Drum History

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 that has been pulling him away from his shop recently, while simultaneously he is expanding into a much bigger shop in East Nashville - enjoy this episode!

Find Nelson online at http://www.nelsondrumshop.com on social media at @nelson_drum_shop

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 absolute favorites and most important to him in his extensive career. This episode is chocked full of rare and unique information from a living legend.

Bob is also responsible for the recent "Count Me In" documentary on Netflix, which I highly recommend! We talk in great detail about it in the bonus episode this week.

Enjoy this episode!

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 were used in the military, but he actually traveled to France to study with one of the last men who teach this elaborate type of drumming that is uniquely French. This is a great episode that is packed with interesting info with a very funny guy.

Check out Josh's trailer for his documentary that he made about his experience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIKTyT9hw14

Enjoy this episode, and thank you to Bryne Cymbals for sponsoring this episode. Learn more at https://byrnecymbals.com/

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 Jeff here: https://portlanddrums.com/

Enjoy this episode!

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 picture of how much of a gentleman the drumming legend really was. This is great drumming history that is not widely known, enjoy!

Thanks to NickyMoon for sponsoring this episode - go to nickymoon.com and use code DRUMHISTORYPOD to save 10%

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 lots of great information about how, when, and why you would want to use a calf or goat skin drumhead.

Here is the DRUM Magazine article about how to tuck a drumhead: https://drummagazine.com/old-school-tools-how-to-tuck-calfskin-heads/

Stern Tanning Co. website: http://www.sterntanning.com/

Thanks to Dream Cymbals for sponsoring this episode!

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 drummer for the very successful rock group, One Bad Son, and has some serious real world experience with his own band and many of his high level clients.

Check out Kurts article about copyrighting drum beats here: https://lawyerdrummer.com/2018/04/can-copyright-drumbeat/

This is the documentary I was discussing about "Who Let The Dogs Out". It is streaming on Hulu. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9617782/

and a BIG thank you to Drummer Hands CBD Balm for sponsoring this episode. Use promo code "DRUMHISTORY" for free shipping. www.drummerhands.com

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 the sound of drummers of the 60's, 70,s 80's through to today.

Check out Tommys Drum Shop here: https://tommysdrumshop.com/

Enjoy!

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. This is a really unique episode with a great perspective from a non-drummer who can help shed some knowledge on why we love this great instrument!

Read the original article here: https://massivesci.com/articles/drum-circles-anthropology-music-primates/

Enjoy!

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 for the Drummer - Why Charlie Watt's Matters" which is now available on paperback, and he tells us about the phone call he had with Charlie himself to thank him for writing the book.

Mike is doing a giveaway from Aug 4th to August 11th for 3 free copies of the book, so find Drum History on social media for instructions on how to enter!

Find everything about Mike here - www.mikeedison.com