Zach Hill

Wikipedia:

Zach Hill (born December 28, 1979) is a musician residing in Sacramento, California. Primarily known for his drumming style, he performs/has performed in numerous Pacific Coast based groups, including his primary group, Hella, as well as Holy Smokes, Nervous Cop, experimental hip-hop band Death Grips and a diverse range of others including El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez Lopez, Team Sleep (featuring Chino Moreno of Deftones), Goon Moon, Marnie Stern, Crime in Choir, The Ladies (a duo with Rob Crow of Pinback), Bygones (a duo with Nick Reinhart of Tera Melos), CHLL PLL (a duo with Zac Nelson) and Flössin (a collaboration with Christopher Willits and rotating members Kid606, Matmos, Nate Boyce and Carson McWhirter). Zach is completely self taught, having started drumming around 1995.

Drumming style

One of Zach Hill's most defining characteristics as a drummer is his footwork, especially right foot double strokes on the bass drum. Additionally, his drum kit thus far has had generally very low-tuned tom-toms and floor-toms. When playing rhythms back and forth between his bass drum and these tom-toms, it often sounds as if it is all being created by the bass drum. His snare drum sound is often a contrasting highly tuned "crack" sound.

A unique aspect of Zach's style is his liberal use of unconventional sounding cymbals, often referred to as "trash" cymbals. His most commonly and characteristically used trash cymbal consists of broken cymbals (usually between 3 and 4) stacked on top of each other, mounted just to his right of his high tom. This setup produces a harsh sound similar to that of a China cymbal, but with much less sustain. This can be heard on almost every single Hella release. Part of the reason for his use of trashed and old equipment may be that he could not afford good gear in the first place and got used to it; "Ever since initially starting to play, I’ve always just played on beat-down shit, so in a way I’m most comfortable on stuff that’s rickety or has personality."

In addition Zach has a custom made cymbal with a very warped shape that can be heard on the Holy Smokes album Masculine Drugs (clearly audible starting at 1:36 on the song "Masculine Drugs (Tri-Duplex Edit)") the Hella album Church Gone Wild the Ladies' first album, They Mean Us and the Zach Hill & Mick Barr album Shred Earthship.

Zach also utilizes complex time signatures and polyrhythms in his drumming. Zach has developed his approach to time signatures through playing, and goes by feeling a beat rather than writing it out or counting. As well as playing odd time signatures and polyrhythms, he played in a recognizable, yet more contemporary style with Team Sleep. When he was with Wavves and on Bygones "Spiritual Bankruptcy E.P." he displayed an intense hard core punk rock style that's a bit more straight forward than most of the other projects he's involved in.

Another notable aspect of Hill's playing is that he is an extremely hard hitter. His equipment tends to wear down very fast due to the combination of the speed and power of his playing, which has been known to break lug casings and bend the top hoops of his drums from the sheer force of his playing. A testament to his relentless hard hitting rhythmic assaults is that he recently fractured his left hand during a band practice with Wavves. As a result of said mishap, he has taken a hiatus from the project.

Art

In addition to music, Zach is also a visual artist. His art has been featured in the packaging to many of his musical releases. One of the most notable examples is his fully illustrated book Destroying Yourself is Too Accessible which included the Zach Hill and Holy Smokes album "Masculine Drugs" Released in 2004 on TNI books and Suicide Squeeze Records. The cover art of the Hella album The Devil Isn't Red, the artwork to There's No 666 in Outer Space and the Bitches Ain't Shit But Good People EP, and drawings in the Ladies They Mean Us are all credited to Zach; as well as art direction credits on many releases such as Hella's debut full length Hold Your Horse Is, the Hella EP Total Bugs Bunny on Wild Bass, and the eponymously titled Nervous Cop record. He receives photography credit in addition to his many musical contributions on the debut Team Sleep album. He has also designed t-shirts and promotional posters for Hella and Team Sleep.

The Sacramento, California art space Fools Foundation ran an exhibition of Zach's art, titled "Poltergeist", from April 1 to April 29 in 2006. Parts of the exhibit are visible in the photos accompanying Zach's article in the August 2006 issue of Modern Drummer and on the Fools Foundation website.

Setup and gear

Zach's current setup (As of August 2006, according to Modern Drummer Magazine)

Drums

Zach is currently using a new kit with two toms and a floor tom. He also has new hardware and cymbal stands which is a far cry from the usual old haggard set-ups he used. With Wavves he used a four piece kit with no resonant heads on the toms and bass drum. He used a similar kit to this when he played with Marnie Stern. Zach is presently using a much smaller bass drum than the

25x26 Jenkins Surfboard drum that one of his friends made custom for him. Recently when he recorded with Carson McWhirter he used a four piece kit that consisted of 12" 14" and 22" Ludwig toms and bass drum, and a 6.5x14 stainless-steel snare drum. On the improvised tour with Nick Reinhart, Zach used very small drums - an 18" bass drum with 10" and 12" toms (with no resonant heads).

Cymbals

(the above cymbal setup described was from modern drummer August 2006)

Hardware

Heads

Sticks