In his adolescence Eric wanted to play on a real drumkit instead of Scottish drumming. So after a summer job he bought for a few hundred guilders a a fifth hand Yamaha kit.
His father bellowed: “No drum kit in my house!” But his dad was kind enough to pay for a pair of Meinl hi-hat cymbals, which was an eternal waste of money. Buying low budget hi-hat cymbals is the worst investment one can do.
At one point he veneered the Yamaha shells with oak. That was also a stupid idea, because it didn’t improve the sound. But the kit looked nicer, so he could sell it well. Through his colleagues at the shop RAF hi-fi, he was able to buy a Tama Rock Star Pro against purchase price, which he still possesses. In beautiful glossy Jet Black.
Much later, he had a DW Collectors series drum kit built in the US. In the color Natural Oil; a light color because on stage a black drum kit disappears completely in the background. The shells are made of maple.
Other types of wood for the shells are birch, beech, poplar and many more. Eric believes that good drum heads and good tuning are far more important than the type of wood.
Later he had a smaller DW kit built for Jazz in the same line. Same shells, but in different sizes.
When he plays in his hometown Amsterdam, he has a super small kit that can be taken with him on his bicycle. Hey, for someone who cycles over 250.000 kilometers over the world that’s a piece of cake.
Eric has a bicycle trailer for a slightly larger kit, but also a Volkswagen station wagon for when it has to go big 🙂
His favorite snare drums are also maple, although his nickel-plated brass DW snare (14 x 6.5 inch) is rock hard and has a good ‘ring’ that you can hear through everything. The best thing about DW’s snares drums is the MAG Throw Off snare system. Perfectly adjustable..
To the left of his hi-hat, Eric has a 10-inch side snare. He combines two different snare drum sounds. He plays ghost notes on the side snare and the accents on the 14 inch snare. He has extended the bracket of the DW clamp by 10 centimeters for his side snare.
To the left of his hi-hat on the floor, he has a kick snare that he controls with a bass drum pedal. This allows him to play a single groove with three different snare sounds. Crazy! For the kick snare (see below) he made a design which you can see here.
Oh yeah, he also has a set of Octobans for when he’s playing Fusion.