Zach Hill - Drumming Style

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. 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."

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.