Staccato Drums were created by inventor/designer/artist Pat Townshend in 1977 being inspired by a painting he had done a year before “The piper at the gates of dawn” the knot hole in the tree above the fairy was the inspiration for the shape of the mouth on the staccato drums.
Staccato drums has a rich background of Bands and drummers that where involved in supporting the drums: Mitch Mitchell – (ex Jimi Hendrix experience) Was the first drummer to ever play staccatos live (12″, 10″ and 8″ toms) at the Golden Lion in Fulham, London 1977, Simon Phillips – World renowned session, drummer. bought the second bass drum made in 1977 and did a lot of studios work with his Staccato kit, Keith Moon – Used them on one (or possibly the last film of the who playing together) Channel 4, late 70’s.
[above] John Bonham – playing them at the Paul McCartney super sessions Abey road studios late 70’s, Nicko McBrain Drummer from Iron Maiden – Wrote an article for Sounds music paper late 70’s on staccatos, played with French band trust on occasion live and did a great deal of testing in the recording studio.
Bands that recorded music in the 70’s & 80s using staccato drums include: Uriah Heep, Gary Numan band’s drummer Chris Slade, Bow Wow Wow, Yaz – “The only way is up” mid 80’s, Roxy music – “Angel eyes”, The Guess Who -“American women” late 80’s, Eurythmics – “Sweet Dreams”, Malcolm McLaren band, Spliff (Herwig Mitteregger as the “Spliff Radio Show “from 1980 used staccato drums … you can also see on the cover – out tip:” Disco Caine “is the typical staccato sound).
[above] Staccato drums appearing in the the fourth Harry Potter movie – the Goblet of Fire. They also appeared in Robbie Williams Video, “let me entertain you” 1999, Robbie Coltrane – (The history of rock) channel 4 mid 90’s,Super Furry Animals – Top of the pops, August 2005. orange and black (vintage) Staccato kit, Glam metal detectives(BBC 2 series) mid 90’s. Single written by Jeff Beck, Top of the pops BBC1, Staccato Drums where also used in 2005 by the German Heavy metal band Rammstein- in the music Video “Amerika” the idea was implemented by one of the staccato drums promotional flyers where you can see the drummer as a NASA astronaut.
It certainly was a giant leap, Staccatos were the worlds first and only asymmetrical drums. Putting the invention and its inventor in a unique position as the only person to have done this, not only in the U.K. but throughout the world. Being granted full world wide patents in 1978. The product received world-wide sales and has now become an icon, seen in many many music videos around the world to this day. A far more familiar site on U.K. television than the clock-work radio, yet the late Pat Townshend never received acknowledgement from the British media as an inventor/designer/artist, almost in the Da Vinci mold.
