2011 Preview!

New Snares for 2011...

hmmm?

and this?

What is this?

More to come....

Tis the season....

For Dave Lombardo to visit ddrum, in Tampa....more info soon.

Shawn Drover Clinic Tour

It's a Celebration!

Last week saw the completion of a very successful clinic tour. Megadeth's own, Shawn Drover, spent the week with us in sunny Florida, and held court over 4, very successful clinics. The format was simple:  Shawn would go in, play thru some Megadeth tunes, and answer audience questions. Amazingly, shawn played the drums with no backing tracks.  A true feat, given the complexity of the songs he chose to play. Shawn demonstrated power and restraint, while navigating Holy Wars, at the clinic's opening. He then explained the importance of not allowing "runaway train" syndrome, to inform a performance. This is the natural tendency to speed up, especially  when playing aggressive music. You have to keep the excitement, while being a steady foundation, the rest of the band can count on.  


The Q&A sections varied from shop to shop. Questions ranged from "how often do you practice?" to "do they charge taxes on the money you make in other countries?"Shawn answered every question with authority, and a welcome dose of humor. The last day of the tour, Shawn came by the factory, and we handpicked a couple snares for use in the studio.  Shawn grabbed a Duplex snare, and a steam-bent zebra snare. We also looked at some new snares that are in development, stuff that the world will see in the months to come. All of the clinics were a success. One particular clinic, will benefit a charitable cause. More on that in a bit…..

Dimebash and beyond.....

Whew!  What a week it has been!  I sit here, at ddrum's offices and am trying to find a way to properly convey all the things we have seen and done, over the past seven days.   I suppose I shall start from the beginning, and see where that takes us.

Thursday, October 28th:

Arrive in Los Angeles, 9pm their time.  Sit on the tarmac way longer than expected.  Grab a cab and head straight to Sunset.  Drop the bags off, and text Tim Yeung.  Tim is the drummer in Devine Heresy, and recently of Morbid Angel.  I am also convinced, he is the mayor of Los Angeles, since he seems to know everyone there.  We hit up the Rainbow for dinner and drinks.  The funny thing about LA, if you see someone that reminds you of a famous person, there is a better than likely chance, that its actually the famous person  in question.  This proved to be the case, when I thought I saw Brent Smith of Shinedown.  A few minutes later, I saw Eric Bass, and realized, it really was Shinedown, in the corner booth.  Meanwhile, at the video poker machine, none other than Lemmy Kilmister, of the legendary Motorhead. We spent some time with Tim, there were drinks, and the rest of the night is a blur…..I did manager to find my way back to the hotel room, for a couple hours of sleep. 

Friday, October 29th:

Show day!  Lots to do, but first, breakfast at the legendary Mel's Diner, and a quick trip to Melrose.  Luckily, I couldn't afford anything.  While shopping, we run into Eric Bass and his wife, also doing some shopping (Dean artist relations, Josh Maloney was there too).  We head back to the hotel and grab some dinner, then check in at the Dimebash sound check.  First person we see, none other than Dave Lombardo.  We had seen him earlier, in his custom 2010 Mustang GT. We spent a little time talking muscle cars, and then he jumped on stage to sound check.  Drums on this date, are a black double bass dominion kit.  A pair of 20x24 cannons, 12/13/16/18 toms.  Dave allowed all participants to use his personal set of Paiste cymbals.  The green room was a veritable who's who of rock and METAL.  Ddrum trigger endorser, Joey Jordison, as well as ddrum acoustic artist Jeff Fabb, of In This Moment.   Next thing you know, it's ShowTime!  The list of legends gracing the stage at this point, almost too big to list.  They each tore thru either Pantera songs, or played some of Dimebag's favorites.  The absolute highlight of the show, in my book, was Dave Lombardo, and Kerry King from slayer, joined by Chuck Billy of Testament, and Tony Campos, played the Slayer classic "Raining Blood" .  I have said in this blog before, and will say again, Dave is an absolute MACHINE, on the drums!  Relentless double kick, and blazing tom fills, and once again proving why he is a true legend of metal.  It was an evening that Dime would have been proud to be part of.

So, there you go….two days of crazy in LA, any questions?

PS....MORE TO COME.....

Free 

Shawn Drover 

Florida Drum Clinics!

Megadeth drummer and drum artist Shawn Drover will be conducting three free drum clinics in central Florida on November 9th, 10th and 11th. Please contact the participating stores below to sign up or for more information.

Nov. 9th

All Pro Percussion

10101 East Adamo Dr

Tampa, FL 33619

813-341-3786

Nov. 10th

Drums 2 Go

204 South Semoran Blvd


Orlando, FL 32807


407-306-0611 


Nov. 11th


Seminole Music & Sound


10720 74th Ave N 
Suite F 


Seminole, FL 33772


727-391-3892


Nov. 12th
 

BackStage Lounge 

Presented by Studio Percussion

7PM - $10 admission at the door

1315 S Main Street  


Gainesville, FL 32601


352-338-8302

November 12th Clinic: Your ticket stub automatically enters you to win a FREE SHAWN DROVER SIGNATURE SNARE DRUM autographed by Shawn himself during a private one on one meet and greet directly after the clinic. Must be present to win. NOVEMBER 12th CLINIC ONLY.