The History of Working Drummers with Dr. Matt Brennan
Matt takes us on a deep dive into the early mistreatment of drummers in the musicians labour unions dating back to the early 20th century, through the rise of the "Radio Stars" of the 1940's all the way up to the great session drummers like Hal Blaine and Earl Palmer. The episode kicks off by learning the origins of drummer jokes that we have all heard through our careers and is full of great information throughout. Dr. Matt Brennan is an author, musician, and educator at the University of Glasgow. He is a wealth of knowledge and is extremely down-to-earth and very passionate about drums. We are discussing his latest book: "Kick It: A Social History of The Drum Kit", specifically Chapter 5 - "Working Drummers, Musical Labour, Role Playing, and Authorship". This episode is Part 1 of our conversation, part 2 will come down the road and feature the Rock and Roll greats of the 60's and 70's along with writing credits for drummers. Matt provided a promo code to save 30% off "Kick It: A Social History of The Drum Kit". Use code "AAFLYG6" at this link: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/kick-it-9780190683870?lang=en&cc=us Thanks for listening! - Follow Drum History on Facebook and Instagram for daily drumming videos! @drumhistory_podcast - Please give us a rating and a review if you like the show. I love getting feedback from everyone, get in touch and let me know what you want to learn about next!
4 Feb 20201h 12min
The History of Drum Engraving with John Aldridge
Drum Engraving goes back to the 1920's when drums such as the Slingerland and Ludwig Black Beauty's would become legendary thanks to the intricate engraving on the metal shells. Fast forward to today, John is the man behind the hand engraving for companies such as Ludwig, A&F, DW, Pearl, C&C and Joyful Noise. He is also the founder of the amazing publication "Not So Modern Drummer", which has been an amazing resource for vintage drum enthusiasts for almost 30 years. We go through the full history of NSMD and tons of other great vintage drum talk along the way. Check out Johns website at: https://drumscratcher.com/ here is the current version of Not So Modern Drummer which is run by George Lawrence: https://www.notsomoderndrummer.com/ Here are some great NSMD articles by Bob Campbell about John Aldridge that go into further detail about this topic and have great pictures: https://www.notsomoderndrummer.com/not-so-modern-drummer/2019/5/8/the-drum-engravers-part-1-john-aldridge https://www.notsomoderndrummer.com/not-so-modern-drummer/2019/10/25/the-drum-engravers-part2-john-aldridge-custom-works Thanks for listening! - Follow Drum History on Facebook and Instagram for daily drumming videos! @drumhistory_podcast - Please give us a rating and a review if you like the show. I love getting feedback from everyone and hearing how you like the show, get in touch and let me know what you want to learn about next!
21 Jan 202055min
The Legacy of George Way Drums with Ronn Dunnett
George Way is one of the most innovative people in drum history, and is known as the godfather of the modern drum set. George passed away in 1969, but Ronn Dunnett has been carrying on the legacy of George Way Drums since 2006. George worked for basically all of the classic American drum companies including Leedy, Slingerland, Rogers and many more. His designs were decades ahead of what was being used at the time and many of his inventions are still found on the modern drum set. Ronn and I go through the entire life of George H. Way and many of his greatest contributions, plus the many ups and downs he faced in his career. George was faced with tragedy towards the end of his ownership of his own company which later turned into Camco, but he continued to work in the world of drumming until the end of his life. Ronn tells us all about how he acquired George Way Drum's and the relationship he has had with DW about the use of the round lugs (a George Way invention). He is also the owner of Dunnet Classic Drums and makes some of the finest drums available today and is a master drum builder. -You can check out Dunnett Classic Drums here: http://www.dunnett.com/ -The George Way Drums website with the history I reference in this episode: http://waydrums.com/ -Here is a wonderful article written by Bob Campbell for Modern Drummer about George Way Drums and Ronn Dunnett: https://www.moderndrummer.com/article/february-2018-george-way-drum-company/ -Here is a link to Rob Cook's book "The Leedy Way" which is an amazing source for information on both Leedy and George Way: https://www.halleonard.com/product/266454/the-leedy-way Thanks for listening! - Follow Drum History on Facebook and Instagram for daily drumming videos! @drumhistory_podcast - Please give us a rating and a review if you like the show. I love getting feedback from everyone and hearing how you like the show, get in touch and let me know what you want to learn about next!
7 Jan 202057min
The History of Learning the Drum Set with Stephen Taylor
We learn the evolution of how early drummers learned their craft by watching other drummers who passed through town and by apprenticing with drummers such as Chick Webb and Art Blakey. Then came the advent of drum notation books which allowed young drummers to learn at home, followed by drum tapes and DVD's, and now social media which has drastically changed the learning process. Stephen also teaches us all about brain science and how we can better use our practice time to most efficiently evolve as drummers. We talk about tons of other great topics in this episode revolving around practice and learning from our percussion ancestors. Stephen Taylor is a wealth of information and really came very well prepared for the interview, enjoy! Check out Stephen's website here: https://www.stephensdrumshed.com/ And be sure to listen to his podcast "The Drum Show" available on all podcast platforms. He is on social media as @stephensdrumshed In this episode, I also mention Queen City Drums - Check out this great Cincinnati drums at https://www.queencitydrums.com/ and find them on social media at QueenCityDrums Thanks for listening! - Follow Drum History on Facebook and Instagram for daily drumming videos! @drumhistory_podcast - Please give us a rating and a review if you like the show. I love getting feedback from everyone and hearing how you like the show, get in touch and let me know what you want to learn about next!
24 Dec 20191h 13min
Bringing the Slingerland Drum Shell Machines Back to Life with Bernie Stone
Bernie purchased the original Slingerland radio frequency drum shell making machinery on an Ebay auction in 2001, and that began his decade long quest to figure out how they work. He went through hundreds of attempts to figure out how these incredibly complex machines created drum shells before he got help from from Jack Moritz, a former Slingerland employee who ran the machines for 22 years. Once that happened, Bernie was off and running and making drum shells in under 5 minutes under his new company, Stone Custom Drum. Learn all about how Radio Frequencies we're used to create drum shells, and also we discuss the recent acquisition of Slingerland by DW, plus tons of other great stories along the way. Stone Custom Drum has Slingerland in its DNA, but is its own brand that creates beautiful, one of a kind drums. You can check them out at www.stonecustomdrum.com. In this episode, we also discuss Jim Moritz who is the owner of Chicago Drum. He was the guest on episode 4 and you can check him out at www.chicagodrum.com Thanks for listening! - Follow Drum History on Facebook and Instagram for daily drumming videos! @drumhistory_podcast - Please give us a rating and a review if you like the show. I love getting feedback from everyone and hearing how you like the show, get in touch and let me know what you want to learn about next!
10 Dec 201952min
The Art of Restoring Vintage Drums with Steele Turkington
A Pearl tom mount on an ultra-rare Ludwig Top Hat and Cain kit? It happened... Steele teaches us his process of preserving and restoring classic drums in an effort to keep them as original as possible with tons of great stories along the way. We discuss the hierarchy of his process, beginning with diagnosing the wrap, followed by what to do if extra extra holes were drilled in the drums, and then fixing the bearing edges. He has an amazing way of looking at the history of drums and loads of experience with instruments that have been around longer than most of us have been alive. Steele Turkington is the owner of Kentville Drums in Sydney Australia and is a true master at the art of restoration. He is also the creator of the famous Kangaroo Hide Drumheads, learn all about him by visiting http://www.kentvilledrums.com.au And find him on social media at @kentville_drums Thanks for listening! - Follow Drum History on Facebook and Instagram for daily drumming videos! @drumhistory_podcast and if you are interested in supporting the show, visit www.patreon.com/drumhistorypodcast for more information - Please give us a rating and a review if you like the show. I love getting feedback from everyone and hearing how you like the show, get in touch and let me know what you want to learn about next!
26 Nov 20191h 27min
The History of the Hi-Hat with Rob Cook
The origins of the Hi-Hat pedal have long been debated, and Rob Cook introduces us to a new theory that a gentleman named Skip Retherford was the inventor in the 1922. This pre-dates Papa Jo Jones, who is widely thought to be the earliest user of the Hi-Hat. Rob shares this great story with us and how he got involved after Zildjian decided he was the best man to handle this information. Find out what happened to Skip's invention and learn everything else you could want to know about the Hi-Hat in this episode! Rob Cook is the founder of the Chicago Drum Show and runs www.rebeats.com . He is a wealth of information and publishes a number of great books that can be found on the Rebeats website. You can also hear him on previous episode of Drum history about the history of Leedy Drums. Here are the images of Rob's article about the hi-hat in Drum Magazine. http://rebeats.com/images/drum_magazine/hi-hat-part1-large.jpg http://rebeats.com/images/drum_magazine/hi-hat-part2-large.jpg Thanks for listening! - Follow Drum History on Facebook and Instagram for daily drumming videos! @drumhistory_podcast and if you are interested in supporting the show, visit www.patreon.com/drumhistorypodcast for more information - Please give us a rating and a review if you like the show. I love getting feedback from everyone and hearing how you like the show, get in touch and let me know what you want to learn about next!
12 Nov 201953min
1920's Painted Bass Drum Heads with Jim Messina
In the roaring 20's, drummers would have beautiful hand painted artwork on their bass drum heads that would be illuminated by a lightbulb on the inside of the drum. This lightbulb looked great but also served a very necessary function, as well..keeping the calfskin heads from going out of tune when the temperature changes! Jim Messina is an icon in the vintage drum community and is the host and owner of Vintage Drums Talk. He is a long time collector and has expertise in many different areas, but in this case he shares his passion and knowledge about the painted bass drum heads with us. Jim's Vintage Drums Talk website: www.vintagedrumstalk.com Here is a link to Jim's video about these heads that we discuss in this episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYNSnyoXqRs I highly recommend checking out his youtube page to see his coverage of the Chicago Vintage and Custom Drum Show, along with many other great videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq8_L90Sr8ER6nDDsCxoucQ - Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for daily drumming videos! @drumhistory_podcast - Please give us a rating and a review if you like the show. I love getting feedback from everyone and hearing how you like the show, get in touch and let me know what you want to learn about next!
29 Okt 201951min
