On August 20, 2018, Incubus made a stop at Berlin’s Columbiahalle during their tour of Europe. In connection with that, we met up with the band’s drummer, Jose Pasillas, to have a nice chat about the most important thing in the world, i. e. drums. You can see the first part of our conversation HERE and now it is time to see the artist present his drum kit, exclusively for BeatIt viewers.
“What’s up everyone! Jose here from the band Incubus. Welcome to my kit. This is my newest DW kit. Custom paint job. This kit’s an all cherry kit, all cherry snare – favorite snare I’ve got right now. As you can see, I play half stack toms. I call them half pancake toms: 8”, 10”, 12”. The octoban, I don’t know how deep it is but it gives a different sound when I’m running through the toms. The 16” and 18” are full toms so they’ve got a good low end. I like playing half stack toms just ’cause I get to set them up a little bit lower. As you can see, I’ve got a lowrider kit. That’s always a fun challenge to kinda get to sit right.
photo: beatit.tv
And then, my Sabian cymbals. I use pretty big cymbals ’cause I crash ride a lot. They’re 21” and 22”. I call this one a prototype, it’s the one I crash ride the most. It’s not really a custom cymbal but it was a prototype that I really liked, so they just kept making it for me. It’s been about ten years now that I’ve been using the prototype. Then, an assortment of little splashes: 8”, 10”, 12”. I usually play AAX Hand Hammered or HHX, for example my hi hats are 13” HHX Explosion hats. It’s a combination of all of them, I’m kinda changing them up from time to time. I’ve also got three kits that are floating around the world right now. When we’re doing international stuff, we switch between A rig and B rig. Sometimes, there’s a C rig. At times, some of the cymbals are a little bit different, but for the most part they’re the same. Again, AAX HH – I like a lot of the Hand Hammered stuff. The Explosion cymbals are really good and just a little bit more trashy. That’s kinda my world over here.
photo: beatit.tv
All Remo heads. I’ve always played Emperors and the black dot CS. On the kick drum, I’ve got a Powerstroke 3.
I use Vater custom sticks. They’re kinda like in-between the 5A and the 5B. They’re a little bit longer than the 5A and they use the round tips as well. I had them make the taper a little bit longer. It’s tricky finding the right sort of weight right at the tip but that’s why I like these round tips and then a little bit longer of a taper at the top.
As far as shell sizes go… This is 4” x 8”, 4” x 10”, 5” x 12”, 14” x 16”, 16” x 18”, 18” x 20” kick drum. This is a 6” x 14” cherry snare. This one is, I believe, 5” x 14”. This is kinda my higher snare. When I do breakbeats, I like to have a different sound. This is a 6” octoban. I don’t know the depth but I would say it’s 14. I don’t really know. Maybe a 10. Maybe it could be 26 and there quarters minus 14, which would be around 12. Add one and it’s probably around 13. Something like that (laughs).
photo: beatit.tv
The hats are 13” HHX. I don’t know if these are the Explosion hats but I do prefer the HHX because they’re a little righter and they’ve got a crispier sort of sound to it. I’ve switched over to playing smaller, 13” hats six or seven years ago.
The effect cymbals are probably be the last thing. The splashes, I believe, are AAX. 8”, 10” and this is a 12” HHX. This one, I’m not really sure what it is, just a trashy little china. HH – hand hammered. For my left crash, I use a Hand Hammered Vintage Ride. Sometimes, I play them brilliant. This is a 21”, this is a 22”. I wanna say it’s in the Hand Hammered family but I’m not exactly sure what it is. This one over here is an 18″ Vault crash. And then, an 18” Hand Hammered China. The ride is a 21” Raw Bell Ride Hand Hammered. I kinda ride that a lot too. It’s a kind of a thicker one and I do like the bell on it as well. I do crash ride that thing as well. And then a good runny nose that I’m working with here…”
