This is Chris Bellamy from The Church Collective and I’m here with drummer Jacob Arnold who is currently the drummer for Matt Redman and All The BrightLights.
Chris Bellamy: Hi Jacob how are you today?
Jacob Arnold: Hi Chris. I’m well, thank you.
CB: Thank you so much for taking time to do this interview.
JA: My pleasure. I hope it is beneficial. These are only my opinions 🙂
CB: How long have you been playing drums and when did you get your first kit?
JA: I don’t know the math, but I’m 32 now and I’ve been playing percussion since age 6-ish, starting with piano. Piano is technically a percussion instrument (lesson of the day). I started playing in my school’s concert band in 5th grade. I think I got my first kit when I was 14.
CB: Have you taken any formal lessons and were you ever in marching band?
JA: Yeah, I’m a classically trained percussionist. I studied with several instructors in the Atlanta area over about 8 years (6th grade through my first year in college). Then in high school I started focusing more on drum set. I started playing in my high school’s marching band in 7th grade. I’m not sure now if that’s braggable or not.
CB: How long have you been playing for Matt Redman and how did you start playing with him?
JA: I’ve been playing with Matt since early 2009. One day I got a call from a guy named Nathan Nockels, who is a producer and Matt’s MD. Nathan was trying to put a band together for Matt and a worship leader friend of mine in Atlanta gave him my info. I thought it was going to be relatively short term, but it’s been almost seven years!
CB: How do you prepare each night before you take the stage?
JA: I’m a pretty chill person. So. I like to chill, usually. I always have to get my playback rig in order for the song list each night. As a band, we usually gather around to talk through the flow and pray for the night and the people that are there. And for us. I don’t warm up. Not sure if that’s good or bad. I saw a quote by the great Buddy Rich one time. Someone asked him what he does to warm up before a show. He answered, “I take my hands out of my pockets.” I should probably warm up.
CB: What is your process for coming up with parts?
JA: Lots of factors here… If i’m recording, it depends on if the producer or artist already has a direction in mind. Has the producer brought any pre-production tracks to play to?? Are there other musicians in the session?? Usually, the first pass is finding a sound and making sense of the dynamics and arrangement of the song. Hearing if any of the players or pre- production are doing anything to speaks to me or that sparks an idea. But honestly, it just takes confidence and you just have to start playing SOMETHING. Sometimes it’ll create a great path to continue going down and develop parts further. Or sometimes it’s just not the right direction at all and you have to take a step back and try something else. But i just start playing and see what happens. Lots of things can play a part. Is the song good? Is the singer good? Are the drum sounds inspiring? Are the other players inspiring? If all of these things are true, then usually, inspiration flows and good parts come out. But if some or all of those things aren’t true, then you have to dig a little harder. Live – a few factors here too. But usually it’s mimic the recording, but make it personal,unless the artist wants it exactly like the recording. Then I play it like the recording.
CB: What is your favorite song to play live with Matt Redman?
JA: I really like this new song “Unbroken Praise” from the new album. But there’s a lot of songs of his that are my favorite to play that we never play. It’s a sad time for the band guys when we do a new MR record, because we’ll fall in love with some of the new songs and then we’ll only add 2 or 3 new songs into the rotation. Sad times, I tell you. 🙁
CB: Tell us about your kit. What kind of drums / cymbals / hardware / heads are you currently using live?
JA: If we are touring, I’ll use my C&C kit. But if we fly it can get difficult to nail down a C&C so I’ll get some other kit for back line (i.e. DW, Yamaha, etc). But in a perfect world, it would always by my drums. 16×16 & 16×18 floor toms, 9×13 rack tom and 13.25×24 kick. The kick was originally 16×24 but I had C&C cut it down recently and it just ended up 13.25. The shells have a maple/poplar/maple core which is a nod to drums made in the 1960’s. But on my drums, Bill Cardwell added a ply of walnut on the inside and outside. He didn’t even ask, he just did it. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. Towards the end of the build process we decided to go with maple counter hoops. That has been really fun as well. Basically they’re my favorite drums I’ve ever played. On the toms I use Remo Coated Emperor on top and Clear Ambassadors on bottom. On kick I use Remo Coated Powerstroke 3. I use all DW hardware. 9000 series kick pedal. Lately I’ve been using DW light weight hardware which looks cool. It’s actually held up for all our touring this year. Plus it’s really light and easy to get set up and torn down quickly – also amazingly convenient for lugging around town for stuff because I can fit a whole set of hardware in a small cajon bag. I play Zildjian cymbals. This is a recent change, but I’m very happy with my decision. I have a ton of cymbals to choose from.. to see all the goodies you can check out the equipment page on my website. But I’m imagining live I’ll probably be using the 24” K Light Ride, 22” and 20” K Constantinople Medium Thin Low Rides on the left and right, and a 17” Constantinople Crash on top of a Constantinople Suspended Cymbal as hi hats. They’re beautiful.
CB: What’s your favorite snare?
JA: I have two. I have a 1966 Ludwig Acrolite that I bought on eBay. This drum rules in every way. And it only cost me $200. I travel mostly with my Acrolite because it’s a 5×14 so it fits in my flight case with my playback rig, kick pedal and sticks and some other stuff. I use a Remo Costed Ambassador on this drum. Then there’s my 6-lug C&C 6.5×14 Maple/Poplar/Maple. It just looks and sounds like an old Ludwig drum. I actually have had a Remo Fiberskyn head on it for a while. It’s amazing. But usually my preferred snare head is a Remo Coated Ambassador.
CB: You once said “Remember to hit your drums but pet your cymbals”. Can you expand on that approach?
JA: YES! First off, this obviously isn’t a rule. Just something to think about.. Years ago I was recording in Atlanta and the engineer was telling me about a drummer that had been in the studio recently. He said the guy would hit the snot out of the drums, but he’d play like an inch off the cymbals. I was intrigued by the idea so I gave it my best effort on that recording and noticed a big difference in the overall sound of the drums. It’s crazy when you think about it. You’re hitting these giant discs made of METAL with a hard stick! The cymbal is going to be heard, no matter how hard you hit it! Especially when you stick a microphone on it! In the studio there are microphones everywhere, all over the drum kit and in the room. A common trick to get drums to sound bigger in the studio is to hype up the room mics with compression. If you’re just wailing away on the cymbals, the room mics are just going to have a nasty wash of cymbals with the occasional tiny poke of a drum. But if you lay off the cymbals, your drums will sound enormous and the cymbals won’t overpower the mix. I took the concept and ran with it. It changed a lot of things for me.. First of all, I wasn’t breaking four ride cymbals a year (EXPENSIVE!!!), I wasn’t breaking sticks every gig, there was less cymbal bleed in the drum mics, my audio engineers/FOH engineers were happier. And most importantly, playing live, I didn’t have to use a drum shield ever again! (which by the way – those things don’t really do anything.. they just make drums sound really bad!) It doesn’t really matter what stage/room you’re in, if you learn to altar your playing to the room and to the music you’re playing, then everyone wins. It’s something I had to learn how to do correctly.
SIDE NOTE – If you’re playing drums in the Foo Fighters, which you’re not.. Taylor Hawkins is.. And he hits so so hard! Because it’s rock and roll. That environment happens to sound better when everyone is playing super super aggressive. But could you imagine if Taylor came in to play drums with Matt Redman and didn’t change a thing about his playing? Yes it would be sort of awesome, but I don’t think he would get a call back. Play to the room. Play to your environment. But most of all, sound good.
CB: What mics do you prefer live?
JA: Standard stuff here. Usually it’s Shure 52 and Beta 91 on kick. SM57’s on snare. Sennheiser 904 or 421 on toms. Shure KSM 141 on hats. KSM 44 or AKG 414 on overheads. Or sometimes I’ll bring a pair of Earthworks SR30’s from home for overheads.
CB: Are you using any triggers or samples live?
JA: Not on the drum kit. I’m not totally against it when it’s done musically. However on the tours we’ve done with MR this year we’ve done a short, chill electro set of some of his older songs. Those are all played entirely on a Roland SPD SX. Those are really beautifully arranged versions.
CB: Are you controlling the tracks / stems?
JA: Yes I pretty much steer the ship from my world, taking a few cues from Matt’s body language.
CB: Can you tell us about your tracks / stems setup? (mac / pc, interface, software, d.i. rack, looptimus, etc..)
JA: I’m running a redundant playback rig. I have two 13″ MacBook Pro’s both running Ableton Live. Both computers are connected to a Motu Ultralite Mk3. I’m using 8 outputs on the Motu’s which feed into two sets of inputs on a Radial SW8 auto switching DI. I’m using a Max For Live device in Ableton called ToneGenFX that produces a 1kHz pilot tone that feeds into the SW8. If the pilot tone ever drops below the threshold (i.e. if the computer crashes or a cable comes unplugged, etc..) then the SW8 automatically switches to the second set of inputs and no one in the room, including me, would know. I use a midi controller pedal called Looptimus to control Ableton Live. I’m using the midi jack on the pedal and it goes into a midi splitter box (MidiThru) and splits the signal into the two Motu interfaces so both computers will receive midi input at the exact same time. I sync my Ableton files in my dropbox so when i make a change on one computer it syncs to the other and keeps things organized.
CB: What IEM’s are you using?
JA: I just got a pair of 64 Audio’s Quad Adel’s. I was using their regular quad driver in-ears before. I think they sound great!
CB: Do you do drum clinics or offer online lessons?
JA: No. But I have done one or two. But maybe I should? I don’t think I’m a good teacher. But I wouldn’t mind doing the consulting thing? Do you think people would want to do that?
CB: I definitely think people would be interested. Do you play at a church when you’re not on the road?
JA: Not since moving to Nashville. My wife and I have only been in Nashville for about a year and a half. It took us several months to find a place we felt like was right for us. But I think we found one 🙂
CB: Who are your top 5 favorite drummers in history?
JA: Buddy Rich, Art Blakey, Jeff Porcaro, Larry Mullen Jr, Ronnie Vannucci Jr.
CB: What artists are you listening to right now?
JA: Nothing new. My favorite recent albums are Beck, Ryan Adams, and Brandon Flowers’ latest albums.
CB: How can people follow you on social media? ( website / instagram / twitter /snapchat )
JA: thejacobarnold.com, @thejacobarnold (instagram & twitter)
CB: Lastly, is there a new All The Bright Lights record in the works?
JA: We want to do something. It’s very hard to get us all together in the same city at the same time with enough time off to record. But we keep telling ourselves we will do something in 2016. So fingers crossed.
Excellence vs. Perfection