Danny Carey


Birth Name: Daniel Edwin Carey

 

Birthday: May 10, 1961

 

Quick Facts:

Danny Carey is 6'5".

His first concert was Lynyrd Skynyrd.

 

Equipment:

Drum set:

Sonor Designer Series

8x14 bronze snare

14x14 floor tom

18x16 floor tom

18x24 bass drum

18x22 bass drum

8x8 tom

10x10 tom

14" RotoTom

Electronics:

Simmons SDX pads

Hardware: 

Sonor Heads Evan's heads, power center-snare, Hydraulic-toms, hydraulic & EQ3 on bass Cabs

Pedals:

Axis

Cymbals:

14" Paiste Dark Crisp hi-hats

22" Novo China

12" S.F. Flange Bell

13" Sound Formula Mega Cup Chime

8" Paiste splash

18" Sound Formula Thin crash

18" Paiste Full crash

22" Paiste Dry Heavy ride

20 & 22" Paiste Thin China

20" Paiste Power crash

6" + 8" Signature Splash

14" Signature Sound Edge Hi Hat

18" Signature Mellow Crash, Power Crash

20" Signature Full Crash, Thin China

5" Bell Chime on top of an 8" 3000 Bell

Sticks:

Trueline

 

Danny grew up in Paola, KS. Relatively normal, an element of mystery was added to Danny's childhood when one day he spied his father with a large sword conducting a Masonic ritual. Danny would later notice himself performing similar movements when he began playing drums at the age of thirteen. As Danny progressed through high school and then college at the University of Missouri in Kansas City he began supplementing his studies in percussion with speculation into the principles of geometry, science, and metaphysics. A commitment to life as an artist brought Danny to LA where he was able to perform as a studio drummer with projects like Carole King and play around town with Pygmy Love Circus. He would later find an outlet for addressing a fuller scope of his potentials in Tool and another project operating under the title of Zaum. Despite not becoming a Mason or aligning himself with any other school of religion, Danny has maintained his heritages interest in occult studies. Endeavors into this realm have manifested periodically, such as the time he achieved insight into a hidden aspect of the unicursal hexagram utilizing an astral journey initiated through meditation and DMT. Danny then set up his drums into proportions utilizing the circle and square of the New Jerusalem and uttered a short prayer relating to the principles of the ace of swords from the book of Thoth. He then performed a ritual utilizing his new found knowledge of the unicursal hexagram to generate a pattern of movement in space relating to Fuller's vector equilibrium model. The resulting rhythm and gateway summoned a daemon he has contained within "the Lodge" that has been delivering short parables similar to passages within the Book of Lies. Danny recommends as a device of protection and containment a thorough study and utilization of the underlying geometry of the Temple of Solomon for anyone purchasing their next record.

 

Danny Carey grew up in a very typical, middle-class American house in Paola, Kansas. His father was a manager for a large insurance company and his mother was a school teacher. Danny has one older brother and one younger brother. Danny's earliest musical memory was when his father took him into the music library at the University of Kansas and played The Planets by Gustov Holst. Danny started taking lessons when he was ten or eleven, just on the snare drum in school band, and then again when he got his first kit at thirteen. Danny received a scholarship in High School to go to the Conservatory of Music in Kansas City.

Danny studied music for over three years at the University of Missouri. He had a couple of offers to play basketball at small colleges, but knew he wasn't good enough to play major college basketball or to go pro. Danny spent years working on his rudiments and doing drum corps. He always loved Billy Cobham and Buddy Rich because no matter how fast they played, you could hear every note. When he was in college he got a lot of classical training, doing recitals for three and a half years. He could have earned a degree if he stuck it out a while longer, but just wanted to play the drum set a little more, so he bailed on school when an opportunity came to go on the road with a band.

In 1986, Danny moved to Los Angeles, and spent four years there before anything really happened. However, at that time he was heavily into electronic drums. He was playing an electronic kit with real cymbals, and played the clubs. Then he got more into real drums, and attributes that to finally finding a quality set that sounded good. Danny also worked as a session player for Green Jello, Pygmy Love Circus, and Carole King. Danny's day job in LA was working in a tape duplication house. Then he met Adam Jones through Tom Morello of Rage (Against The Machine). Danny was also living beside Maynard. He never auditioned for them (Keenan and Jones). He felt sorry for them, because they would invite people over to play, and they wouldn't show up, so he would fill in.

Danny still loves playing jazz when he gets the chance. He is also working on a side project called ZAUM, which works in an electronic medium. Danny has also been involved in other side projects, including a TV sitcom called "Sibs."