Matt Halpern Drum Workshop at Guitar Center Hollywood

Matt Halpern is a Grammy Award-nominated drummer of the influential progressive metal outfit Periphery, recipient of Modern Drummer’s Best Metal Drummer and Best Clinician/Educator awards, and cofounder of popular software company GetGood Drums.

Known for his technical musicality and authoritative, deep-pocketed grooves, Halpern led an inspiring workshop at Guitar Center Hollywood, offering glimpses into his drumming journey, experiences with Periphery and a look at his signature drum gear. In addition to sharing his warmup routine and thoughts on the idiosyncratic physicality of his style, Halpern also dissected and performed three tracks from 2023’s Periphery V: Djent Is Not a Genre—“Atropos,” “Dracul Gras” and “Dying Star.”

You can catch a recording of the livestreamed event below, as well as select transcriptions from an insightful evening with Periphery groove guru Matt Halpern.

Matt Halpern Explains His Drum Layout

Throughout his tenure with Periphery, Halpern’s spent a decade as his own drum tech, establishing strong preferences for not only the pieces comprising his kit, but the actual layout and positioning of its parts.

He went on to say how he and his Periphery bandmates are still just a group of “normal” people who enjoy playing music at the end of the day, and none of them “are above being involved with things like setting up our own gear.”

Halpern elaborated, “If it’s a bigger production with a bigger budget, then yes, I will have a drum tech that comes out. Even then, I’m still very engaged with the process.

“The majority of my career as a drummer in Periphery, I was my own drum tech—up until a few years ago, and we’ve been touring since 2009. Maybe the first time I had a drum tech on tour was 2018 or 2019, so a good 10 years of teching for myself.”

Pictured: Matt Halpern answering questions on-stage at Guitar Center Hollywood

Historically, Halpern has taken a relatively spartan approach to selecting the pieces of his kit and continues to do so. At the most basic level, every component should be reachable without awkward or excessive motion. Second, and perhaps most importantly, the choices should sonically service the music—as we gleaned from the discussion with Halpern about his current kit, everything is fine.

“I’ve always been a stickler about drum kits. They can be set up in a way that makes them beautiful, in a way that makes them feel ‘feng shui,’ for lack of better wording. For me, I want to be able to close my eyes and know where I am.”

Several years running, there hasn’t been any need to shake things up: “The setup that I have now has been my setup for the last two, three records, I want to say—minus a couple items that have gone away … Sonically, the reason why the kit is what it is—especially with the cymbals—is because it’s really all we need for Periphery.”

Matt Halpern on Developing His Signature Drum Gear

Halpern’s naturally arrived at his signature gear with Pearl, Promark and MEINL through years of experimentation to find the right sounds for both recording and touring. Philosophically opposed to producing gear with his name on it for the sake of it, everything should provide measurable value—not only to himself and Periphery, but also other drummers interested in finding their sound.

“When we started GetGood Drums, the first kit we did was one of my kits. For each album subsequent to when we started the company, we would record a drum library for it, and for Periphery IV and Periphery V, this is pretty much the kit.

“I think it really works for the music that we’re recording, so it’s true to the recordings when you hear it live. It’s also the preference of our sound guy live. I’ve played cymbals where he’s like, ‘Dude, that cymbal is way too loud for the stage. We got to change it up.’

Pictured: Matt Halpern taking audience questions at Guitar Center Hollywood

“It’s through that process of trying to hone the sound that you come up with ideas that end up translating, eventually, into signature gear. It’s very rarely like, ‘Oh, I want my own signature gear.’ It’s more like, ‘Hey, I want to play a drum that sounds like this. I want a cymbal that sounds like this. How do I get that?’

“Me working with MEINL, Pearl, for the signature gear—even Promark for the sticks—I’ve never come to them like, ‘Give me this.’ It’s more like, ‘Hey, I have an idea. This is what I want a snare drum to sound like. Can we make this happen somehow?’

“And then, after the fact, it’s like, ‘Wow, we created something really cool.’ It also happens to fill a gap in the market, and it makes sense for everybody to make it available. That’s typically how the process works. First, I want something that sounds good for me and for the band. Then it’s, oh, this sounds good in general, there’s room for it, let’s see if people like it.”

Pearl Matt Halpern Signature Series Snare Drum

Matt Halpern’s signature snare drum with Pearl is 14x6" brass-shelled beauty, featuring projective MasterCast hoops and an EVANS Heavyweight Dry head for precise, controlled attack.

Shop Now: Pearl Matt Halpern Signature Snare Drum 14x6in

“This was an iteration from a previous signature drum I had, and I took what I thought could be improved upon when I started working with Pearl … It goes back to the idea of providing value—if it’s not good, we’re not gonna do it.”

Promark Matt Halpern Signature Drum Sticks

Halpern’s signature Promark drum sticks are “basically a 2B—16" in length, which is a standard 2B. I’ve tried longer sticks, but I have such long arms that I don’t need it. I need shorter sticks, and 16" seems to be the ideal length for what I need to play.

“I did a shorter taper from where the tip is to the fattest part of the stick, just to create a little more weight at the top. And the bead has some weight to it, so there’s more forward throw and attack to it.

Shop Now: Promark Matt Halpern Signature Drum Sticks

“It was a preference thing for me, and it ended up filling a gap in the market in terms of it being a variation on a 2B … If you play lighter sticks, this is a good one to try because it’s not too heavy. It’s a nice one to get into the world of heavier sticks if you want to try heavier sticks.”

MEINL Byzance Matt Halpern Cymbals

Rounding out Matt Halpern’s signature gear are two cymbals from MEINL: a 21" Byzance Dark Concept Model Double Down crash ride and a Byzance Artist Concept Double Down stack cymbal.

Shop Now: MEINL Byzance Dark Matt Halpern Concent Model Double Down Crash Ride 21in.

His hand-hammered crash ride opens up easily for massive single accents, and its powerful bell snips through dense Periphery mixes like butter. Halpern’s signature stack consists of a 17" crash and 18" China, with the ability to position them bell-down for a sloshy sound, or bell-up for powerful attack with substantial volume.

Shop Now: MEINL Matt Halpern Artist Concept Byzance Double Down Stack Cymbal

Matt Halpern Discusses His Unique Drumming Style

Despite the complexity of Periphery’s music and the intensity of Matt Halpern’s grooves and fills, he’s a drummer who has a way of making it look effortless. He explained, “I just try to move the way my body naturally wants to move. I try not to fight against how my body naturally wants to move.”

Regardless of whether you’re playing a technically demanding prog metal composition or laying back on a pop beat, he encourages players to “think about, ‘Am I tense anywhere in my body?’ If you have that tension, you’re probably fighting against the natural urge, and it could be your kit isn’t set up correctly. It could be that you’re just tense or worried about what you’re doing. If you can just relax and learn how to set up your kit properly and then not fight against yourself, and not be stuck in your own head, and just kind of ‘let go,’ then you can play with ease.”

Using a person’s unconscious, natural walking style as an analogy for drumming loosely and comfortably, “If you tap into that on the drum set, not only will you move the way your body is supposed to move, but you’ll be able to tell who’s drumming by their sound and the way they look. That is their actual fingerprint.

Pictured: Matt Halpern answering audience questions at Guitar Center Hollywood

“Somebody walks the way their body moves, you know who they are. Somebody plays the drums the way their body moves, you know who they are. Through the experience of trying to be yourself on the kit, that’s how you develop your own sound, movements and comfortability.”

There’s no arguing Matt Halpern has discovered and embraced his individual style, even if he’s not always proud of its presentation. He challenges other drummers to do the same, “for better or for worse.

“I think I look really cool when I play drums, then I see videos or pictures, and it’s horrendous. It’s horrible. I’ve made that joke a million times, but it’s not really a joke. I make ridiculous faces; I move in weird ways. But I don’t realize I’m doing it, and I’m not holding back or thinking about it. If I was, it wouldn’t be me—wouldn’t sound like me.”

Matt Halpern Talks Drumming Influences

Over the years, Matt Halpern has called everyone from traditional-grip jazz legends to cutting-edge progressive peers influences.  

“There are different periods of time as a drummer where I’ve been inspired by different things. There was a time when what was inspiring were the sickest drum solos. So, at that time, I was into people like Dennis Chambers, Dave Weckl, Vinnie Colaiuta, Akira Jimbo, Jojo Mayer, Benny Greb. There are so many drummers. Steve Smith. I could go on and on.

“Then, I got more into drummers who could just play pocket really well, so Steve Jordan was one I paid attention to a lot. There are a lot of drummers who fall into a category like that who I think are great.

Pictured: Matt Halpern signing event posters at Guitar Center Hollywood

“Nate Smith is awesome. I think he was here, right? He’s awesome. Then I watch some of these guys now who are playing in the genre I’m in, and it’s like, I’m never gonna be able to do that. I watch Eloy Casagrande play, who’s one of my favorite drummers to watch. I watch Matt Garstka play. It’s so incredible to watch these guys that have truly dedicated their lives to it. I have too, but in a different way. I look at them, and I’m just like, that’s amazing, and I’m never gonna do that to the amount of effort that you guys are.

“When you watch those guys, it’s so clear that there’s something pushing them to want to be the best in the world, and they are. They’re ridiculous.”

Matt Halpern on Joining Periphery

Matt Halpern was playing a bar gig with a pop rock band in Baltimore circa 2007–08 when mutual friend and then-Periphery guitarist Alex Bois introduced him to Misha Mansoor.

“The lore is: [Misha] says to Alex, ‘Man, if we ever lose our drummer, that’s our guy.’ So, Misha hits me up a few weeks later, out of the blue. He’s like, ‘I’m writing this album with my friend Tosin [Abasi]. They need a drummer for their band—it’s called Animals as Leaders. You should audition.’”

Mansoor sent Halpern the music that would become Animals as Leaders’ debut album Tempting Time, which was unlike anything he’d heard. Thinking there was no way he could keep up with the demos, he sat down at his old, beat-up Pearl Masters kit and tried to play along.

“I really liked the music. It was really inspiring, and I just tried to play it, not knowing if I really could. And it felt good, and I just got into the groove.”

Pictured: Matt Halpern drumming on-stage at Guitar Center Hollywood

He decided to go through with the audition and joined Animals as Leaders for two shows before the group went on hiatus. Serendipitously, Periphery’s drummer was exiting the band, and Mansoor invited Halpern to join.

“Misha called me, like, ‘We got gigs, and I know you’re on hiatus with Animals as Leaders. Can you fill in? I know you know these songs.’ So, I did a couple gigs, and they asked me to be in the band. I’ve been in since 2009.

“The moral of the story is this … there’s nothing better than playing shows, performing live. You have to perform live. You never know who’s in the room. You never know what opportunity’s gonna come of it.”

Earlier in the evening, Matt Halpern offered another piece of wisdom for drummers and musicians at any stage in their journey: “We play drums. We don’t work drums. We don’t business drums. We play drums—that’s what we do, we’re playing. It’s a fun thing to do.”

Get behind your kit and have a blast.