From the beginning, the band espoused a "back to basics" approach. Champagne said the idea was to start with the same building materials as the Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin, but to come up with something of their own. A key factor was leaving much space in the music, which came about by circumstances as well as design. Soon after forming, the band got a gig at The Plough and Stars, a small bar in Cambridge whose owner wouldn't let them bring in drums, so Conway played a railing and stamped a trap door to the kitchen. Not long afterward, he acquired the cocktail drum. They intentionally wanted not to have a big kick-snare drum, which at the time was pervasive in rock music production.