Martin Gavrilovic: Drum Tech

As far as Martin Gavrilovic is concerned, there was never any doubt he was going to end up carving out a career working with drums. Avid PM aficionados may remember we interviewed Martin’s father, Yard, back in our January 2009 issue in relation to his role as Steve Gadd’s drum tech and his company, Vintage Drum Yard. Yard’s obsession for all things percussion influenced and inspired young Martin to such an extent that he was already stripping down his first drum kit by the time he hit eight years old. After spending a few years in the ‘90s learning the ropes at John Henry’s entertainment services company, where he became involved in backline, sound, staging and the rehearsal studios, Martin felt confident enough to dip his toe into the freelance tech’ing arena. Since making that bold move — on the back of some salient advice from John Henry himself — he’s enjoyed working for some of the best sticksmen on the circuit: Steve Barney, Steve Gadd, Chuck Sabo, Crispin Taylor and Paul Thompson, to name just a few. The last year or so has seen Martin touring extensively with the Who and Zak Starkey, for whom he’s been personal Drum Tech for seven years; Duffy and her drummer Tom Meadows and, most recently, Bat For Lashes’ Sarah Brown. When we catch up with Martin, he’s slap bang in the middle of a Bat For Lashes European run.

“Last night, we played the Ancienne Belgique in Brussels and it was a real highlight,” enthuses Martin. “The crowd were amazing, the venue was first class and it was the biggest crowd of the tour, I think. I started at the beginning of September at the Electric Picnic Festival in Ireland — straight in, with no time to get to grips with the setup. So I was obviously a bit nervy and, to make things worse, we had a 20-hour journey to get there. By the time we arrived, I had chewed my fingernails down, only to find we had pulled the gig as Natasha had injured her foot! It was back on the bus and off to Paris for an even bigger first gig, supporting Coldplay!”

“My dad inspired me, his enthusiasm was infectious!” he explains. “There were sticks lying around the house for as long as I could remember, so you could say I started very young. My first kit was a four-piece Premier, which I stripped down and my dad stained it for me back when I was aged around seven or eight. I think I used to spend more time cleaning, polishing and tuning it than I did actually playing! Thankfully Dad’s drumming didn’t have too much influence on mine but I couldn’t have got anywhere in this business without his influence! He got me my best gigs and his knowledge of the drumming world is second to none. He’s like the Godfather in the background pulling all the strings. He knows the game inside out and he just loves it, even after all these years. I think the writing was on the wall for me. I was drawn to it. I just love to repair and restore things.” Martin can also provide backline support in other areas although, for him, drums will always be number one.

Back in the late ‘80s Zak Starkey was playing in a band — Adrian Smith & Project — with Martin’s uncle, guitarist Andy Barnett. Martin has fond memories of meeting Zak years before he was handed the big gig as his personal tech. “I first met Zak when I was a kid and I can remember him demonstrating a groove on me down at the Borderline club, playing hats on my head and snare on my shoulder,” laughs Martin. “Then years later my dad was in the enviable position of working for Zak Starkey and Steve Gadd at the same time, for the Who and Eric Clapton, respectively. And amazing as that would be, it could never last forever and there had to be a clash at some point, so my Dad took a big gamble on me and asked me if I wanted to go on tour with Zak Starkey. He made me an offer I couldn’t refuse! That changed everything. I took a massive step up and I don’t mind telling you it wasn’t easy. It takes time to build a relationship and an understanding with the musician you’re working for before they totally trust you. And time was something I didn’t really have. It had to be right and fast! I learned a lot in such a short space of time and what I learned then has raised the standard of my work tenfold! I’m just about into my seventh year with Zak and before that I thought I knew it all.” Zak Starkey is only the third drummer to have played with the Who after hooking up with them for the first time in 1996. Filling the drum stool once held by Keith Moon is always going to be daunting, but Zak really has made it his own.

“I think his approach has been not to be Keith, but to be Zak,” explains Martin Gavrilovic. “His technique comes from gigging, from live rock & roll drumming, and that’s what he brings to the Who. He started gigging regularly with some great players in his early teenage years. It’s built on a knowledge and experience of what actually works live, as opposed to what is considered technically good at home, in the drum room. To watch him play is something not just drummers but everyone can appreciate; he just looks cool up there. The sticks are just a blur all over that kit and his cymbal work I think he has made his own. The reception he gets at Who shows sums it up really!”

“This gig’s pretty busy,” explains Martin. “But then we aren’t loading in until 2.00pm so it’s all very laid back until you actually start and then you better get a move on for soundcheck at around 5.00pm. We usually finish soundcheck around 6.30pm so we can get the support band on and soundchecked before doors open at perhaps 7.00pm or 7.30pm, depending on show time. So I get an hour or so for dinner and then start thinking about the changeover. We are loaded out at around midnight.”

When it comes to Sarah Jones’s drumming, Martin Gavrilovic is a big fan. “I’ve always been an advocate of the less-is-more philosophy with regard to drumming, and I think Sarah does that really well,” says Martin. “It’s the clever use of space I have always admired. The music she is playing with Bat for Lashes demands it but it’s what she does with what she has that shows very good taste, I think. She’s feminine and quite petite so it’s quite a shock when she gets up and whacks the drums. It makes you think again about what you’re seeing.”

So what gear is Sarah currently utilising? “Sarah has deals with Tama, Meinl and Vater,” explains Martin. “The Tama kit has 10-inch, 12-inch and 16-inch toms with a 14-inch snare and 22-inch kick. Then she has Meinl cymbals and nylon-tip Vater sticks. We use a Roland SPDS and, after a bit of roadie-ing, we’ve managed to get three triggers going in there: two KD-7 pedal triggers and one V-Drum set up like a side snare. We use the SPDS to run some loops and this we have running into a little Mackie. The Mackie sits just behind the drums so Sarah has some limited control over her sound. We carry a spare snare, a spare Roland SPDS, a spare kick pedal, some spare hardware and spares of all the relevant cables. I also tour my workstation, which I find indispensable as a kind of mobile tour support. I have a large selection of tour spares for both guitar and drum work in there. On this current European tour we are touring a bus and trailer, so size is everything! The drums are in hardshell cases and the same with the hardware and cymbals.”

“Tom uses a DW jazz kit; he has a 12-inch or 13-inch rack tom, and a 14-inch plus a 16-inch or 18-inch floor tom. His snare drums are a 14-inch Ludwig 400, a DW 14 x 6-inch, a 12-inch Pearl Piccolo, a 10-inch Pearl and a 10 x 14-inch Craviotto. He has Paiste cymbals, Vater sticks and a Roland SPDS. I carry a spare set of cymbals, spare hardware, spare pedals and spare snares. I pack his drums into Protection Racket soft bags and then into flightcases.” One of Martin’s big highlights, working with Duffy and Tom Meadows, came on the 18th February at London’s Earls Court, on the evening of the 2009 Brit Awards ceremony.

As far as changing drum heads goes, it really does depend on the drummer. “With Zak, it’s every two shows for the toms and the snare and every five for the kick drums,” explains Martin. “The two factors there are work rate and head type. He works them really hard and the CS Black Dot Coated sound great on the first two shows but then they start to diminish, so they’re off! With Sarah it’s the opposite. She doesn’t hit the toms that often and also plays with beaters in some songs, so they last really well. I’ve only ever changed the snare and floor tom. Lucky me! Tom likes his heads changed a bit more often. We use Aquarian and they seem to last pretty well. So it’s maybe every five shows on the toms and every eight on the kick.”

Martin also proffers some good advice in relation to tuning the drums: “Know your drum!” he says. “If you’re lucky, you might get a drum that’s around and so tuning should be relatively easy with regular practice and a bit of patience. But if you have a troublesome drum that’s shaped like a melon it can be difficult to get that even drop when you go round the toms. So I think the approach differs as much for the kit as for the person you’re working for. There are, of course, good working practices that can make all the difference. Keep them clean and don’t grease up the tuning bolts. Also, keep them dry so they hold and don’t go straight out of tune. Use lug locks — I always use the white plastic ones, which are worth their weight in gold. Stretch the heads in evenly, bring them up then back down to settle, then fine tune them. And get those lug locks on!”

One very important element of Martin Gavrilovic’s on-the-road arsenal is his workbox. But what exactly is he hiding in there? “Everything I can think of,” laughs Martin. “I have a top drawer for screwdrivers, sharpies, picks, drum keys, screw guns — things you need to find quickly. Then there’s a drawer for guitar stuff, a drawer for drums and a bottom drawer for big things — large cable, lamps for working, glues, spray paint, gaffer, PVC tape and loads of stuff that I don’t even know is there!”

When you’re touring right across the globe with a slew of great drummers, highlights are bound to pop up on an almost daily basis, but for Martin Gavrilovic one gig in 2005 stands out above all others, and not solely for musical reasons. “The stadium tour in 2005 when Zak was with Oasis was phenomenal,” explains Martin. “And before the start of the show in Manchester, the crowd were going so mad they broke the crash barrier and Noel refused to go on until it was fixed. Then one girl, who was sitting on the shoulders of her boyfriend, saw herself on the huge video screens either side of the stage and decided to do her own bit of ‘entertaining’! Pretty soon literally hundreds of women had got them out, one after the other! That’s a lot of boobs! It was a great day!”

When we ask Martin what his dream drum tech’ing job would be — past or present — he has no hesitation in shooting forth an answer, although such a job would have included certain precautions. “I would have liked to work for John Bonham, but I know he was wild and I’ve heard some crazy stories about him. But him being, in my opinion, the greatest drummer of all time, I think it would have been worth it. Perhaps I would have worn a crash helmet or something!” And, finally, what general advice has Martin got for any amateur sticksmen out there? “Get practising, start gigging, keep gigging so you’ll become a professional drummer, and then you can afford to pay me to look after your drums!” 0

Zak Starkey’s the Who gear

“The kit usually sits on an 8 x 8 x 18-foot riser on a custom-made silver carpet. Zak is endorsed by DW drums, Zildjian for sticks and cymbals, LP for percussion and Remo for heads. He has a DW ‘Broken Glass’ finish kit comprising 12-inch, 13-inch, 14-inch, 16-inch and 18-inch toms. The 16 x 16-inch and 18 x 18-inch floor toms are custom made. Then he has two 22 x 16-inch or two 24 x 18-inch kick drums. He uses retro 6710-series hardware, DW 5000 pedals and a custom-made thumper seat — built by me — which is topped with four Aura bass drivers for some real kick! Then there’s a C-Audio power amp and crossover unit to power it that sits in a rack behind him, as close as possible, with a C7 sub on top that kicks arse! It’s a great combination when using in-ears. The reverb unit is crucial to achieving Zak’s drum sound. It’s bright but it’s roomy and big too. It is difficult to get right, but once it’s there it sounds amazing. Even now, when I hear an in-ear tom sound that’s totally flat, I’m trying to encourage just a bit of reverb in there to liven it up, but I often get told to stop it! People are set in their ways and their sound, which I know only too well, but when you hear a truly great drum sound it’s hard not to be a bit enthusiastic about it — not pushy, just enthusiastic, right? Zak has signature cymbals made by Zildjian. These are 20- to 22-inch Custom K in brilliant finish, crash/ride and ride. We use Ludwig 402 snare drums. We also mount a Tama metronome off the hat stand and there is also a mod scooter mirror on there for reasons I shall leave to your imagination! I have told many different stories as to why it’s there. To one stagehand I said it was there so Zak wouldn’t forget what fill to do as I’d be right behind him miming the fills and he would then play them! If only! For Zak, I carry spares for everything apart from the shells. We use Protection Racket soft cases and they go into custom flightcases. We had a problem a few years ago with thermal shock. Touring North America in the winter in the extreme cold I noticed how cold the shells were when they came out of the truck, and then they were going into a warm, heated arena and it was only a matter of time before the shells started to warp. So I had some flightcases made that had much greater protection from heat and cold and that has helped a great deal.”

Martin Gavrilovic: Drum Tech

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