“An additional benefit to altering the parameters of the ballpark like this was that you couldn’t be judged by the normal rules of the game. If your drum kit had no hi-hat or cymbals, and the snare drum was draped in chains, and the electronic toms sounds like plastic bottles, you could hardly be found lacking when you didn’t sound like the masters. You could invent your own rules, and you’d be the only guy on the pitch. Brilliant.

But this approach, like that of all innovators, came at a price. There were the exhausting hours foraging up dead-end streets. If you wanted something to sound unique, you had better to be ready for mechanical and electronic failure, horrific cartage costs, and mysterious power failures.

This particolar configuration would ensure that unusual combinations of drums would “fall” under the sticks, hopefully making my phrasing sound…well, a little different.

(…) a deliberate obfuscation of musical references.”