I think I snapped this one at the Open Air Theatre at SDSU. I'm pretty sure this was his Summer 1989 kit. This was a fairly simple Boingo kit. Standard 22" bass drum and 14" snare. Toms are 12", 14", and 16". Extra 14" deep snare on the left and two roto toms above (12" and 14" I think). A ride and 3 crashes.



Front view of this kit. Notice Danny's Roland Jazz Chorus on the left and Leon's steel drum on the other riser. As you can see, the whole kit is facing to the right to avoid blasting Danny with the bass drum.



Here's this kit set up at Boingoland



Another...



This looks like his Fall 89 kit. This one has an additional 16" deep snare on the left. Only one roto tom and the addition of the stacked china cymbals.



This looks like his Summer 90 kit. Notice the switch to double headed toms and his headphone amplifier is within easy reach under the china on the right. "When the Lights Go Out" (off Dark at the End of the Tunnel) was the only song that required two extra snares on the left there (a deep 14" and 16").


This was his electronic kick setup. On the day of the first rehearsals for the first tour I did he walked me through the whole thing. He had used an electronic kick for a number of years. When Danny arrived he said "where's your bass drum?" Danny wanted to go back to the real deal and the electronic was forever scrapped...



This was a Food For Feet kit. Nice brass snare. Just two toms and one roto. He always liked that secondary snare on the left (this one's a 16"). The FFF kits changed quite a bit though... Depending on the club, I had to tape down these kits quite a bit. Some venues didn't like me drilling my placeholders into their stages.



In 1990 I bought a cheap set and John helped me piece it together. He gave me a good deal on some essentials: DW double bass drum pedal, DW Hi Hat stand, and a great 1960s wood Rogers snare that he had rebuilt and stained years before. I also got 12" and 13" RIMS tom holders from him as well as some Collarlock clamps. I've used all this stuff for years now. It would be hard for me to replace knowing that John played the snare and those pedals quite a bit (who knows what they've seen!). This 12" wood timbale is home-made--the body from an old bango I found in an antique store. I removed two-thirds of the lugs to make it easier to tune. This drum sounds cool, the most distinctive of my kit.



I replaced my 1990 cheap kit with better cheap drums (Pacific by DW--a great deal) in 2006. I also added the 10" silver tom. Here you can see my creative use of cymbal stands as racks.



I've muffled the bass drum quite a bit, it has a nice punch now.



I have a hodge-podge of cymbals. My hi-hats are the best on the kit: 14" Sabian HH Fusion Hats. These have a bright "chick" and cut through the other sounds great. My main crash on my right is an 18" Sabian XS20. My 20" ride is the last remnant of my first cymbal pack: Zildjian Amir II. My second crash (also on my right) is a 16" Sabian B8 Medium crash. I got this cheap on eBay and it sounds only slightly better than a trash can lid. Speaking of trash cans, I also have a 10" $9.99 Wuhan China. My third crash on my left is an 18" Sabian AAX. Finally, there's the 12" Sabian B8 Pro splash. I also have two Latin Percussion cowbells (for when you need more).




Drum Kit Update: I scored a great new set, a Peace Drums DNA 5-piece fusion kit with 20" bass, 14" snare, and 10", 12" and 14" toms. The shells are all maple wood and smell great! They're painted with a laquer finish, this one's called root beer sparkle. Since the previous update I also picked up a sweet new ride: a 21" Sabian Hand Hammered Raw Bell Dry Ride (in brilliant finish).