Drum History

Vicky teaches us the history of female drummers through the decades in this very in-depth episode that begins 2000 years ago when all the drummers in society were women! Vicky O'Neon is a great drummer, educator, and YouTuber who has created an amazing 12. part series that she was kind of enough to condense all that information in this fun episode. Female drummers have faced countless hardships th...

Corder Drums was born in 1979 when Jim Corder purchased the Fibes manufacturing equipment from C.F. Martin after they decided to no longer be in the drum business. My guest is Don Corder, Jim's son, was an employee since day one and helped his dad and brothers learn on the fly and create a drum brand that is now a part of the history of the instrument. Not only is this a great story because of the...

We pick up the Paiste history in the 1970's when 2002's were king and all the famous European rock bands were representing Paiste. The company also lost its distribution deal with Ludwig in the early 70's and had a period of about 4 or 5 years where distribution in America was slim to none - until they made a deal with Rogers that brought the iconic cymbals state-side. This and much much more is d...

This is an in-depth look at the fascinating history of one of the biggest names in cymbal making - Paiste! Dan Garza is an expert on the history of the company and teaches us the origin story that dates back to the turn of the century in Estonia with the Paiste family right up to the 1970's in Switzerland and Germany. Part 2 will pick up where this episode leaves off with the 70's rock explosion w...

Edith teaches us about the amazing drumming culture in Basel Switzerland and the unique style of drumming that the region has made famous. We talk about the construction of the Basler drums and the history of the clubs and traditions that created this unique environment. Edith is a legend in the Basel drumming community and is a great ambassador to the region. A link to Ediths website: www.habrake...

The story of Kent Drums is a tale of the American dream as a family travels from Poland to America in 1911, then starts a drum company after WW2 that is created to make affordable drums for people who cant afford the big brands. My guest Dennis Brown aka Mouse, is the author of "History of the Kent Drum Company 1946-1977" and is an absolute expert on Kent with first hand information from his inter...

Jim Clark is a 57 year veteran of the drums and an expert at applying traditional rudiments to the drum set for an everyday rock/jazz drummer (like myself). We discuss how drummers like Steve Gadd, Billy Cobham, Elvin Jones and many more are masters of the rudimental method and how they apply it to commercial music without sounding like a traditional marching band drummer. Jim is a educator, histo...

D-Beat is a very specific beat that is used in punk music starting in the early 80's in the UK that then grew into its own style of the genre. My guest is Spike T. Smith who is a veteran punk drummer who came up in the D-Beat era of punk in the the UK and has played with greats such as Morrissey, The Damned, Killing Joke, New York Dolls, Steve Ignorant/Crass, Sona Fariq and Sacrilege. He created a...

Mitch Mitchell was a successful child star on BBC before he ever became a drummer, then he changed gears to become a drummer full time and had a gold record with Jimi Hendrix by the time he was 20. This is an amazingly in-depth look at the life of one of the most swinging rock drummers that ever sat behind the kit. My guest is Major Kevin John Simon who is the founder of the very successful Mitch...

Bryson Nelson has created a shop that not only is a mecca for vintage drum lovers, but also a place where drummers of all levels can come and enjoy the community that is very unique to our drum world. He shares the story of how he started his shop and the joys and pressures that comes along with starting a brand from scratch, Bryson has a very young family and has been dealing with health issues t...

Bob is a world class collector who has been a drummer in bands such as the Kinks, The Daybreakers, Argent and worked as a session/live drummer with musicians like Roger Daltrey and Don McLean. When he wasn't on stage, Bob was visiting mom and pop music stores across the world trying to find rare and unique drums and take them back home to the UK. Bob shares his "Desert Island Drums" that are his a...

Josh is known on social media for his amazing videos where he creates percussive sound effects to famous movie clips and it has garnered him a following in the millions - but he joins me in this episode to talk about his passion and expertise on the history of french military drumming. He not only studied the ins-and-outs of the Napoleonic military style of drumming and all the tactical ways drums...

Don't blame yourself if you have trouble tuning - It might be your edges! Jeff is a great drum builder in Portland, Oregon who has a deep understanding of bearing edges and drum building in general. He spends majority of this episode discussing everything you need to know to understand how edges work, but we also talk about vintage vs. modern shell construction and wood types! Get in contact with...

Ron Weinstein was the inventor of the iconic Tuxedo Bags and had a 40 year relationship with Louie Bellson. He shares the story of how he created the bags which revolutionized drum cases in the 1980's, and how his friend Louie Bellson rocketed his brand forward by attaching Louies celebrity to the brand . The best part is that Louie didn't ask for a dime and Ron tells many great stories that paint...

Jeff Stern owns and operates Stern Tanning Co. which acquired the United Rawhide Company of Chicago in 2001 - the former largest manufacturer or drumheads in the world before mylar became king. United Rawhide was the primary drumhead provider for Slingerland, Gretsch, Rogers, and Ludwig. Jeff teaches us the start to finish process of how a tannery works and creates high quality drumheads, plus lot...

Kurt is a drumming entertainment lawyer who breaks down the age old question - can you copyright a drumbeat? We discuss famous songs like "We Will Rock You", "Billy Jean", When The Levee Breaks", "Sunday Bloody Sunday", and many more. Kurt also tells us how song credits work and how we can protect ourselves and get what we deserve as drummers plus tons of other great information. Kurt is the drumm...

Tommy has been the owner of Fibes Drums since 1994, and he is the perfect person to tell us about the history of this iconic brand that dates back to 1966. They are very sought after and beloved drums that are the gem of many collections and we learn about the different eras and owners of the brand. They pushed forward both the technology of Fiberglass drums and Acrylic drums which helped shape th...

War drums, Primate communication, Indigenous peoples' sacred instruments, and hippie drum circles! Kristen tells us why we are hard wired to love the drums the way we do through her in-depth scientific research that begins 7000 years ago with the earliest drum and ends up today with blistering heavy metal drummers using the primal rhythms to make us feel the fear that our early ancestors felt. Thi...

Mike Edison joins us to discuss when the stars align and Charlie finds The Stones, Bonzo joins Zeppelin, Ringo meets the Beatles, and Keith explodes into The Who. We talk all about what makes these (plus many another) drummer's the absolute perfect choice for each of the iconic rock groups and play a game where we switch drummers into different bands. Mike also discusses his great book, "Sympathy...

Pete Jarvis has had a very long and illustrious career that includes working with Wes Anderson and on the HBO series, "Boardwalk Empire" as a composer, arranger and drummer plus he has performed as a soloist, chamber player, Broadway musician and as conductor/player with chamber music ensembles, orchestras and choruses. Pete shares his story with us and many key pieces of advice on how to plan for...

Paul is a master drum builder who used materials such as Hemp, Carbon Fiber, Carbon Kevlar, and Fiberglass. He started Tempus in Vancouver in 1985 and and ran the company until he decided to wind down and close his shop in 2012. His unique materials and production style made some of the most unique drums on the market that were widely loved by players around the world. Paul made over 7000 in his c...

Rob teaches us about the early origins of drum endorsements that dates all the way back to the early 1900's with drummers being featured in "The Ludwig Drummer" and "Leedy Drum Topics" magazines. We then go through the 50's and 60's where big money started to get involved and Rob shares stories of drummers like Buddy Rich receiving massive cash payments to play various drum brands and Gene Krupa's...

Beth is a passionate expert on all things to do with practice pads. She has an extensive collection of her own which she has used to get first hand knowledge, and is also a great researcher who has dug deep to find all the in-depth details that she shares in this episode. This is a fun episodes that is full of info on all the various practice pads that we all grew up with, and the pads of our ance...

Chris owns Bopworks drumsticks and he has recreated drumstick models of some of the most legendary players in drum history. Gene Krupa, Shelly Manne, Art Blakey, Mel Lewis are some of the stick's that Chris has gotten the rights to recreate and produce in Austin, Texas. He teaches us the process he had to go through to get the rights from the familys of these legends and then getting the sticks ma...

Bill Zickos was the inventor of Acrylic Drums in 1959 and changed the drum world forever when clear drums went to market a decade later thanks to famous drummers using them such as Keith Moon, Bill Ward, Ron Bushy, and even John Bonham. Bill passed away at age 90 in 2020 and left a huge legacy in the community. His unique and inventive techniques of making drum shells and creating hardware was way...