The story of Kent Drums is a tale of the American dream as a family travels from Poland to America in 1911, then starts a drum company after WW2 that is created to make affordable drums for people who cant afford the big brands. My guest Dennis Brown aka Mouse, is the author of "History of the Kent Drum Company 1946-1977" and is an absolute expert on Kent with first hand information from his interviews with William and Edward Kent. Mouse has a great reason to be connected to the drum brand which you'll hear towards the end of the episode.

Here is the Vintage Kent Drums Appreciation Page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1457246141188980

and here is where to buy Mouses book on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/234153626524?epid=15050073918&hash=item3684a4cb9c:g:qyUAAOSwX2hhIs41

Enjoy this episode!

Jim Clark is a 57 year veteran of the drums and an expert at applying traditional rudiments to the drum set for an everyday rock/jazz drummer (like myself). We discuss how drummers like Steve Gadd, Billy Cobham, Elvin Jones and many more are masters of the rudimental method and how they apply it to commercial music without sounding like a traditional marching band drummer. Jim is a educator, historian, performer and author of books such as "Connecticut's Drum & Fife Tradition" and the brand new "Ten Pieces for Field Drums".

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Keep up with Jim via Connecticut Valley Field Music here: https://www.ctvalleyfieldmusic.com/

Check out Jims Latest "TenPieces for Field Drums" Book here: https://pulsamusica.com/book-store/ten-pieces-for-field-drum-print-version.html

Enjoy!

D-Beat is a very specific beat that is used in punk music starting in the early 80's in the UK that then grew into its own style of the genre. My guest is Spike T. Smith who is a veteran punk drummer who came up in the D-Beat era of punk in the the UK and has played with greats such as Morrissey, The Damned, Killing Joke, New York Dolls, Steve Ignorant/Crass, Sona Fariq and Sacrilege. He created a great documentary about the history of the D-Beat and he shares the full story with us in this episode!

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Watch Spikes great documentary here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyE5ZV4pgpE&t=290s=

and check out his website to keep up with Spike: https://www.spiketsmith.com/

Mitch Mitchell was a successful child star on BBC before he ever became a drummer, then he changed gears to become a drummer full time and had a gold record with Jimi Hendrix by the time he was 20. This is an amazingly in-depth look at the life of one of the most swinging rock drummers that ever sat behind the kit. My guest is Major Kevin John Simon who is the founder of the very successful Mitch Mitchell Fan Club. He is an absolute expert on Mitch, his kits, and every important milestone of his prolific career,

Check out the Mitch Mitchell fan club website here: www.mitchdrummer.com and on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/120041094832875/

Track listing of Major Simon's recommended listening:

Here are the Mitch Mitchell Vater drumsticks that Major Simon talked about on the show: https://www.mitchdrummer.com/product-page/mitch-mitchell-drum-sticks

Thanks for listening!

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!