Drum History

In this special 100th episode, Bart gets interviewed by his brother, Spencer, and discusses his background in drumming, audio engineering and the podcast in general. I figure after 100 episodes I should probably let people know some more info about me and how I got to this point. Thanks so much to everyone who has enjoyed the show over the last few years, and shared it with friends, and sent me such great messages. I am just getting started and have a long way to go!

Big thanks to my brother Spencer for interviewing me for this episode. We have played music together most of our lives and I couldn't think of anyone better to interview me. Be sure to check him out on social media @spencervanderzee to see his art and keep up with what he is doing.

Next week we will return to regularly scheduled Drum History, but for now Enjoy this episode!

Bryan is the founder of Dialtune drums and he tells us about some examples of cable tension drums that he discovered in his journey to create a modern day drum that is easily tuned with just two knobs. A cable tension drum by definition is a drum that uses a system of pulleys with cable or string/rope to make it possible to tune the drum using one point of tension, typically a knob or a key. The drums that Bryan teaches us about from his patent search are really remarkable, and I share my experiences with the amazing Dialtune snare drum that I have been using for the last few months.

Check out Dialtune drums here - www.dialtunedrums.com

Thanks for listening!

Gil is a world renowned drummer who shares his deep passion and knowledge for Reggae drumming in this great episode. He takes us through all the sub genres such as ska, rocksteady, dub, and dancehall. Plus he teaches us about the legends in Reggae drumming such as Lloyd Knibb and Carlton Barrett and the gear that these Jamaican drummers would use when playing with icons such as Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Lee Perry and many more.

Here is some more info on Gil:

Los Angeles native, Gil Sharone, is highly regarded as one of the most versatile session and touring drummers in the world, who is known for his creativity, authenticity and strong pocket. He is a multiple-time industry award winner as a drummer, but will often wear other hats as a co-writer, producer, and an educator/clinician.

Gil came to notoriety in the rock world as a former member of  The Dillinger Escape Plan, Puscifer, Marilyn Manson, Stolen Babies and Team Sleep. However, he is widely known as an expert in other genres. Reggae, ska and rocksteady were part of his earliest influences along with jazz, funk, hip hop and fusion.

Gil has established himself in the Jamaican drumming styles, authoring an award winning DVD and book entitled Wicked Beats, after playing with legends Eek-A-Mouse, HR of Bad Brains, Dave Wakeling of The English Beat, Fishbone, Western Standard Time Ska Orchestra and more recently with Slightly Stoopid, Morgan Heritage, and his current reggae/dub outfit, Gil, Migs and Rog.

Gil is also an active member of a genre bending music collective, Saudade, where you can hear his jazz fusion collaborations with jazz greats John Medeski, David Torn, Robert Thomas Jr., Dr. Know and Chuck Doom.

Gil’s work further extends into the film/television world, working with composers Tyler Bates and Paul Haslinger. His work can be heard in Deadpool 2, Guardians of The Galaxy 2, all three John Wick movies, The Punisher (Netflix), Kingdom and Stumptown. He has also contributed both as a player and co-writer on the DC Comics: Dark Nights Metal Soundtrack, and his most recent work can be heard in the musical score for the live action Cirque du Soleil show, R.U.N.

Bill takes us back over a thousand years to learn the origins of rope tension drums and how the technology evolved over the centuries. We learn about shell construction, head types, guts and snare history, and much much more. Bill is a wealth of information and is the man behind Calderwood Percussion. He is a master drum builder and an all around great musician on many instruments.

Check out Calderwood Percussion here: https://www.calderwoodpercussion.com/

Be sure to check out the Patreon bonus episode this week because Bill gives us the amazing story of how he made drums for Hamilton the musical and the gigantic bass drum he recently created.

Enjoy this episode!

Jim is an extremely respected music critic on the radio, but he is a drummer at his core. He shares his passion and knowledge of acrylic drums with us starting in 1959 with Zickos, into the 70's with Fibes, and the explosion of popularity with the Vistalites thanks to John Bonham. We discuss the evolution of acrylic shell construction, the color varieties of the extremely unique Ludwig stripe kits, the players who made these drums famous like Billy Cobham and Karen Carpenter, and tons of other great info

Check out Jims website and his 2002 Modern Drummer article on acrylic drums: http://www.jimdero.com/News2002/ClearDrumsModernDrummer.html

Thanks for listening!

Steve takes us through all the decades of Ludwig bass drum pedals starting in 1909 with the iconic first commercially produced bass drum pedal that completely changed the world of drumming, up to the modern re-introduction of the Speed King. Steve is a passionate collector of Ludwig bass drum pedals and wrote a new book called "The Ludwig Line: Bass Drum Pedals" that is full of detailed descriptions and photos of his collection that covers most everyLudwig pedal that was ever made. He is only missing a few "holy grail pedals" that he describes in this episode.

Shoot Steve an email here to get a copy of his Ludwig Pedals book: [email protected] 

-

Be sure to check out the Patreon bonus episode this week to hear more great conversation with Steve Zemanek

John was a student of Alan Dawson for many years and shares many of his experiences with Alan and a great spotlight on the life of this truly legendary teacher. We hear what it was like to walk into the room and learn from Alan Dawson using his extremely musical and innovative techniques. Alan would squeeze the absolute most out of books such as Syncopation and Stick Control, along with countless other ways that teaching Alan became the icon he is today.

John Ramsay is the former chair of the percussion department at Berklee College of Music and a veteran performer with groups such as Art Blakeys Jazz Messengers and many more. He is also an author and educator with a deep appreciation and respect for his former teacher, Alan Dawson!

Enoy this episode and be sure to check out Johns Patreon bonus episode by supporting the show at www.patreon.com/drumhistorypodcast

Nick and I discuss 11 different popular cymbal myths in this episode, many of which were submitted by listeners of the podcast! We cover things such as "old cymbals are always better", "hand hammering is automatically good", "covering my cymbal in ketchup makes it sound better", and many more. This is a really fun episode where I learned a ton from my pal Nick Margarite aka NickyMoon.

Nick is a great independent cymbal maker based out of New Jersey and the man behind NickyMoon cymbals. Check out his awesome work at https://www.nickymoon.com/

Here is a quick link to Nicks previous Drum History episode about The History of Cymbal Making - https://www.drumhistorypodcast.com/post/ep-65-the-history-of-cymbal-making-with-nick-margarite-nickymoon

Visit drumhistorypodcast.com/episodes and click this episode to see Nicks outline for this episode.

Thanks for listening!

A Military Tattoo is a ceremony that dates back to the early 17th century in the Netherlands when Drummers would notify the soldiers at the local bars at 9:30pm that it is time to return to the barracks. This was known as "Doe Den Tap Toe " or "Turn Off The Taps". This tradition continued and evolved over the centuries to be a nightly ceremony that was designed to entertain in the summer months, Fast forward to modern days and it is a worldwide, mega event that celebrates the best drummers and musicians around the globe.

Mark is a master rudimental drummer and an extremely seasoned performer in the world of Tattoo's. This is a great episode about a topic that I knew absolutely nothing about. Mark is a great guy with a huge passion for drumming.

Here is the Washington Tattoo Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/TheWashingtonTattoo/

Check out the Washington Tattoo Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-washington-tattoo-podcast/id1526474988

Enjoy this episode!

This is the full history of Bosphorus Cymbals - A traditional handmade Turkish cymbal brand that has been around since 1996, but has what seems like centuries of knowledge and expertise. The tale of Bosphorus is tied into the other major company that originated in Turkey that we all know about, but once they left the country many cymbal makers were left with a mastery of the art and that knowledge was passed on to the founders of Bosphorus Cymbals.

=

Check out Bosphorus here: http://www.bosphoruscymbals.com/

-

And be sure to visit your local drum shop and play some Bosphorus Cymbals!