so I [D] actually
forgot everything I played.
So I've written charts.
[B] You know, I had
to go back to [N] like how I
approach any gig, which is I get
the music, I write the charts, and
then I memorize
[Bbm] the details of [G] what I played.
And [N] then it'll be updated with
how I'm playing now.
The other thing I'm really looking forward to
equipment-wise and excited about
is I'm using the new
Havnus line of Zildjian
cymbals because they are
so much like the cymbals that I had
in the 60s.
And so, [Ab] you know,
_ I'm working on the configuration
but most likely it'll be a 22-inch
ride, [Em] probably a [N] 20 or
21-inch ride over here.
19-inch crash, maybe
two 18-inch crashes.
Probably that new Peter Erskine
design slash cymbal here.
_ 14 hats, maybe
16-inch hex hat.
[Db] I was just trying those 16-inch hats, [E] which
are amazing.
Probably use them [B] as
[Am] an hex hat over there.
[Db] And, [A]
you know, but I'm
still working that [N] out.
And also
I have to get into rehearsal and into
the performances and make adjustments
as it goes to see what [B] works
and to see what sounds right.
Well, thank you for your [G] time.
[Dm] We've actually got quite a bit of a crowd
waiting for you to [N] play the drums now and then
they're going to be disappointed in a minute.
No, but you're going to play.
See, [E] they're actually
here waiting for you to see if you [Em] really
play the drums.
Hang on.
You [Dm] and then you will come.
_ _ Okay.
Thanks very much.
My pleasure.