< PreviousModern Drummer September 2021 56 J ust as guitar players always seem to be on the lookout for new pedals, percussionists appear to be forever seeking unique things they can add to their armory of stuff to shake, hit, and slap. Many of the products profiled below are new— although they should be shipping by press time—and others have been around for a while. So whether you want to replace a gig-beaten congo with something fresh and shiny, or are seeking something to expand your percussion repertoire, here are eight options we’ve found to intrigue you... Meinl Percussion Sensory Handpan The handpan is often considered an evolution of the steel drum, and it’s a pretty new instrument, allegedly first appearing in Bern, Switzerland around 2001. This is a handmade, stainless-steel drum that features nine tone fields in the D Amara hexatonic minor scale (D, A, C, D, E, F, G, A, C). A dual-soundhole design ensures that the audience and the player hear everything clearly. Handpans are sometimes used for music therapy, but you can also hear them in film and television soundtracks, and buskers have adopted the instrument, as well. It’s portable, after all, and its unique, mystical sound is perfect for stopping people in their tracks. This is not a toy or a cheap add-on, but if you’re into upgrading your sound with some melodic percussion, a handpan is certainly worth a test drive. $1,899 street. meinlpercussion.com. Cool Percussion Goodies By Michael Molenda Pearl Travel Timbales It’s no secret that drum sets, guitar amps, recording rigs, and the like are moving to ultra-portable sizes that won’t freak out an Uber driver if you show up for your ride with a bunch of music gear. Pearl’s travel timbales may be the latest downsizing of percussion gear. The 14" and 15" steel-shell timbales feel like full-sized drums, but their shallow 4" depths make them easy to transport for percussionists on the go. Even hipper, a custom hinge allows the timbales to be folded together to the size of one, standard- depth drum. The set comes with a single- braced stand bearing a six-position accessory post, as well as Remo clear Ambassador heads. $499 street. pearldrum.com. The Modern Drummer Product GuideSeptember 2021 Modern Drummer 57 Latin Percussion LP1501 Cajon Pedal You can transform your cajon into a kick drum with this pedal, or focus on snare-like polyrhythms with two hands while letting your foot deal with the bass. An attachable mounting plate fits most standard-sized cajons, and the adjustable spring tension and beater angle should work for pretty much all players. The wood-core beater is designed to produce chunky low-end and a meaty attack. $199 street. lpmusic.com. Pearl Segundo Shekere The traditional shekere is a West-African percussion instrument made from a dried gourd with beads woven into a net that covers the gourd. Pearl’s 10" shekere seeks to deliver an authentic tone, while upgrading the sound projection and durability with fiberglass construction. You can also adjust the bead mesh to produce different timbres and effects. $77 street. pearldrum.com. Toca Eric Velez Signature Wood Bongos Afro-Cuban percussionist Eric Velez obviously likes a bit of rock-and- roll glamor in his bongos. The gun-metal-glitter finish, black-mirror- chrome hardware, and steel bottoms of his signature 7” and 9” bongos definitely scream, “Look at us!” But Velez also wanted finger-sensitive drums that react to his performance dynamics, and these two-ply Asian oak bongos deliver the sound without requiring much effort to play softly or loud and in-your-face. If you dig the vibe, matching congas are also available. $386 street. tocapercussion.com. Product GuideModern Drummer September 2021 58 Louson CajonTab I first saw these “shoulder-strap cajons” at a NAMM show, and immediately knew my cajon-playing wife would love being able to get up off her conventional cajon and dance around stages. I bought the 10” model, and it proved to be surprisingly effective. Obviously, the low end couldn’t match her traditional cajons, but there was enough pop and snap to produce cajon-like punctuations while jumping around or standing and singing as she played. The CajonTab is constructed of mahogany and poplar, and features an adjustable soundhole cover (for changing pitch), a removable external snare, and a Louson-logo guitar strap. $159 direct (10” model). lousondrums.com Gon Bops Lenny Castro Signature Series Congas Here’s another percussion instrument with rockin’ attitude. These beautiful black congas feature Lenny Castro’s hand- drawn skull logos, as well as Asian-oak shells, teardrop top rings, and natural rawhide heads. $719 street. gonbops.com. Dunlop Egg Shaker You can find egg shakers stuffed into gig bags, guitar and bass cases, backpacks, briefcases, and even the pockets of jeans. These babies are an inexpensive and ridiculously portable way to bring percussion into almost any setting, from house concerts to studio gigs and rehearsals, and I’m sure they show up somewhere on arena stages, as well. The Dunlop shakers have a sweet, high-end sizzle that fits in with any music that begs for a dash of subtle percussive interest. They aren’t loud enough to take centerstage, but they record well, and will definitely be heard sitting in the background of acoustic- oriented or other soft-volume live performances. $3.99 (pack of two). dunlop.com.Legends Coming Soon: Peter Erskine • Steve Smith • Billy Cobham Cindy Blackman Santana • Dave Weckl • Carl Palmer Eric Singer • Alex González • Carmine Appice • Gavin Harrison • Artist Approved Content • New In-depth Interviews • New Song Transcriptions with Artist Insight • OVER 100 Pages • Never Before Seen Photos BUY FROM YOUR FAVORITE MUSIC RETAILER CHECK OUT MORE AT MODERNDRUMMER.COM/LEGENDS LegendsLegends Collection The Presents:Presents:COLLECTOR’S CORNER S everal years ago, I made the decision to begin selling off my drum collection. I’d spent decades amassing one of the most extensive collections of rare and vintage drums in the world. One of the biggest factors leading to the sale was that I simply ran out of space. With more than 50 drum sets and 200 snare drums, I had no room to display them, and everything ended up sitting in storage where no one could enjoy anything. It turned out the sale was one of the best decisions of my life. I discovered that finding appreciative homes for my treasures was far more gratifying than simply possessing them. It’s like catch-and-release fishing. I get to enjoy all the thrill of the hunt, then I throw it back, and I wait to see what the “river” brings me next. But the collector urge doesn’t give up easily. Now, I find myself drawn to collecting bass-drum logo heads from my favorite artists. The drumheads take up almost no space, and they are really easy to display. Fortunately, I cross paths with lots of artists and industry insiders who have led me to dozens of acquisitions. Do you know of an old logo head sitting in storage somewhere? Let me know. I’m always looking for more. Here are a few of my current favorites, along with the stories about how I found them. Ringo Starr Ringo Starr’s lawyer asked me to make some replica The Beatles logo heads for Ringo to sign and donate to his charities. It became an annual request, so every year, I’d make a small batch and send them to Ringo Donn Bennett’s Drum Vault Logo Heads By Donn BennettSeptember 2021 Modern Drummer 61 for his signature. In 1998, he was kind enough to sign one for me. It’s one of my most prized possessions. It’s currently on display in my office, mounted on a 1963 Ludwig Black Oyster Pearl set that is identical to Ringo’s. Then, in the early 2000s, Ringo’s longtime drum tech Jeff Chonis asked me to make some vintage style “RS” crest logo heads for Ringo’s upcoming All-Starr Band tour, as well as for several TV appearances. We made the graphic with adhesive vinyl letters. This head was my first failed attempt at applying the graphic to the drumhead. If you look closely, you can see a wrinkle in the “R.” Charlie Watts In 2010, the late Charlie Watts was gracious enough to sign this Gretsch logo head. The head was a raffle prize at our Big Beat drumming event that took place simultaneously in 12 different locations across the United States and Canada. Everyone who participated was entered in the raffle. The winner was a customer at my shop in Seattle, Washington. I was happy the head ended up in our town, but the collector in me found it hard to let it go. About ten years later, one of my longtime customers saw the same signed head for sale on Craigslist, and I was able to finally get my hands on it. I won’t be letting this one get away again. Carmine Appice Carmine Appice recently discovered the mid-1970s Ludwig bass drums he had used to record with Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart. They had been buried in his storage locker for decades. The heads were long gone, so the folks at Evans recreated the original logo heads bearing his name, with “Carmine” on one bass drum and “Appice” on the other.Modern Drummer September 2021 62 Alice Cooper I’ve been a huge Alice Cooper fan since I was a teenager. When Cooper’s current drummer, Glen Sobel, appeared at our Woodstick Big Beat drumming event in 2012, he gave me this logo head signed by all the members of the Alice Cooper band—except Alice. Then, we spent the next six years trying to get the head and Alice in the same place for him to sign it. We finally caught up with him on tour in 2018. Chicago Tris Imboden signed his 23" Chicago bass head shortly after he ended his 28-year stint as the band’s drummer in 2018. Original Chicago drummer— and co-founding member—Danny Seraphine also signed the head when he visited my new studio last month. Rod Stewart Rod Stewart’s current drummer, David Palmer, gave me this 24" head, and he also facilitated getting the “boss” to sign it. The head bears the logo of Stewart’s beloved Celtic Football Club. The “RS” crest logo head is from the 20" bass drum that Palmer played on some of the earliest shows for Stewart’s Great American Songbook tour in 2002. The tour featured a set of jazz standards, as well as Stewart’s classic rock hits. Initially, Palmer played two separate drum kits for each show—one with a 20" bass drum for the standards, and the other with a 24" bass drum for the rockers. It was a great idea, but the logistics proved too complicated, and, before long, the 20" set was retired. Buddy Rich According to Bob Grauso—the founder and then president of the Fibes Drum Company—this custom Remo Sparkltone “BR” crest logo head was made for the only set that Buddy Rich received while endorsing Fibes in 1966. The head was mounted on the set when it was delivered to Rich in 1966, but it was eventually replaced with a plain white Remo Ambassador version. Nigel Olsson In 2010, Nigel Olsson asked me to restore the custom Slingerland drum set he had used during his early days in the Elton John Band. We also created this 20" logo head to match the one he’d used at the time. We made two heads—one for the set, and this one that Olsson very graciously had signed by the current Elton John band. September 2021 Modern Drummer 63 Elvin Jones When Elvin Jones passed away in 2004, his wife asked me to help her sell his extensive drum collection. This 18" Jazz Machine was one of several different logo heads in the collection. J.R. Robinson J.R. Robinson used this 24" signature logo head during Barbra Streisand’s performance at the New Year’s Eve 1999 Millennium Concerts in Las Vegas. Neil Peart This 23" logo head was one of several made for Rush’s 2010 Time Machine tour. It was signed for Hudson Music—the distributors for many of Neil Peart’s books and instructional videos. Seattle Seahawks Blue Thunder It’s always a thrill anytime I get to work with Keith Rousu and the Seattle Seahawks Blue Thunder Drumline. This group is extremely talented, and they are woven deeply into the fabric of what makes the Seahawks such a great football team, as well as a pivotal part of our community. This 24" head is one of the highlights of my collection. Modern Drummer September 2021 64 Gear Drum Show Roundup Modern Drummer Revisits Two Pandemic-Era Drum Extravaganzas By Bob Campbell T he past 20 or so months have devastated music tours, trade shows, club gigs, and just about any large gathering of humanity. The number of events cancelled or postponed during the global pandemic is simply too large—and too depressing—to recount. But not everything was shut down. Two large-scale drum shows managed to lurch into being during the health debacle, albeit with COVID protocols and reduced attendance. That these were in-person events—rather than 100-percent online—is significant, as well. As many industries look to 2022 to finally pull the business world into some kind of normalcy, the Music City Drum Show (held August 7, 2021) and the 30th Anniversary Chicago Drum Show (which launched May 15-16, 2021) are hopeful beams of encouragement that musicians, music gear, and the music industry is resilient and coming back with a vengeance. 2021 Music City Drum Show It had been almost a decade since a drum show was held in Nashville, Tennessee. Landon Hall—a recording and touring drummer—felt that Music City was long overdue for an event to bring drummers together, and he planned the first annual Music City Drum Show for August 2020. COVID-19 intervened, of course, and the show had to be postponed. In the interim, JC Clifford of Drumtacs and Scorpio Marketing & Management LLC heard about the show and reached out to Hall to offer assistance. The duo persevered and successfully held the first Music City Drum Show on August 7, 2021, at The Fairgrounds Nashville. Sponsored by Diemond Star Drumsticks and Scorpio Marketing, and hosting more than 75 vendors and three drum clinics, the debut show welcomed 1,000 guests, and also attracted many well-known drummers such as Artimus Pyle (Lynyrd Skynyrd), Jim Riley (Rascal Flatts), Chris McHugh (Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood), Brian Quick challenged the Nashville crowd with a seminar on odd meters. Bob Campbell The firestarters of the premiere Music City Drum Show (left to right)—Landon Hall and JC Clifford Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer Artimus Pyle was in attendance at the first-ever Music City Drum Shop Madi Martell In his clinic, Modern Drummer alumni Mike Dawson demonstrated timing, independence, and improvisation by performing a musical set with pedal-steel player Patrick Gulley. Bob Campbell Bob CampbellSeptember 2021 Modern Drummer 65 Jake Sommers (Luke Combs), Sean Fuller (Florida Georgia Line), and Kayleigh Moyer (Nashville drummer/percussionist). The show’s first drum clinic was held by Nashville drummer and educator Brian Quick, who focused on playing odd times/meters. He played various beats and asked the audience to guess what time he was playing in. Invariably, there were multiple answers. Modern Drummer alumni Mike Dawson kicked off the second clinic, playing a killer-sounding Firehouse Drums kit (in fire-engine red, of course) accompanied by guitarist/pedal- steel player Patrick Gulley. Dawson’s primary lesson was about technique, timing, independence, and improvisation, and he played to a series of loops he had written. He also suggested that drummers “leave some space, not be afraid of broken groupings, and to be yourself when playing.” At the end of the day, Nir Z put on an exceptional drum clinic playing a beautiful Sonor Vintage Series kit. Nir is an amazingly talented and in-demand Nashville session drummer (Chris Cornell, Genesis, John Mayer, Patrick Mraz, Joss Stone, Billy Squier). Z said that he liked being a chameleon: “I wear different hats depending on the music I play.” He emphasized that every limb was important, and that drummers often did not take full advantage of the hi-hat. When used properly, he counseled, the hi-hat allows a lot more freedom around the kit. “Watching the day unfold and seeing everyone together definitely brought it full circle for me,” said Clifford, who has already begun preparations with Hall to present the second annual Music City Drum Show, July 9-10, 2022. “This was one epic day of percussion in Nashville!” The History of the 30th Anniversary Chicago Drum Show T he Chicago Drum Show has woven its way into the fabric of the drumming community. The event brings drummers together from all over the world to share their common interest in drums, percussion, and the art of drumming. It is the premier showcase of modern, custom, and vintage drums, and percussion. Jack Hutchinson of Jack’s Drum Hutch organized the first show in 1991. It was held in Loves Park, Illinois, and called the “Drummer’s Swap Meet.” When Cook’s Music and Rebeats founder Rob Cook contacted Hutchinson about the 1992 show, Hutchinson responded he would not be doing another as he had lost money on the Drummer’s Swap Meet. “If you’d like to take over and continue the show, I would be happy to give you the [contact] list,” said Hutchinson. Cook accepted the offer and held the next Drummer’s Swap Meet at his store, Cook’s Music, in Alma, Michigan. By 1994, the attendance had grown beyond a small swap meet. The now-named Midwest Custom and Vintage Drum Show was held at the Chicago Music Mart, with seminars given by noted authors and drum historians such as Cook, John Aldridge, William F. Ludwig II, Sir Alan Buckley, and Harry Cangany. Louis Armstrong and Jimmy Dorsey drummer Barrett Deems showed up and played an impromptu drum solo, which attracted quite a crowd. In 1995, the show had grown further and required a new venue—the Kane County Fairgrounds in St. Charles, Illinois. In the subsequent years, more clinics, master classes, and booths were added. The show was held at different locations on the Kane Fairgrounds from 1995-2015, and then moved to The Odeum in Villa Park, Illinois, for the 2016-2019 run. Around 2001, the sub-title “The Chicago Show” was added, and by 2005, it became the main headline, and the event was known as The Chicago Drum Show thereafter. The 2020 Chicago Drum Show was planned to be a spectacular 30th-anniversary celebration, but the global COVID-19 pandemic caused the event to be postponed. The rescheduled show was set for May 15-16, 2021, and, for logistical reasons, the event moved back to its old home at the Kane County Fairgrounds. A special 30th-anniversary drum key with all the exhibitors’ names listed was minted, and the show was back on. The Pandemic Show, May 15-16, 2021 As the pandemic was certainly a factor, the event was scaled back with no master classes—although KofiBaker and Les DeMerle presented clinics in a large upstairs conference room. Attendance and exhibitors were down by about 50 percent, but one could say that enthusiasm was up 150 percent. It was clear that drummers were anxious to get out, meet with friends, learn from other drummers, and feast on the best in modern and vintage drum gear. In the entrance hall, the infamous “George Way Keg Drum” was Nir Z reminded drummers to take full advantage of the hi-hat, and then mesmerized the audience with a thrilling display of technique and vibe. Bob CampbellNext >