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Current Drum Sticks

Model: Easton Ahead Alloy - custom Lars Ulrich model

Lars talks about his drum sticks:
In the summer of '94, when we did a really quick U.S. tour, we were playing outdoors the whole tour in places like Buffalo, and it gets pretty cold by 9 p.m. on a May night in Buffalo. In the first song, when it was really chilly, I'd literally break four or five sticks, and I just couldn't deal with that anymore.

So I thought back to '92 on the Guns 'N Roses tour, when Matt Sorum had me try the Easton sticks a couple of times. About two minutes into the song, I'd have to put them down because I couldn't quite play or get the feel with them, so I'd go back to the old, reliable Calato Regal Tips. But after the '94 tour, I had a little time to play with them in my studio and I got used to the feel, and now I wouldn't play with anything else. Calato was with me for ten years, and they were really cool, but I had to make the move out of sheer necessity. I still break a stick once in a while, maybe ten or so in the last year and a half, but you can't beat the dependability.

I even recorded with them, but the one thing that's noticeably different with them is how they sound when you're hitting a cymbal. You can certainly make the case that it's not the same as striking a cymbal with a wood stick. I think there were one or two songs in the studio where I actually had a wood stick in my right hand and an Easton stick in my left hand, just to get a little more of a natural sound.

(source: Modern Drummer issue of March '96)