The Art of snare drum building is thriving. There were 22 drum badges from the largest manufacturers, established independent builders, and the builders new to the scene. The art and science of custom drum building has become big business over the past few years so there was some stiff competition.
Read more2014 Snare Drum Olympics Results
The results of the 2014 Snare Drum Olympics are posted at www.snaredrumolympics.com along with corresponding videos, info and click-to-buy links for select snare drums entered in the event.
The Snare Drum Olympics event was started by Not So Modern Drummer founder John Aldridge in 1998 as “basically an excuse to get a bunch of really cool drums into one room at the same time.” It has evolved into an international showcase for some of the best snare drums in the world. It is a huge publicity event that has been heavily promoted by the drum manufacturers, the major drum magazines, and online drum sites and forums. YouTube. Facebook, Twitter and other social media have added another big layer of publicity over the past couple of years. The new SnareDrumOlympics.com website was recently launched this year. Each drum has its own page with videos, info and an optional click-to-buy link.
The 2014 judges were Jim Riley, drummer for Rascal Flatts, Ben Sesar, drummer for Brad Paisley, Keio Stroud drummer for Big and Rich, Beth Gottlieb, percussionist for the Gary Sinise and Lt. Dan Band, and Scott Radock, pro NYC drummer. The judging was held at Jim Riley’s Drum Dojo in Nashville TN on October 16.
The snare drums were categorized by shell composition and judged in two events; objective/blind and subjective/hands on. The results are reported as the top three scores in each shell category in each event, as the top three accumulative scores of the two events, and as the top three scores of all the drums. Also reported are the results from the public judging at the 2014 Nashville Drum Show this past September.
Brands participating this year were:
David Lee Drums Chicago Drum Infinity Drumworks DTS Custom Snare Drums Taye Drums Hayward Custom Drums Hogchain Custom Drums Klemm Drums Rasch Drums Guru Drums Holloman Custom Drums Artisan Drum Works Swindoll Custom Drums Goodman Drum Company Castle Drum Company Laudo Drums Outlaw Drums Gretsch Drums Pearl Drums Eccentric Systems Drums Bello Drums Furcinitti Custom Drums RotodruM
For more information, visit www.snaredrumolympics.com.
October 2014 - Thanks and Updates
Thanks to all of you who attended and/or exhibited at the Nashville Drum Show in September. For those of you who missed it we have a great pictorial article with photos from Rick Malkin and Bob Campbell. The show was a great success. There were three times as many exhibitor and vendor booths as the prior show and double the attendance. We hit a tipping point with the show this year and I think we may have to move to a hotel/convention center next year. Also, the drum industry gave a lot of credence to the event this year with many unveilings of new products including Gretsch’s new made in the USA Broadkaster kit that was introduced by Fred Gretsch and the guy who builds the Gretsch drums, Paul Cooper. Mothertone/Sleishman’s inverted bass drum set was demonstrated by Roy Wooten along with the Wooten Brothers Band.
Read moreFurcinitti Custom Drums
Italian Pride!
This custom drum comes to us from Furcinitti Custom Drums of Austin, TX. Their motto is "quality, beauty, clarity" and it shows! Check this drum out at the Nashville Drum Show's Snare Drum Olympics, this September 20-21st.
For more information on Furcinitti Drums, visit: www.spfdrums.com.
February 2014 - Drum Shows!
Drum Shows! February 16 is the date of Joe Gilday’s Delaware Drum Show. If you are in the mid-Atlantic be sure to go. This is an established drum show and is well attended. Not So Modern Drummer is sponsoring one of the door prizes – a collection of thirty back issues of the print copies.
Don’t forget our Nashville Drum Show in September! We just finalized some details and registration for exhibitors is open! Go to NashvilleDrumShow.com for booth information. Attendees will be able to buy discounted advance tickets at the show’s website in the near future. We have added some new features this year; an all star performance by famous Nashville drummers, a drum set solo competition with great prizes for kids and adults, and a world famous clinician (stay tuned).
Snare Drum Olympics! The Snare Drum Olympics contest is underway and the new Snare Drum Olympics site will be up soon. You can call and contact me for details until then. Anyone who builds drums can enter their instruments into the contest and get a great deal of publicity. From major manufacturers to first time builders , the Snare Drum Olympics is a great way to showcase your drums.
A big salute to Bruno Mars for opening the Super Bowl half time show with a drum solo. Outstanding! The numbers say that the half time show had the highest number of tv viewers of all time. Are we gonna see a whole new generations of kids inspired to play like Ringo inspired some of us Baby Boomers? I hope so.
George's Signature
(330) 338-6035 george@notsomoderndrummer.com
December 2013 - Happy Holidays!
Welcome to the last Newsletter issue of 2013. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and ate lots of “drum sticks”. Turkey, that is. For those of you in countries besides the USA who don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, we ate lots of turkey drum sticks for you. Turkeys are basically fat buzzards that can’t fly and Thanksgiving is a one day holiday of gluttony that lasts four days! Silly Americans.
In this issue: Lots of great new articles and vintage eye candy from columnists Mike Curotto, Phil Wilson, Harry Cangany, Brian Hill and Chet Falzerano. My “Life’s Little Drumming Lessons” column is about cleaning your hardware – you know you need to! I reviewed three new innovative drum accessory products – Cymgard, DrumClip and Snare Kick Riser Stand. They are also new advertisers and I would appreciate you clicking on their ads to see what is at the other end.
And welcome to new columnist Mark Cooper of Cooper's Vintage Drums! Another heavy hitter joins the team!
There is also a new column I am hosting called Blue Book Values that some of you will be very interested in. I posted what I know about the history and timeline of the Ludwig Supraphonic LM400 snare drum and what the current new and used resale values are according to Ebay sales and personal experience. I would appreciate your comments on this at the end of the column. If you would like to contribute your knowledge of specific drum brands and models to this, just contact me and I’ll send you the form for filling in your data and pictures. This will be an ongoing project that may lead to bigger things.
Our monthly ad prices are very attractive - starting at $25 - whether you are a major manufacturer, a drum builder, a drum entrepreneur, a drum shop, an online retailer, a teacher or a drum trader on Ebay you can put your products and services in front of 30,000 plus drummers' eyes with an ad in Not So Modern Drummer which links to your site.
The staff at Not So Modern Drummer attended the PAS international convention in Indianapolis, Indiana a couple of weeks ago, and did a lot of damage. We garnered a lot of new advertisers and subscribers there and plan on having a booth there next year. The show was great!
Yes, yes, yes, the 2014 Nashville Drum Show is still on for next September. I have been looking for a month at bigger and better and more fun venues in Nashville. I've just about narrowed it down to either the Municipal Auditorium and Nashville Musicians Hall of Fame, or perhaps the new event center next to the Nashville Predators hockey team’s new practice rink - at the new Global Mall at Bell Rd. and I-24. We will have details posted early in December. Please support the drum shows that are presented around the country. The internet is great but drum shows are “hands on!”
We are now accepting applications for the 2014 Snare Drum Olympics. This year we are expecting a slew of drums, especially small drum builder brands and custom brands. There are so many drum smiths now. We are adding an auction this year. You can win one or more of the great drums that are contestants in the Olympics.
Please email us for an entry form.
My new (and first) full time 9 to 5 job at Not So Modern Drummer finally started adjusting to me after a couple of weeks. It finally figured out that 9 to 5 actually means noon to midnight if you are the boss!
Until next month, sayonara...
George's Signature
(330) 338-6035 george@notsomoderndrummer.com
November 2013 - Did you miss us?
Not So Modern Drummer had to take a hiatus while I was out on tour all summer playing four or five cities a week with Poco and other artists. I also took some time early this fall to hire a whole new staff, and to overhaul the business with a new website, this new newsletter and a new video studio where we are producing videos for our advertisers.
Our new production manager is Christopher Speich, who oversees the website, the monthly newsletter and email marketing. Chris Beals is the new advertising and media sales manager, photographer and videographer. They are both pro drummers here in Nashville and have professional expertise in their respective technical fields. I am still owner, editor and janitor, and I am working full time for the magazine for the first time since I bought it from Bill Ludwig III in 2008. NSMD was mostly a part time, one horse wagon since it began in 1988 but has now grown into my full time job with a full time staff right under my nose here in our Nashville office.
The original form of NSMD was a paper newsletter that later turned into a full color magazine, then into a digital magazine, and now we are back almost full circle as an email newsletter. The subscriber list is so much bigger now - over 30,000! That is up from less than 2,000 in early 2012 when it was still a paper magazine. We may print again at some point, but going to the digital format has allowed NSMD to do things that it could not do in the print format. For instance, we are producing videos for our sponsors. This is a recent demo video we performed and recorded for TheBoxKit.com that was sent out to all subscribers recently, as well as an artist promo video we shot of Rascal Flatts' drummer, Jim Riley, for Booty Shakers.
Other great news - the Nashville Drum Show is ON for 2014! I am scouting new facilities to hold the event in and will announce details soon. The date will still be in the fall, probably September. If you want to reserve a booth, you can contact me now to do so. Payment will be accepted as soon as a facility is contracted and dates and prices are confirmed. This year’s show was postponed due to a lack of deposits from exhibitors, even though I had reservations from more exhibitors than last year. The economy hit us all hard, so I am starting earlier to prepare for next year and establishing new ways to make it profitable for vendors and exhibitors.
Also, the Snare Drum Olympics is ON for 2014! There are some new publicity perks for entrants that will be announced soon. If you want to enter your snare drum(s), you can contact me now and I’ll add you to the list. Payment will be accepted when details are confirmed.
Will you be at Pasic? We will be roaming the halls and hope to bump into you!
My last bit of news is very personal. My good friend Rusty Young, leader of the band Poco, is retiring after 45 years of being the only member of Poco to perform at every concert and play on every recording Poco ever did. Rusty is turning 68 soon and ready to take it easy at his beautiful log cabin home in the Mark Twain national forest, write his memoirs, play with his and his lovely wife Mary’s grandchildren and do some fishing. So Poco is winding down and our last tour date is in February.
Rusty Young of Poco
I have been very fortunate to play drums for this band on tour and on recordings for the last 9 years. I listened to Poco records in high school and learned George Grantham’s drum licks. I never, in my wildest dreams, imagined that I would actually be a member of Poco. It is the biggest feather in my cap.
Forty five years is a rare feat for a band. Poco was one of the handful of bands that invented country rock in the late sixties, and had members who later went on to play in subsequent bands like the Eagles, Loggins and Messina, and the Souther, Furay, Hillman band. Besides writing and singing a number one hit song, Crazy Love, Rusty was recently inducted into the Steel Guitar Players Hall of Fame and is known for advancing the art of steel guitar as a rock and roll instrument.
What a career! Congratulations, Rusty, and I am very proud of you. I’ll miss the concerts.
George's Signature
(330) 338-6035 george@notsomoderndrummer.com