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Biography:
Carey's first encounter with the drums began at the age of ten by joining the school band and taking private lessons on the snare drum. Two years later, Carey began to practice on a drum set and began working with a private teacher. In his senior year of high school in Paola, Kansas, Carey joined the high school jazz band and began to study under a new teacher specifically for jazz drumming training. As Carey progressed through high school and later college at the University of Missouri–Kansas City, he began expanding his studies in percussion with theory into the principles of geometry, science, and metaphysics as well as delving into Sacred Geometry and certain hidden aspects of life and the occult (hidden). Carey also played jazz while attending college and got to experience the jazz scene in Kansas City.
A major commitment to life as an artist convinced Carey to leave Kansas and travel to Los Angeles, California where he was able to perform as a studio drummer with Carole King and perform live sets with Pigmy Love Circus. He also played in Green Jellÿ as Danny Longlegs and recorded the album Cereal Killer. He would later find his way to Tool after coming to know singer Maynard James Keenan and guitarist Adam Jones and practicing with them in place of drummers the two had requested but had never shown up. Besides Tool, Carey also finds time for other projects new and old such as Pigmy Love Circus, VOLTO!, and ZAUM.
Religion and the occult:
Although Carey has not officially aligned himself with any particular school of philosophy or religion, he has projected a deep interest in and understanding for the magical arts and sciences, among them various occult teachings. Enochian symbols, geometric designs, and special symbolic percussive devices are featured on and in his drum kit.
Geometrical Designs:
Carey has laid claim to various drumming techniques that use sacred geometrical figures such as the unicursal hexagram. The final product is very recognizable, fluent drumming, although to him it is much more: the official Tool website claims that Danny uses drumming as a ritual similar to occult rituals, with purposes varying from spiritual exploration to "a gateway [which] summoned a demon he has contained…that has been delivering short parables similar to passages within The Book of Lies."[1] Another geometrical reference from the website was the inclusion of Nothing in This Book is True… by Bob Frissell on the band's recommended reading list, a book that deals with sacred geometry and the evolution of human consciousness.[1] (All this should, however, be taken with a grain of salt, as Tool members are known for various pranks and spreading misinformation to their fans.)
Side projects and other musical endeavours:
In his time away from Tool, Carey has contributed (and still regularly does) to a vast number of projects:
-Fusion band VOLTO!, which regularly plays shows in the Los Angeles area, consisting of both covers and original material -Pigmy Love Circus, which has recorded several albums -electronica-oriented project ZAUM -Green Jellÿ -Pigface -drums on "Use Less" from the album The Greater Wrong of the Right by Skinny Puppy -contributed to Adrian Belew's Side One and Side Three projects with bassist Les Claypool -drums on certain tracks of the Carole King album Colour of Your Dreams (as a session drummer) with Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash playing .. tracks -drums on the track Somewhere from the Collide album Some Kind of Strange -made an appearance on the 1997 album Free Mars by former Tool bassist Paul D'Amour's band Lusk
Equipment:
Carey plays a Designer kit from SONOR (beech shells with inner and outer makassar ebony veneers - 1" thick on 8" tom and progressively thinner as the drums get larger - apart from the bass drums, which are made out of rosewood and about 3/8" thick), which he designed himself and used on Tool's recent 10,000 Days album and tours. Carey also uses a kit composed of custom cast bronze shells (3/16" thick and same dimensions as the SONOR, apart from the fact that both bass drums are 22"x18") made from recycled Paiste cymbals, manufactured by master drum tech and drum maker Jeff Ocheltree (mostly on US tours as it is too heavy to readily transport elsewhere; he has also used it on "Jambi" from 10,000 Days). The set-up for both kits is as follows:
Drums: (Diameter x Depth) 14"x8" Bronze Snare (by Jeff Ocheltree, made out of recycled Paiste Cymbals) 8"x8" Tom 10"x10" Tom 14"x16" Floor Tom 16"x18" Floor Tom 22"x18" Bass Drum 24"x18" Bass Drum
Danny has been a Paiste cymbal endorser since 1992:
7.5" 2002 Cup Chime 8" 2002 Cup Chime 20" 2002 Novo China 6" 2002 Accent Cymbal 8" Signature Bell 8" New Signature Dark Energy Splash Mark I 10" New Signature Dark Energy Splash Mark I 18" Signature Full Crash 13" Signature Sound Edge Hi-Hat 19" Signature Power Crash 21" Signature Dry Heavy Ride 20" Signature Thin China 20" Signature Power Crash 5" 2002 Cup Chime 11/18" Noise Works Dark Buzz China 40" Symphonic Gong
Drum Heads (Evans): Snare: Power Center on batter side, Evans Hazy 300 on snare side. Toms: G2 clear on batter side, G1 clear on resonant side. Bass: EQ3 clear on batter side, Retro Screen Mesh on resonant side.
The hardware is mainly composed of Sonor stands, Pearl Eliminator Drum pedals, a Roc-n-Soc Throne and a Pearl RH-2000 remote hi-hat stand.
Carey uses his own signature model of drumstick made by Vic Firth[2]. He previously had endorsed a signature model with Trueline Drumsticks (now Trueline's Tribal Assault model [3]).
He uses seven electronic drum pads around his kit, co-designed by him and Vince DeFranco. These pads are high resolution position and velocity sensing drums called Synesthesia Mandala Drums, and have replaced the various Simmons SDX pads formerly in his setup. He uses a program called Battery, from Native Instruments, on an Apple Mac G5 to manage the samples. Additionally, he uses a Korg Wave Drum, a Roland Handsonic and a few electronic pedals
Drumming techniques:
Carey's popularity among drummers and non-drummers stems from the diversity of his sound, his supreme technical ability, his frequent use of odd time signatures, his incredible timing, polyrhythms and polymeters. He has stated in interviews that he effectively treats his feet as he does his hands: he practices rudiments (used for sticking techniques) and even snare drum solos with his feet to improve his double bass drumming, hi-hat control and foot independence.
In search of new techniques, Carey has studied tabla with Aloke Dutta, who can be heard playing on the live version of the song Pushit (from Salival). This is especially apparent on tracks such as "Disposition" (Lateralus) or "Intension" (10,000 Days), for which Carey has recorded the tabla parts himself in studio. The tablas (and other percussive instruments) used in Tool's music are replicated live using the Mandala pads (in fact the pads are also used when recording in the studio, a notable example being the tabla solo of "Right in Two" from 10,000 Days).
He has also stated that when he is playing to an odd time signature, he tries to drum to the "feel" of the song and establish general "inner pulse" for the given time signature instead of fully counting it out.
Personal:
Carey is 6'5" (1.96m) tall. Carey is a fan of the University of Kansas Jayhawks. He occasionally wears a Kansas basketball jersey at Tool concerts, with the number 22 and name "Carey" on the back. The jersey's name and number are that of Jeff Carey, who played at Kansas from 1999-2002. The two are not related to each other, but Jeff Carey's roommate and fellow teamate of the Jayhawks Eric Chenowith was a fan and told Jeff about the idea. Danny was happy to wear the jersey to show his Jayhawk support. Carey is also a fan of the Kansas City Chiefs. This is often referenced on the bands' website at least twice a year when the Chiefs would play their division rivals, the Oakland Raiders, and a friendly rift between Carey and the site's webmaster, Blair (a Raiders fan), would ensue. Carey has been known to play in the NBA entertainment league, at different times his team has included actors such as Ray Liotta and Michael Rapaport, who have played games against sides featuring rap icons Ice Cube and Snoop Dogg.[2] According to a Magazine, Carey's Great Grandfather is Occultist Aliester Crowley.