Tool’s Danny Carey Reveals The Story Behind His Alex Grey Designed Drum Kit

Tool drummer Danny Carey has offered a rare behind the scenes look at one of the most visually striking pieces of modern rock stage gear, breaking down the story behind his Alex Grey designed touring drum kit in a newly shared three minute video.

Created in collaboration with Sonor Drums and Grey, whose artwork has been inseparable from Tool’s visual language for decades, the kit was never meant to be decorative alone, Carey wanted it embedded in the performance itself.

“I’ve had a lot of people ask me about the drum set that I’ve been playing on the last few years,” Carey said.

“There’s a guy that’s done a lot of artwork for us named Alex Grey. He’s contributed to our onstage visuals and our album covers for — God — probably 15 years now. He’s done a fantastic job, taking the combination, a synergistic quality of the artwork and blending it with the music.”

Rather than direct the aesthetic, Carey made a deliberate choice to step back and let Grey work freely.

“I came up with an idea to have [Alex] do all the artwork on [the drum kit], just to make it more part of the show,” he explained. “I didn’t want to tell him what to do.”

Watch it here

Before any paint touched the shells, Carey worked closely with Sonor to build the kit from the ground up.

“I had Sonor make me a really high-quality kit. I got to pick all the woods. The initial kit was beech wood and ebony, which is kind of what the old Sonor drums were made of in the early ’80s.”

Once completed, the drums were deliberately left blank.

“They just painted ’em white — like a blank canvas — and sent them over from Germany. Then I sent them to New York where Alex’s chapel and studios are. I just turned him loose on it.”

Grey’s finished work incorporated many of his signature motifs, but one piece stood out to Carey.

“The coup de grâce was he did a gong drum. He surprised me with that. It’s actually a portrait of me and a native hitting a drum. He represented the sound waves going into my ear and then affecting my brain — kind of the process of inspiration.”

Concerned about damaging the original hand painted kit on tour, Carey later commissioned a second version.

“I liked them so much, and I was so worried about damaging ’em, I had Sonor make me another kit. This one’s bubinga and maple instead of ebony and beech.”

That touring kit uses scanned wraps of Grey’s original artwork, preserving the hand painted drums while keeping the visual impact intact.

“They’re both amazing pieces of art, and I’m so flattered to have ’em. It was so nice of Alex to do that for me.”