Daniel Edwin “Danny” Carey was born on May 10, 1961 in Lawrence, Kansas. He is the drummer for the progressive rock bands Tool and Volto! as well as the underground rock band Pigmy Love Circus. Danny began as a drummer at the age of 10. He was a member of the school band and took private lessons on the snare drum. Two years later, he started to practice on a drum set with Ben Kelso as his tutor. In his senior high school, he joined the jazz band and studied under a new tutor for jazz drumming. He has not presented himself religious of any kind, but he showed interest in Sacred Geometry and the occult. His interest in this manifest in periods, and he once reported to have achieved insight into a hidden aspect of the unicursal hexagram that resorted to an astral journey through meditation and DMT. Danny Carey was also reported to use drumming as a sacred ritual like those of the occult, for spiritual exploitation.

After traveling to Los Angeles where he played as a studio drummer for Carole King, he also got to perform live sets with Pigmy Love Circus. He performed with Green Jelly in the album Cereal Killer as Danny Longlegs. Later, he got to play for Maynard James Keenan and guitarist Adam Jones which eventually led him to play for Tool.

Other projects for Danny include Volto!, Pigmy Love Circus, the electronica project band, Zaum, Green Jelly, Pigface and a few more contributions to other bands and performers such as Skinny Puppy, Adrian Belew, Carole King (Color of your Dreams), Collide and an appearance in Free Mars with Lusk and former Tool bassist, Paul D’Amour.

As for his drumming technique, Carey gives credit to himself on double bass by treating his feet the say way as his hands. He does dexterity exercises by playing the twenty-six rudiments, works on simple snare drum solos with his feet and breaking sticking patterns (like single and double para diddles) between his hands and feet.

Carey also studied tabla with Aloke Dutta wherein he showed this technique in Disposition in Lateralus or Intension of 10,000 Days.

Carey is popular because of the diversity of his sound and dynamics, his ability and frequent use of odd time signatures, poly rhythms and poly meters.

To be able to do his odd time signature, Carey suggests that drummers must try to feel the song and create general inner pulse for the time signature instead of counting it out.

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