On October 20, 2019, we witnessed the second edition of a drum event called Śląski Festiwal Perkusyjny (Silesian Drum Festival) held at the Chorzowskie Centrum Kultury theater in Chorzów, Poland. The festival bill featured six excellent drummers. Poland was represented by Michał Dąbrówka and Igor Falecki while the internationally recognized artists included the likes of Dali Mraz, Jost Nickel, Derek Roddy and Ash Soan. Naturally, we couldn’t miss out on an opportunity to film the drum kits and have a chat with those stars about drums and the festival itself. Today, we give you the Czech drummer, Dali Mraz..
Hey! Dali Mraz here. I’d like to give you a short tour around my drum kit. Welcome to BeatIt!
Let’s start with the drums. I use a DW Oak kit in the Gold Abalone finish, which is very interesting. The configuration is 10”, 12”, 14”, 16”, a 22”x14” bass drum and a 14”x5.5” snare drum. To my left, I have a 21” gong drum but you have to put on a 22” head to make it sound like an actual gong drum. When I was very young, my first drum kit was Amati. Maybe you know that brand. I was dreaming of having a DW kit but it was so expensive. I was very young, maybe 12. I was trying to create a DW kit from that Amati but I soon realized I couldn’t make that dream come true. So I bought a DW reso bass drum head and… that was it. That’s a very strong memory from my childhood.
I’m a basic guy with heads so I use a classic Remo Ambassador on the snare and Emperor Coated on the toms and floor toms. On the kick I’m using a Vintage DW by Remo and also on the gong tom because it sounds warmer. Sometimes, I also use a Powerstroke or an Ebony head.
As for cymbals, I love the Zildjian Constantinople 22” Renaissance Ride. I’m also using a 20” K Medium Thin Low Ride. As for the crash, I use… I don’t know if it’s an 18” or a 19”, but here I get an 18” A Custom and 15 K Light hats, which are very good. I’m also using a big, 18” stack on the right side and a 20” K Dark crash with holes. Zildjian is Zildjian. No questions.
I use Vic Firth Extreme 5B sticks with my signature. It’s exactly 66 grams. It’s heavier and it’s prepared to last longer at the shoulder so it’s more comfortable for me to play and to get a sound from the kit. This really suits me. I’ve played Vic Firth for a long time, I think since 2010. That’s a long time.
I’m also using Slapklatz – those little funny things that make the sound much better and save a lot of trouble. Even if you’ve got an old head and put a little Slapklatz gel on it, it will solve the problem immediately. That’s the reason I always take that little green box with me. It simply helps me to solve problems immediately. Sometimes, there’s no time to change a head on the road so that’s a very good solution.
Also, I would like to thank GEWA Drums because they helped me a lot in getting a DW endorsement. They helped me with my kits. Also, a big thank you to Krystian Czarnecki . He’s the guy that helps me a lot. I’m using DW 9000 hardware. I’ve tried different brands, even from DW, and the DW 9000 double pedal is… You have to try it. It’s not just that it’s got a lot of options, but it’s also the feel. And it’s almost immortal. You can spend a lot of time and give that pedal through a lot of pressure and it will stil survive. It gives me great playing comfort and that’s something I choose. Even when I was at the conservatory and had no sponsorship, I just chose that pedal because it was immortal. It was 15 years ago.
