Drum History

Did Premier secretly produce Ludwig Supraphonic shells in the 70's? Listen to find out! Founded in 1922, Premier is the most famous brand in British drum history and has a fascinating story. Mike Ellis is an expert on Premier and an avid restorer who shares the complete history with us plus tons of great stories along the way.

Learn all about the comparisons between classic American brands and Premier through the brands evolution as they battled for market share, and inevitably what held Premier back from dominating the drum world. For one example, I was fascinated to learn that they produced Gun Sights during WW2 before the factory was bombed during the war.

Mike Ellis is also known as "The Drum Fettler" and has a great youtube channel full of great restoration videos - check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeIdcGyqU23j1DIAiLPOFvA

Enjoy this deep dive into Premier Drums!

We learn the role of drummers in the Military and the purpose they served as a form of communication and a way to keep the troops unified during battle starting with the US Colonies through to the Revolutionary War. Then we take a deep dive into the Civil War and learn all about the importance of the Fife and Drum Corp on both sides in the extremely bloody war that divided the country.

Patrick Jones is a Fife and Drum Corps expert and regularly performs with Camp Chase Fifes and Drums at events all over the country. He also restores rope tension snare drums to exact detail. Patrick is a 5th grade history teacher and he does a great job of explaining all of these details so that people of any knowledge level of US History can understand this and learn a lot about Military drumming.

Check out Camp Chase Fifes and Drums website at: https://www.campchasefifesanddrums.org/

and find them on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/user/pjdrums96/videos?view=0&shelf_id=0&view_as=subscriber&sort=dd

A big thank you to Mark Robertson for connecting Patrick and I and being a Patron of the show and a good friend!

Rob tells us the story of the postponed 2020 Chicago Drum Show and what we can expect in 2021. He also tells us about the 30 year history of the show going back to year one with some great stories along the way. We also chat about drum legend George Way and fill in some gaps in his history that has been covered in previous episodes on Way.

This is an unprecedented year for many things around the world, and drum shows are no different. Rob was faced with a tough decision but I think he made the right choice to keep everyone safe.

This episode also fills in info about George Way that is to supplement a previous episode with Ronn Dunnett title "Legacy of George Way" and Rob's previous episode titled "The Leedy Way".

Enjoy!

(You do not need to have listened to part 1 to enjoy this episode) Part 2 covers the role of working drummers starting in the 1960's with session drummers, then Rock and Roll superstar's, through the 80's monster drumsets and up to modern times.

Matt is a brilliant historian and educator, and he brings us a very fun and relaxed conversation about this amazing history of how drummers survived and worked throughout history. We cover interesting bits such as why you cant copyright a drum beat, why you drummers rarely get as much writing credits as other musicians, and how things slowly changed over time.

We are discussing chapter 5 of Matts book "Kick It: A Social History of the Drum Kit". You can purchase the book here: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/kick-it-9780190683870?cc=us&lang=en&

Be sure to use promo code "AAFLYG6" to save 30% at checkout.

Matt will be speaking at the 2021 Chicago Drum Show, I will post more details on social media as it draws closer. He was supposed to speak at the 2020 show but that was cancelled due to Covid-19.

Part 1 is episode 36, go back and check it out if you haven't listened yet. You will love it!

Andy Zildjian is the president of Sabian Cymbals and takes us on a very fun journey through the history of the company that dates back to its founding in 1981 by his father, Robert Zildjian. This episode features tons of great information about his famous family in general and we discuss the factors that caused the split in the family and become the iconic Sabian cymbals that we know today.

We learn all about how Robert Zildjian founded the company and how much of a visionary he was as a business man and used his international smarts to help Sabian come out of the gate as a major player in the cymbal company in the early 80's. Andy is continuing his fathers legacy by innovating and keeping the company on the cutting edge of cymbal technnology.

Enjoy this episode!

We talk about celebrities who are also drummers such as Chevy Chase, Bob Crane, Johnny Carson, Andy Kaufman and many more.  It is amazing how many classic celebrities of the silver screen enjoyed playing the drums, and could have easily been famous musicians if they didn't become famous for acting and/or comedy.

This is a fun episode that features information about people you may not know are drummers, and also info on Ringo and Keith Moon - two men who are known for being funny guys.

Find Steven on social media at: @lgdpodcast and @wcartsentertainment

Thanks for listening!

Uli is the Ludwig Marketing and Artist Relations Manager and shares the complete history of the iconic Black Beauty snare drum. We discuss how it originated as the 1919 "Inspiration Model" and then evolved into Black beauty we know today over the next 100 years.

Learn about how Ludwig was not the first company to use the "Black Beauty" name, but they became the most famous. We talk about the different processes that have been used to make the shells and what makes them some of the most sought-after snare drums in the world.

Check out Ludwig's website: https://www.ludwig-drums.com/ and on social media at @ludwigdrumsHQ

Find Uli Salazar on social media at @Damendrums

Here is the information about the George B. Stone and Slingerland Black Beauty's -

Slingerland - 1928

http://www.coopersvintagedrums.com/newslinghistory.htm

George B. Stone.- 1925

http://blog.bostondrumbuilders.com/2013/09/stone-catalog-k-shelf-life.html

Dom Famularo teaches us about Billy Gladstone, Sanford A, Moeller, and George L. Stone - the godfathers of drumming technique. He also shares many great stories from his journey through learning from the students of these great teachers including Shelly Manne, Jim Chapin, and Joe Morello. The lineage of educators that run from these three men runs so much deeper than I ever imagined.

This episode features one of my favorite Buddy Rich stories that I have ever heard. Dom got to hang out with Buddy and learn about his background as a young Vaudevillian who was on the road with Moeller, Stone, and Gladstone.

Dom is known as "Drummings Global Ambassador" and he does that name justice. He can be found at any given time performing clinics around the world and spreading the love of drums to everyone he meets.

Dom's Website:

https://www.domfamularo.com/

The drum teacher lineage chart that we discussed:

http://www.domfamularo.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/DrumTeacherLineage_11x17-UpdatedOctober2016.pdf

The Sessions Panel on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfz1KlQqycWBnTX6SMaCHHg

Find Dom on Instagram at @Global2Dom

Thanks for listening!

Bill shares the full story of C&C drums that began with the first kit he made for Carl Palmer, and then later grew to be one of the most popular boutique drum brands in the world. Before that, Bill Cardwell had a long background in vintage drum collecting and restoring including owning a drum shop and being involved with the very first issue of Not So Modern Drummer.

Bill followed his passion and retired early from Bayer Corporation and followed his dream to work with drums and never looked back. He now spends every day working with his son Jake Cardwell building drums that are loved all over the world.

Check out C&C drums at https://www.candcdrumsusa.com/ and on social media at @ccdrumco

Enjoy this episode!

CEO of Modern Drummer Magazine, David Frangioni is this weeks guest. We discuss the history of Modern Drummer and talk about how drummers can make the best of the current "Stay Home" situation, plus we learn about his long and exciting career in the music world. 

In March 2020, we are all faced with the Covid-19 virus that has everyone staying at home to help control the spread of the virus. David has some great information on what we can do to make the absolute best of this time and come out on the other side as better drummers.

Check out his website at: https://www.davidjfrangioni.com/ and find him on social media @davidfrangioni

Also, visit www.moderndrummer.com to see everything that is going on with MD and be sure to become a subscriber, find them on IG at @modern_drumer