Tamera "Tammy" Glover" plays drums in The Sparks, and Thorcraft Cobra.



By day, Tammy Glover is a mild-mannered senior vice president of production with FremantleMedia, the talent conglomerate that has produced such reality-TV shows as American Idol, America's Got Talent, and The X Factor. But by night she trades in her phone for drumsticks.



Since joining Sparks on the road in support of its 1997 album, Plagiarism, Glover has recorded Balls (2000), LiT Beethoven (2002), Hello Young Lovers (2006), Exotic Creatures of the Deep (2008), and The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman (2009). Tammy approaches her job with brothers Ron and Russell Mael as the first-class touring opportunity it is, performing at posh venues worldwide and soaking in the international sun.



Conversely, Thorcraft Cobra, Tammy Glover's raging rock furnace with band partner Billy Zimmer, is where she gets her hands dirty, slapping tubs like some punk raised on the Ramones, Ringo, and Tony Thompson. Count It In, the group's debut recording, is as far from television's halls of commerce as Beijing is from Bollywood, but it's all in a day's (or night's) work for Tammy Glover.



"I basically play three kits." Tammy Glover says. "One is a 1953 Gretsch red sparkle set that belonged to my dad. It originally came with a 22" kick, a 14" snare, a 13" rack tom, and a 16" floor tom. In the '60s my dad added a second rack tom. He played these drums through the '80s, and I inherited them after he retired.



"My Roland V-Drums kit that I use to record with Sparks has a TD-10 percussion module with aTDW-1 expansion board. I use the mesh V-Pad PDX-100 drums with CY-14C V-Cymbals, but I cannibalized my old PD-7 kit and still use one of the pads for my hi-hat and an old 18" Pintech TC series electronic cymbal as a ride. With that kit, I use the Roland KD-120 V-Kick trigger pad and snare pad as well.



"My third kit is a birch Yamaha Stage Custom with a deep-blue finish for playing live. It has a 20" kick, 10" and 12" toms, and a 14" floor tom. I have a 6x14 chrome Supra-Phonic Ludwig snare that I use with that kit. Years ago I found a retro round hat case that fits the snare perfectly, so I travel with it in that.



"My Zildjian cymbals, which I also inherited from my father, include 14" Mastersound hi-hats, a 16" crash, and two hand-hammered trans stamp' cymbals-a 20" crash and a 22" ride. They are the sweetest cymbals I've ever heard and are instantly recognizable on any recording.



"My electronics include an ancient Mackie Micro twelve-channel mixer, Vic Firth headphones, and, live, custom Future Sonics in-ears."



Glover Glover's drumheads include Remo Coated Ambassador tom batters and Clear Ambassador bottoms, a Coated Ambassador snare batter and Diplomat bottom, and a Coated Ambassador bass drum batter and Yamaha logo front head. On her Gretsch bass drum she uses a Remo Fiberskyn, because, she says, "it has such a cool, warm sound."



Tammy Glover uses Vic Firth Extreme 5A drumsticks with Vic Grip, and a DW 5000 bass drum pedal.