THE BATTERY SERIES : Trevor Whitmire and / Crazy Love Hawk.

1.What is your name and what band do you play for?

My name is Trevor Whitmire and I play drums for Crazy Love Hawk.

2.Who made you want to play drums and why?

There was no single influence on why I wanted to play drums. I’ve always been fascinated by drummers and drums in general. If I had to choose a drummer I’ve always looked up to it’d be Travis Barker. The way he plays is not only incredible, but it’s captivating. Plus, the dude has a crazy life story! He has inspired me throughout life and motivated me to keep pushing.

3.When did you get your first kit? Tell us about it…

I got my first real drum set for my 11th birthday. It was probably the cheapest full kit money could buy, but it was my baby. I spent hours and hours learning my favorite songs at the time. I never took formal lessons so I would sit in my room behind my kit just listening over and over and over again figuring out how to make the patterns these drummers were playing. It never sounded right, but I was so happy to doing it.

4.Where your parents supportive of you and your loud / expensive new habit?

I couldn’t have had more supportive parents. My mom used to let me drag out her pots and pans as a child and bang on them with wooden spatulas. She was a worship pastor at our church and when we would take the youth groups to concerts she would bring me to the far side of the stage so I could watch the drummer play. I even had my own special chair at church behind the drummer so I could watch them. If it weren’t for the support I received as a child I never would have ended up where I am now. 

5.What drum performance on an album is perfection to you?

It’s easy to sound perfect on an album isn’t it? Just kidding. If I have to pick just one it’d be 10,000 days by Tool. Danny Carey is a God behind the drums. I still listen to that album and scratch my head at the things he does. Want to talk about pinnacles? That man set the bar at an all time high and that album came out 13 years ago.

6.Tell us about your current kit and set up in DETAIL.

My current kit is basically my dream kit. This thing could not get any more perfect for me. We’ll start with the technical specs and move on to the back story. It’s a piece trap set. It’s piano black with golden hardware. 22” bass with LED lighting, 13” Rack tom, 16” floor tom, 18” floor tom, and a 7”x13” Pork Pie snare to round off a powerhouse of tone. My toms and snare are paired with Evans black hydraulic batter heads and Evans G1 resonant heads and my Bass uses an Evans EMAD II batter with an Evans EMAD resonant. For Cymbals I am currently using Soultones mounted on DW stands. I have a 21” Custom Brilliant crash, 22” Extreme crash, 14” hi-hats, a 9.5” FXO bell, and an 18” extreme crash to bring the hate in a live setting. 

Now, the backstory. I bought this kit off Reverb. It belonged to the touring drummer for Panic At The Disco! I have pictures of my kit on stage with the band and Brendon Urie doing a back flip off it. It came with a Panic At The Disco bass head that is now hanging on the wall of my garage where we practice. 

7.If you could have a dream kit tell us about it in DETAIL

Like I said in my comment above, my current kit is basically my dream kit. The only downside to it is that the shells and hardware are worn down due to use and touring fun times. My dream kit changes would be to make the shells matte black. There’s something about matte black and gold that just work. I would also like to add in a second 24” bass drum to add that incredibly interesting dynamic you can create when linear drumming. If I could, I’d also add in Mapex B800 stands in black to really make it pop. 

8.Name your top 5 drummers excluding Neil Peart and Mike Portnoy

Travis Barker, 

Danny Carey, 

Jason Bittner,

 Aaron Kitcher,

 Jared Easterling

9. Do you prefer Live or Studio?

Live, hands down. Even though I nearly puke before I get on stage every single time, I love it. There is nothing in this world like looking up and seeing a crowd of people jamming to the music you are playing. The energy and the euphoria of playing a show can’t be topped. 

10.Do drummers really get all the chicks and if so how do we convince the guitarist?

Well, I’ve never met a guitarist that was better than a drummer at banging things…

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