Joey Castillo

"Live, I use a 14" x 7" DW brass snare. That thing’s amazing. It weighs as much as my car.”

"There are a couple little intros, like on ‘The Blood Is Love,’ we used a little Pacific 10" x 6 1/2" snare."

“[On Lullabies to Paralyze] We used one of the oldest snares that I have, which is a maple 14" x 6 1/2" DW snare that I got from one of the first kits they gave me years ago, when I was in Sugartooth. It’s the only part of that kit that I still have -- I sold the rest of it to a friend of mine. I use wood hoops on it, so it gets a nice crack, with a really warm sound. We used that thing on every song."

Joey Castillo, drummer for Queens of the Stone Age and Eagles of Death Metal, reveals what he calls "the DW best kept secret classics...They're the best sounding drums I've had in a long time."

Joey used this block to achieve the cowbell-like sound in "Little Sister".

“In the past we’ve set up kits based around the songs. I’ve had a couple of kits set-up here and there, one that’s a trashy-sounding kit and one that’s kind of a big kit.

“Myself, I really love my live-sounding kit because of the fact that I’m competing with four guitars basically and keys. Me and my soundman Hutch have done a lot of experimenting in finding something that cuts and that can compete with that many mids and that much high end. I think we’ve nailed it.”

“"Absolute amazing sounding drums! My Mahogany and Acrylic kit both identical in size, yet uniquely different in sound, but equally BADASS!!! Great Craftmanship, and Road worthy!!!"”

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"On the record [Lullabies to Paralyze], on a couple songs, I used 17" to do some different things -- on ‘Medication’ I was using (...)17" Paiste Traditional crashes.”

Joey is an official Zildjian artist. According to this article from Music Radar, Joey uses the 24" K Light Rides. Joey says "I know the less-is-more thing is a cliche', but I know what I do best."

“I used a 26" Paiste 602 which belonged to Mick Fleetwood. (...) I used that on most of the record, to be honest. [Lullabies to Paralyze]"

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“I’m always up for experimenting, but I really enjoy the basic set-up of a rack and a floor and couple of cymbals. At the same time with Eagles [Of Death Metal] there’s no rack tom, it’s floor tom, kick, snare, two cymbals and a couple of percussion pieces.

“I think ultimately down the line it forces you to be a little more creative with less. I know the less-is-more thing is a cliché, but I know what I do best - I can get the most out of what I use.

“But I’m always up for adding some colour to the kit and willing to try something someone else uses that I don’t. Live I use two crashes, a ride and a set of hats and occasionally I throw a china in for a couple of songs. That’s really about it.”

These were Joey's drumsticks of choice as of 2005, according to this article.

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