So, I was trying to find a picture of the very cool giant red & white marimba that Jack White is playing on stage at the moment, when I stumbled across this great Flickr photoset of a Stripes gig in São Paulo last week. What is that thing that Meg White has next to her drum kit? It looks like some kind of multi-coloured salt & pepper set, but I can't really see why she'd need that on stage... UPDATE: Colleen, the 'Stripes UK representative says: "Not being the techy type, I don't actually know what it's called, but it makes bell sounds - Meg plays it on the new song 'Red Rain'. You'll get to see it in action at Glastonbury!" Anyone?
Posted by Tom Whitwell.
Comments:
It's gotta be a substitute for a bass guitar. They're a two-person band with 1 electric guitar and 1 acoustic drumset, for god sakes!
No...but I doubt Jack uses an octave pedal on every song. Don't get me wrong, I like the band. I just hope Meg White's device is some sort of MIDI controller to enhance their stage presence. Who am I to speak, though? I talk to laptop artists during the week. "Did he just turn a knob?" "I don't know, but he's still sitting down and staring at that screen. Maybe he'll add new pictures to the collage projected on the wall."
there seems to be a pair of microfones pointing to the thing (down and right from the big cymbal). so it must be an acoustic instrument. whatever it is...
on looks like its for vocals, and the other for the crash...
looks kinda like a keyboard? maybe its pressure pad midi keyboard which can trigger samples when hit with a drum stick! just like pads, but allowing for chromatic-ness
Here's another picture of the entire stage. I think those microphones are for her vocals and the cymbal to the right. I'm still looking, but I think it's an old analog machine, like a non-MIDI Marimba Lumina. Some sites keep mentioning a toy piano/triangle sound on one of their songs as opposed to the marimba which is also on stage.
i'm not talking about those mics, but the two smaller mics _under_ the thing. they're mounted on a 2-in-1-bracket (allows two mics to be mounted on one mic stand). would make sense to use two mics ot pick up the sound as this thing is quite wide...
they are bells used for the song 'red rain'. she plays some other (tall stand up) drums and a triangle on 'passive manipulation'. and she plays the bongos on 'as ugly as i seem'.
You guys who are guessing about jack's "bass guitar" parts and necesity for bass in a band are obviously not bass players, guitar players, luthiers or at least not good at guitar or bass. HE DOWN-TUNES HIS GUITAR. it's very simple. he didn't even have access to a bass when he made "the white stripes" ST album and most of "de stijl"
meg white only played drums for 2 months before they began recording their first album (self-titled).
the gimmicky comment really doesn't have merit. she doesn't have a gimmick, she's just bad. if inexperience is a gimmick then sure but i wouldn't say that.
that dude who was raggin' on meg white personally and challenge her intelligence is obviously either not a man or a man with tiny tiny nuts.
i too am a drummer and i'm better than the rest of the drummers on here. i can promise you all that.
I agree with the post above this one, no sense in totally bashing someone online who probably won't ever read it. I think that she's cool and drums well. Listen to "Fresh Air, Jack White and Meg White," for stuff on drumming but come on if you're going to bash her send her an email.
First of all, Meg has instinct. She can read Jack like a book. Can the rest of you say that? Not to mention she is cool enough to get up on stage and play the way she wants to play, mind, she has enough flack from egotistical pricks. Charlie Watts has his own style, which isn't too far from what Meg is doing. Sure, she may not practice rudiments or perform such rudiments at shows, but honestly, she knows what she's doing and it works for the people who know what music is all about: expressing yourself. I suppose that ideal left you when you decided to play more with your dick than your heart.
to all these people that say that meg white cant drum, are you just saying that because you dont like the white stripes music? because thats bull shit. she plays the drum differently, im not an expert but surely theres not a set way to play the drums. stop being so narrow minded and silly and to the person that is like, 2 comments up from me, i totally agree but arent you moaning online just like the others? :s
I totally agree with the person who commented above. I'm no expert either, but I agree there is no set way to play the drums. She's gotten quite comfortable with her playing, and it shows. I'm happy for her and Jack and all the success they have.
I have been playing drums for 25 years in all sorts of bands & played all sorts of music from funk to country to metal .. everything .. I think Meg White's simple playing style is somthing a whole lot of drummer could learn from .. playing drums is about keeping everything in time & pounding that beat home , not how many fills you can throw in & how fast you can do them ... ROCK ON MEG !!!! .. Ziggy ... www.mamakinrocks.com
jack has a bass guitar piano player, the picture you posted is no longer there.. but if you mean it by anything attached to her drum set, and it sounds like thats what you are speaking of, its her triangle. they're keys for it, so she can play it for different songs on the new album. if you watch them in concert, you can see her hit them at certain times.
just adding on to my comment above, meg white is not a "shitty gimmicky drummer" every drummer has their own style and there is no set way to play the drums.
opg: its not a sub. for a bass guitar, bc subs for bass guitars dont look like that. its how she plays the bells/triangle
I thought it was well known that they trigger drum sounds for her? He doesn't have the most consistant wrists in the game, but I don't know what the biggie is.
So, I was trying to find a picture of the very cool giant red & white marimba that Jack White is playing on stage at the moment, 
: 1:51 pm