However, my recent alliance here with The Book of Genesis has led me to re-evaluate what equipment to use and to consider trying to be a little more faithful to the era we are representing. However, this presents some significant challenges….. In the late 70’s Phil Collins (& Chester Thompson) used single headed “Concert toms” – these drums are part of his sound, as he was one of the few drummers using this type of drum beyond the 80’s.

This embarrassing experience was the main reason I sold this kit and another vintage kit (a Red Sparkle 60’s Ludwig) which was suffering from separation of the wood plies on the shells. The truth is that 60’s (and a lot of 70’s) drum hardware is just not up to the demands of a modern drummer. Add to this, the fact that in The Book of Genesis we cover quite a range of material from early Gabriel days to “Three Sides Live”. Therefore a four piece Gretsch kit would not give me enough drums for the flamboyant later Collins fills from pieces like the 1981 Cage Medley. I needed something able to cope with all of the material in the current set.

He originally used a full range of eight concert toms, which he eventually reduced down to six, being the classic Collins “four up, two down” setup we are most familiar with today. With a concentrated search, and having a relatively decent knowledge of Premier drums, I got very lucky in a remarkably short time. I found an eBay trader who had inherited a late 70’s Premier kit from a retired drummer. It required quite a few spare parts, and a fair bit of renovation, but seemed to be reasonable value for money based on its close resemblance to what I was looking for. The kit itself would be short on drums for the ideal configuration, but was the right finish (natural birch) and could be added to relatively easily. There was no snare drum included, but the bass drum was a 22” (slightly larger than Phil’s 20” drum) and (then) there were three concert toms – 12”, 13” & 14” plus a 16” floor tom.

The most elusive and necessary drums the kit needed were the 8” and 10” smaller concert toms which form a big part of the Collins sound. A similar 8” drum turned up via the Premier Drums & Percussion Facebook page, which has been an invaluable source of spares and advice for this kit. The smallest drum was wrapped in a blue plastic covering, but the wood shade underneath was correct, so would just require stripping back and refinishing. However, this drum is something of a compromise as the “lugs” (the metalwork attached to the shell for tensioning the drum) are of the wrong type. This is a dilemma, as to fit the right style lugs would require drilling more holes in an otherwise unmarked vintage drum. I opted to leave it as is for the time being, with a view to sourcing the exact right drum eventually.

15″ tom prior to wrap removal and preparation

Basic four piece kit following restoration (22″ bass, 12″, 14″ Concert Toms, 16″ Floor Tom) pictured with 60’s Premier Royal Ace Snare Drum.

Along the way, I have bought other odd drums to get the ones I needed, as these things often come in pairs or sets. So, the next project will be to use these in a replica kit of the one used by Phil Collins on the Duke tour in 1981.