"My Dad's kit is stamped 1957 (snare); the added floor is stamped 1962 and is the only one with chrome plated hoops. It is really close to mint condition with original heads also in great shape. The other three pieces are in excellent condition as well - the sizes are so interesting. I found a 1957 WFL catalog and don't see the snare or tom sizes listed!Dad said his Dad took him to Biascos Music store for his 14th birthday. Dad was born in 43 so that adds up."
Read moreHow Old Do You Think This Drum is?
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Read moreRIP Barry "Frosty" Smith
Barry “Frosty” Smith died unexpectedly last night at home, but he’ll live on forever when locals discuss Austin’s greatest drummers. In truth, there’s little debate of Smith’s placement on that list.
Smith experienced a fatal episode in his backyard on Wednesday evening, according to friends. He’d suffered a stroke and a heart attack in 2015, which limited his ability to perform.
Rich Russo: Drum Tech Stories and Insights
I had no experience as a drum tech or even what my duties would be other than setting up a drum kit. So, our touring began late January 2002 and ran the entire year with only a few days off in between tours. We toured the world, performing in Japan, Australia, US, Canada, UK and Europe also doing TV shows which included The Carson Daly Show, Conan O’Brien Show and Saturday Night Live and festivals such as Ozzfest and the Vans Warped Tour (Ozzfest was the first time I had to fill in for Donald on a show, due to unforeseen circumstances).
Read moreReview: Remo Classic Fit Drum Heads For Vintage Drums
The Remo Classic Fit Drumheads feature a slightly narrower flesh hoop and step design to address oversized drums made prior to the mid 60s. They are also ideal for older vintage drums that are out of round with thick overlapping drum coverings.
Read moreWorking Drummer Podcast is a new feature in Not So Modern Drummer
Everything you need to know about being a professional drummer . . . and a few things you may not want to know. Hosted by Matthew Crouse, co-hosted by Zack Albetta and produced by Mike Jackson: the podcast Working Drummer covers it all in interviews with dynamic pro drummers. WorkingDrummer.net
Read moreInterview w Matt North - "I sold it all. I sold my yellow Gretsch drums to some guy in Quebec.
I literally “sold my yellow Gretsch drums to some guy in Quebec” on eBay. I won’t get down in the weeds, but I have a child with special needs. Like many families in our shoes, we’ve had to hire attorneys to ensure he receives his developmental services. This song came from when I sold most of my vintage drum collection to pay legal fees. At heart, it’s a song about things we have to give up to keep going forward, how sometimes we have to dig a hole before we can fill it.
Read morePearl Sponsors a Special Edition of The Nashville Drummers Lunch featuring Ray Luzier of Korn
"Nashville, TN – Giving 100+ drummers a chance to test high-end drums, mingle with marquis artists, and enjoy great food in the heart of America’s most active live music scene, Pearl Corporation recently hosted members of the Nashville Drummer’s Facebook group at the Hard Rock Café’s Reverb Room in Nashville, TN. This unique event showcased six distinct Pearl kits, including their Nashville-assembled Music City Custom drums, as well as a variety of premium snares and hardware to players in attendance.
Read moreSlingerland Studio King drum set - Conway Arkansas cloud badge
I'm pretty sure I now have one of the last Slingerland kits ever made, and it's a good one, and I didn't have to pay Slingerland's ridiculous exorbitant prices for it.
Read moreReview: Canopus's new Alphonse Mouzon Signature Snare Drum
“My Signature snare drum series has a fat, deep, crisp and powerful sound that is great for all styles of music : Rock, Jazz, Funk and Fusion and more!”
Read moreNews for March 2016
The 2016 Snare Drum Olympics has started!
Not So Modern Drummer at The Chicago Drum Show
The "Drumwrapper" recovering machine is back in production
You can now donate to Not So Modern Drummer via Paypal and Stripe
There will be no Nashville Drum Show this year
New website categories and content
Book Review: "Walberg and Auge - The History and Future of America's Most Innovative and Unknown Drum Company" by Jeremy Esposito
Mr. Esposito will be very instrumental in the future of W&A because he now owns the company. A rather new vintage drum enthusiast, having started only recently in 2011, Jeremy bought his first W&A drum set and was hooked. He started researching the history, discovered that the company had dissolved in 1983, and quickly purchased and registered the company name and trademarks, the website domain and started a Facebook Page. Walberg & Auge is now registered as a non-profit for historical and educational purposes.
Read moreVideo Review: SideKick Drums' Skinny Small Drum Set
My personal opinion is that Sidekick has a winner here. A "smaller" drum set with shallower depths in the toms and kick, but with standard diameters that sounds like a standard depth set at lower volume - and with a much smaller footprint for those small stages, street busking, rehearsals, in and out gigs, low volume gigs, etc. where a regular size kit is not required
Read moreNew Drum Wrap Manufacturer in Canada
Although the folks operating Walopus Drum Wrap have been producing drum wrap for the better part of a decade, it has been on a very limited scale. Before 2015 production was limited to a few designs in small quantities for a handful of drum enthusiasts local to the Greater Toronto area.
During the course of the last five years the folks at Walopus have perfected their formula to produce the most flexible, durable, gleaming and lustrous drum wrap possible
Brady Drums announces closing
It is with sadness that we announce our decision to close Brady Drums.
Read moreReview of Canopus Back Beat 30 Snare Wires
The Canopus Black Brass drum that I tested these 30 strand wires on had the perfect width bed for these wires to lie in and respond correctly. It’s nice to see a drum company that understands how this is supposed to work. It was a pleasure to play this drum and hear that big, rich and snappy snare sound coming from underneath. The snares sounded very full and there was minimal snare buzz from other instruments
Read moreReview and announcement of new Canopus Yaiba snare models and finishes
Canopus has added some new models and colors to the current Yaiba Maple and Birch snare series. Until last month the models were only available with the Yaiba kits I reviewed earlier this year. They are now available as individual drums in the Canopus snare line up. They are not up on the Canopus website yet so this is kind of a sneak peek.
Read moreWelcome back, Mr. Ludwig!
It's great to welcome Bill Ludwig III back to the NSMD writing staff. Of course, most drummers know that "B3" is the grandson of Ludwig Drum Company founder, Wm. F. Ludwig Senior. He was the artist relations person for the company during the late seventies and eighties. His dad sold that company to Conn Selmer during the eighties. Bill was also the owner and publisher of Not So Modern Drummer during the 2000s. I have been after him for years to write a column and now was a good time for him to start.
Read moreWhat is this?
What is this?!
Read moreCaptain's Log; 10/15 Old dog learning new tricks
This blog is taking the place of the old editorial column that was in the print magazines and the email newsletters. There won't be an editorial in the newsletter anymore. The monthly periodical format isn't working for NSMD so I'm going to post whatever is on my mind whenever it's on my mind! Here! Personal, business, gigs, music, past articles on a variety of subjects, fleeting thoughts and floating molecules, whatever, I'm going to be writing it here.
What's going on? I just finished two months submersed in the bowels of this new website and new newsletter. I have never built a website before or composed a digital newsletter. Thank the Great Pumpkin for Squarespace.com, a web building and hosting site, and the Constant Contact email service which have it all dumbed down to where even I can do it. You may have noticed there was no September 2015 issue of the newsletter. That was due to delays in building the new site and delays in switching over from the old site to the new site.
I bought Not So Modern Drummer magazine in 2008 with the intent of "modernizing" it. Well, three websites, two newsletters, three webmasters, and three business overhauls later, I'm flying solo and I'm on a mission to come up with my "final answer". I put everything on hold this year (2015): the Nashville Drum Show, the Snare Drum Olympics, while I figured out the new direction for Not So Modern Drummer. (Yeah, yeah, you've done this before, yawn). Well not to this extent. I realized this year that in order for Not So Modern Drummer to best serve the drumming community, I needed to immerse myself 24/7 in the process of running it, building it, promoting it, growing it, etc. And I've done just that!
I've been in hyper focus mode for weeks on end, many hours a day, just figuring out what NSMD is so a new direction and mission could be defined for it. NSMD is not a magazine anymore, obviously. We quit printing the paper magazine in 2012. It's not the email newsletter which replaced the paper magazine. It's not this website either. The old periodical format is not effective for it anymore. I finally figured out that NSMD is the 27 years of content that has been contributed to it, and the people who contributed it. So, I started a new mission to make that evident to everyone: To store/document/publish all the content since 1988 on this site and make it available to all for free. Long term project, I know, but it's off and running. I'm daily adding old content from the first typed newsletters, the old print magazines, and the three different websites and newsletter formats we've had.
The other part of the mission for 2016 is to re institute the buying and selling of vintage, custom, used and new gear by its readers that was the bread and butter of the original Not So Modern Drummer. It was originally a classified ad rag for drummers! Well Ebay did that in, but I've seen the need for a more vetted venue where buyers and sellers must use their real names and establish trust. So I've added a new forum that has a classifieds section in it. I thought that forums were passe since Facebook took over, but I think people are growing weary of Facebook. It's too much to keep up with and no one really owns their pages or groups. It could blow up at any day now when the next new online thing comes along. Forums can be more focused and niched, ..... and owned! I've noticed since I launched the new site that the page with the biggest number of hits is the Classifieds, so that's a good sign. If you have gear to sell, or or looking for specific items, please help me get this Classified forum jump started by posting there.
Captain logging off.