Gavin Harrison

Gavin Harrison (born May 28, 1963) is an English drummer and percussionist. He is best known for playing with the British progressive rock bands Porcupine Tree and King Crimson. His influences come from his father's jazz collection and from drummers such as Steve Gadd and Jeff Porcaro.

Career
In 1983-84 he toured as a member of Renaissance.

In 2002 he joined Porcupine Tree.

In 2007 Gavin began a long term collaboration with singer/extended range bass player 05Ric which led to the release of three CDs, Drop (2007), Circles (2009) and The Man Who Sold Himself (2012).

In 2008, Gavin joined King Crimson as part of a dual-drummer lineup with Pat Mastelotto. Gavin played a number of shows in the United States in August with the band.

On August 23, 2011 he was a featured performer on the 'Late Show with David Letterman' as part of their second "Drum Solo Week", along with such players as Tony Royster, Jr., Stewart Copeland, Neil Peart, and Dennis Chambers.

Awards
He won the Modern Drummer magazine readers' poll for "best progressive drummer of the year" consecutively from 2007–2010. He won "Best Prog Drummer" in DRUM USA magazine 2011. He is the featured cover story on Modern Drummer January 2009. Rolling Stone Magazine polls rate him as the third best drummer in the past 25 years. Best Prog Drummer 2011 & 2012 in Prog Magazine

Publications
Harrison has authored two instructional drum books entitled Rhythmic Illusions and Rhythmic Perspectives. He also wrote and produced his own instructional DVDs, Rhythmic Visions and Rhythmic Horizons, at his home studio. 2010 saw the release of Rhythmic Designs, a book of transcriptions by Terry Branam, and a 3 hour DVD of Gavin's explanations and demonstrations. It won 'Best In Show' at the summer NAMM show in the USA.

Current kit (2013)

 * Sonor SQ2 Maple Drums & Zildjian Cymbals:
 * Drums Sonor: SQ2 (Blue Tribal finish).
 * 8x7" Rack Tom (Medium Shell)
 * 10x8" Rack Tom (Medium Shell)
 * 12x9" Rack Tom (Medium Shell)
 * 15x13" Floor Tom (Medium Shell)
 * 18x15" Floor Tom (Medium Shell)
 * 22x15" Bass Drum (Heavy Shell)
 * 14x5.25" Protean GH Signature Birch Snare Drum
 * 12x5" Protean GH Signature Birch Snare drum


 * Cymbals – Zildjian
 * 16" Oriental China Trash
 * 5 Custom-Made Chimes
 * 13" K Hi-Hats
 * 19" A Thin Crash
 * 7" custom crash bell
 * 17" A Thin Crash
 * 20" K Ride
 * 19" K Custom Dark Crash
 * 12" Oriental China Trash
 * 18" Z Custom China

(Note: All cymbals are listed in the order they appear on Gavin's kit from left to right. The five custom chimes were made by Gavin himself from some used Zildjian crash cymbals.)


 * Drum Heads – Remo
 * Toms: (8", 10", 12", 15",18") Coated Vintage Emperors – batter, Clear Ambassadors – resonant
 * Bass Drum: (22")   Powerstroke 3 Clear- batter, Standard Sonor (Remo) Head – resonant
 * Snares (14"& 12") Coated CS – batter, Hazy Ambassador – resonant


 * Hardware
 * Sonor Stands
 * Pearl Icon 3 Sided Rack
 * S-Hoops fitted to all Toms and Snare drums
 * Tama Speed Cobra bass drum pedals
 * Tama Cobra Clutch
 * Porter & Davies BC2 tactile monitor stool


 * Sticks – Vic Firth
 * Vic Firth Gavin Harrison Signature Model SHAR

Home studio setup

 * Mackie 32-8-2 mixing desk
 * Apogee 2 Rosettas 800 AD/DA
 * Apple iMac Quadcore i7
 * Apple Logic 9
 * Beyerdynamic DT-150 headphones


 * Mics:
 * Bass Drum (Sennheiser MKH40)
 * Bass Drum (Shure SM91A)
 * Bass Drum (AKG D12VR)
 * Bass Drum (Audix D6)
 * Snare Top (Audix i5 or Shure SM57)
 * Snare Bottom (Shure SM57)
 * Hi Hat (AKG CK391)
 * Tom1 AKG C414 XLS (Electro Voice N/D 468 for live)
 * Tom2 AKG C414 XLS (Electro Voice N/D 468 for live)
 * Tom3 AKG C414 XLS (Electro Voice N/D 468 for live)
 * Tom4 AKG C414 XLS (Electro Voice N/D 468 for live)
 * Tom5 AKG C414 XLS (Electro Voice N/D 468 for live)
 * Ride (AKG CK391)
 * Overheads (Pair of AKG C12VRs)
 * Close Ambience (Pair of AKG C414XLIIs)
 * Distant Ambience (Pair of Royer 122's)