# Thrill Seeker Drum Setup: Matt Greiner's Gear on August Burns Red's 2005 Debut

> Discover the drum kit, cymbals, and gear Matt Greiner used on August Burns Red's debut album Thrill Seeker (2005). A pre-endorsement Pearl Export kit, entry-level Sabian B8 cymbals, and a single chain-drive pedal — the earliest documented chapter of one of metalcore's most influential drum setups.

**Type:** Album Drum Setup
**Drummer(s):** [Matt Greiner](/llms/drummers/matt-greiner.md)
**Band / Album:** August Burns Red — *Thrill Seeker* (2005)
**Genre:** Metalcore / Christian Hardcore

## Overview

Released on November 8, 2005, on Solid State Records, *Thrill Seeker* is the album that started it all — August Burns Red's debut full-length, and the earliest studio document of Matt Greiner's drumming. Recorded at Dark Horse Studio in Franklin, Tennessee, with producer Adam Dutkiewicz (of Killswitch Engage, already an in-demand metalcore producer by 2005), *Thrill Seeker* captured a teenage rhythm section still finding its identity — but already playing with a technical ambition that set the Lancaster, Pennsylvania band apart from its Christian hardcore peers.

*Thrill Seeker* predates every gear chapter documented elsewhere in this archive. There was no DW Performance Series kit yet, no Wuhan cymbal endorsement, no double-pedal foundation refined over years of touring — that story begins two years later with *Messengers* (2007). What *Thrill Seeker* offers instead is the unvarnished starting point: a young drummer working with accessible, unendorsed gear, developing the mechanics that would define his career before any manufacturer had taken notice.

Tracks like "Your Little Suburbia Is in Ruins" and "The Seventh Trumpet" already show the blast-beat-to-groove vocabulary that would become Greiner's signature, even if the execution is rawer and the gear more modest than what followed. The album's original lineup — with vocalist Josh McManness and bassist Jordan Tuscan, both of whom departed the band the following year — makes *Thrill Seeker* a snapshot of a specific, unrepeatable moment in the band's history.

For drummers and gear historians tracing Matt Greiner's evolution, *Thrill Seeker* is the necessary starting point. Every later upgrade — DW Performance Series in 2007, Ludwig Classic Maple in 2011, the full Pearl and Meinl Byzance endorsement era beyond — reads differently once you know what he was playing before any of it existed.

## Gear Breakdown

- **Drums:** Pearl Pearl Export Series (Stock wrap finish finish)
- **Snare:** Pearl Pearl Export Steel Snare, 14" x 5.5"
- **Cymbals:** Sabian — Sabian B8 Series
- **Hardware / Pedals:** Pearl P-2002C Powershifter (single pedal, double-beater conversion common in the era); Pearl Export Hi-Hat Stand; Pearl Export Drum Throne; Vic Firth American Classic 5A
- **Heads:** Remo Ambassador Coated (batter), stock resonant head
- **Snare tuning:** Tight, high tension — direct crack suited to raw 2005 metalcore production

### Matt's Thrill Seeker Kit: Pearl Export, Before the Endorsements

The kit Matt Greiner played on *Thrill Seeker* was a world away from the endorsed, professional-tier instruments that would define his later career. Pearl's Export Series has been the standard entry point for developing drummers since the 1980s — poplar/mahogany shells, mass-produced hardware, and a price point built for bands without a label footing the gear bill. In 2005, August Burns Red was exactly that band: newly signed to Solid State, playing basement shows and small tours, with none of the equipment support that would come later.

Unlike the later double-bass-drum configurations that became a Greiner trademark, *Thrill Seeker* was recorded with a single 22" bass drum driven by a double pedal — a common budget-conscious solution for young metalcore drummers who wanted double-kick speed without the cost, transport burden, or stage footprint of two full bass drums. The approach demanded more even pedal technique from a single head, foreshadowing the lever-driven mechanics Greiner would refine on true double-bass-drum setups from *Messengers* onward.

The compact three-piece tom configuration (two rack toms, one floor tom) left little room for elaborate fills, which pushed the young drummer toward the tight, purposeful fill vocabulary that would remain a career-long hallmark. Even on entry-level shells, the compositional instinct that critics would later praise on *Leveler* and *Phantom Anthem* is already audible in embryonic form.

### The Thrill Seeker Snare: A Stock Steel Workhorse

The snare on *Thrill Seeker* was the stock steel shell that shipped with Greiner's Pearl Export kit — an unglamorous but reliable drum that delivered enough cut to sit above the guitars in Adam Dutkiewicz's mix. Steel shells at any price point produce a brighter, more direct attack than wood alternatives, and that basic acoustic property is what let a budget snare punch through a metalcore mix in 2005 the same way premium steel snares would for Greiner a decade later.

What the stock Export snare lacked was the dynamic range and sensitivity of the custom-bearing-edge signature drums Greiner would eventually help design. Ghost notes on *Thrill Seeker* are present but less pronounced than on later records — a function of both a less refined instrument and a drummer still two years from the technical peak documented on *Messengers*. The tuning is direct and unfussy: a tight, cracking backbeat suited to the album's straightforward hardcore-leaning production rather than the nuanced dynamic layering of his mature style.

### Sabian B8: Entry-Level Bronze for a Debut Record

Sabian's B8 series is B8 bronze — a lower tin-content alloy than the B20 bronze used in premium Turkish and Swiss lines — and it was, for a generation of teenage metalcore drummers in the mid-2000s, the realistic entry point into name-brand cymbals. On *Thrill Seeker*, the B8 setup gave Greiner a bright, thin, somewhat one-dimensional cymbal voice: functional for cutting through a hardcore-leaning mix, but without the tonal complexity that B20 bronze cymbals like the Wuhan set he'd adopt on *Messengers* or the Meinl Byzance cymbals of his mature career would later provide.

The four-piece setup (hi-hats, one crash, ride, china) is notably sparser than the multi-crash configurations documented on every later ABR album in this archive — a direct reflection of a smaller equipment budget and a band still building its touring rig from scratch. Even within those constraints, the single china cymbal placement above the floor tom for aggressive accent work is a choice that carries through, in expanded form, to every subsequent Greiner setup: the China cymbal as a compositional exclamation point, not just an effects cymbal.

## Key Facts

- Released November 8, 2005 on Solid State Records — August Burns Red's debut studio album
- Recorded at Dark Horse Studio, Franklin, Tennessee, with producer Adam Dutkiewicz
- Matt Greiner's earliest documented setup — pre-endorsement, entry-to-mid-tier gear a full two years before the DW Performance Series era of Messengers (2007)
- Last album with original vocalist Josh McManness and bassist Jordan Tuscan before the 2006 lineup change
- Pearl Export Series: the standard mid-2000s entry kit for unendorsed, developing metalcore drummers
- Single 22" bass drum with double pedal — not yet the true double-bass-drum rig of the Messengers era
- Compact three-piece tom layout encouraged the compositional fill approach Greiner carried through his entire career
- No endorsement deals of any kind — every piece of gear was purchased, not provided
- Estimated kit value: $500–800 (2005) / $300–500 (used today)
- Estimated snare value: $80–150 (2005) / $60–100 (used today)

## Frequently Asked Questions

**Q: What drum kit did Matt Greiner use on Thrill Seeker?**

A: On *Thrill Seeker* (2005), Matt Greiner played a Pearl Export Series kit — an entry-level poplar/mahogany shell configuration with a single 22" bass drum driven by a double pedal, two rack toms (10", 12"), and a 16" floor tom. This was two years and one album before he moved to the DW Performance Series kit documented on *Messengers* (2007). No endorsement deals were in place; every piece of gear was purchased outright. For the next chapter of his gear story, see the [Messengers drum setup guide](/articles/messengers-drum-setup).

**Q: What cymbals did Matt Greiner play on Thrill Seeker?**

A: Matt Greiner used Sabian B8 series cymbals on *Thrill Seeker* (2005) — B8 bronze hi-hats, a single crash, a ride, and a china cymbal. This entry-level, lower-cost bronze alloy setup predates both the Wuhan cymbals he'd use on *Messengers* (2007) and the premium Meinl Byzance cymbals of his current setup. It reflects the realistic budget of an unsigned-turned-newly-signed teenage metalcore drummer in the mid-2000s. See the [Matt Greiner complete drum setup guide](/articles/matt-greiner-complete-drum-setup) for his full gear evolution.

**Q: Who produced Thrill Seeker and where was it recorded?**

A: *Thrill Seeker* (2005) was produced by Adam Dutkiewicz — best known as the guitarist and producer for Killswitch Engage — and recorded at Dark Horse Studio in Franklin, Tennessee. It was released November 8, 2005, on Solid State Records, marking August Burns Red's debut full-length and the earliest studio document of Matt Greiner's drumming career.

**Q: How does Thrill Seeker's drumming compare to Matt Greiner's later albums?**

A: *Thrill Seeker* (2005) shows a rawer, less technically developed version of the blast-beat-to-groove vocabulary that would become Matt Greiner's signature. The single-bass-drum, double-pedal setup and entry-level Sabian B8 cymbals stand in sharp contrast to the true double-bass-drum rigs, professional DW and Pearl kits, and Meinl Byzance cymbals documented on every subsequent August Burns Red album. The compositional instincts are already present in embryonic form, but the gear and execution reflect a teenage drummer two years before his professional breakthrough on [Messengers (2007)](/articles/messengers-drum-setup). For his full career arc, see the [Matt Greiner drummer profile](/drummer/matt-greiner).

**Source:** https://metalforge.io/articles/thrill-seeker-drum-setup

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*Last updated: 2026-07-06 · Source: [MetalForge.io](https://metalforge.io)*