Carl Palmer and His Five Thousand Pound Steel Drum Set

In his time, Carl Palmer was considered to be one of the best drummers in rock music.  He came from a musical family, and has incredibly fast hands. His style is over the top when it comes to prog, but I would say that when he explores other styles of music he’s got bit of a jazz edge.  He’s not the best double bass player in the world, but in his day he did impress. He’s still going strong, still playing a pretty massive kit, but do you remember the stainless steel monster he played back in the day?   

His sponsor was British Steel.  The kit was to be made of stainless steel, with pretty cool etchings all over the shells.  In comparison to all of his other kits, it didn’t look massive.  There were eight rack toms a single bass drum, and one floor tom.  Then why did this drum set weigh 2.5 tons?  Because Carl asked for half inch thick shells.  He had two gongs, a large bell, tubular bells, and a pair of tympanis.  I estimate that my drum kit, (single bass drum, two floors, and three rack toms,) weighs almost 400lbs.  Imagine what the ELP roadies went through.  The drum risers needed to be reinforced; the bass drum took two men to move.  The cost of hauling the kit all over the world was something that the band did not take into account.  If you think about it, all the gear for a four piece rock band, humans included, is probably one third the weight of Carl’s drum kit.
As Carl says in later interviews, “It was the 1970’s. Excess was the norm.”  If you take into account what the entire band was doing at the time, it was par for the course. ELP took a lot of flak for being such an over the top band, when it comes to production. If you compare a modern pop superstar’s show to the “Works I” ELP tour, the old prog rockers look tame in comparison. It’s rumored that Ringo Star purchased Carl’s steel kit, and it sits in storage somewhere.  

I had the chance to see Carl play at Shank Hall.  He took the time to come out from behind the drum set and explain a little bit about each song before playing it.  He had a pair of young men playing bass and guitar on that tour.  They performed ELP instrumentals.  It was almost like having Carl in your living room.     

Carl Palmer Drumming His Way to Milwaukee

I hate to think about October already, but that's when Carl Palmer will be coming to The Pabst in Milwaukee. He's 61 years old, but still plays drums like a young man. Speaking of young, the two guys playing in his band are young enough to be his sons. They bring a great flavor to ELP songs that have been around for decades. It's instrumental night if you head to the venue. Nobody can take the place of Greg Lake, so why even try?

Palmer is from Handsworth England. Quite a few great musiciains come from that town, including Steve Winwood. I wonder if Winwood and Palmer ever found themselves at the same pub? They are nearly the same age, and both play rock. I'll bet that they did.

Carl Palmer's claim to fame is playing for Emerson, Lake and Palmer, but he also hit the skins for Asia. My favorite story about Palmer is when he ordered up a steel drumset. Not a Caribbean steel drum kit from barrels, but a drum set made out of steel. It weighs over 4000lbs. Ringo Star owns it now.

In 2010, ELP got together to perform at the High Voltage Festival in London. That show may have sparked the flame once again, as there are rumors that the band will once again go on tour. Let's hope so.