How To Make Your Own Suitcase Drum Kit

Posted on February 20, 2015 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: This is the first time I’ve seen or heard of a suitcase drumset. I would love to hear it.

How To Make Your Own DIY Suitcase Drum Kit
By RFT Music Fri., Feb. 20 2015 at 4:36 AM
By Candace Hansen

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Photo credit: Nina Cervantes, Riverfront Times

Working in a drum shop…[o]ver the years I assisted many customers with a multitude of projects, but there is one that stuck out to me so much that I had to do it myself: the suitcase drum kit.

Legend has it…early low-budget touring drummers would use these…on the road so they could travel easier and faster. These drum kits are…practical and look and sound great. With stages getting smaller, smaller kits have become very practical. They are inexpensive to make, and almost everything will fit inside of the suitcase when it’s collapsed, making for easy transport.

There are many ways to make these kits…. [F]eel free to adapt to fit your own needs. To build one of these beauties you will need…

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Snowblower as Musical Instrument

Posted on February 18, 2015 by Scott K Fish

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A LITTLE MORE NOISE Peart, Carey, Stone, Scannell and Copeland

Posted on February 18, 2015 by Scott K Fish

Watch Drummers for the Police, Rush, Tool Make Jazzy Jam
‘South Park’ co-creator Matt Stone and Vertical Horizon frontman also participate
By Kory Grow February 17, 2015

Former Police drummer Stewart Copeland recently gathered together some formidable talent for one of his recent Super Grove jam sessions. Among the musicians were Rush’s Neil Peart, Tool’s Danny Carey, South Park co-creator Matt Stone and Vertical Horizon frontman Matt Scannell. Copeland shared video of the summit, a four-minute clip titled “A Little More Noise,” via his YouTube channel.

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Why I Never Collected Famous People’s Autographs

Posted on February 16, 2015 by Scott K Fish

IMG-20121230-00601As a freelance writer, and as Managing Editor of Modern Drummer magazine, every interview was an opportunity to ask a famous musician or music personality for his or her autograph.

I didn’t do that because I felt that asking for a signature was like saying goodbye: “We will never pass this way again, so how about your autograph?” I was interested in keeping relationships alive, keeping doors open. In some cases, those relationships became lifelong friendships.

Also, when meeting someone – famous musicians or otherwise – I think of it as one human being meeting another. Not music writer meeting a star. My job is to stay focused, to be the best interviewer I can be, and to then edit the whole, according to magazine’s specifications, into an accurate, readable presentation of what the interviewee said.

Caveat: I once asked Mel Lewis to autograph his, “Mel Lewis & Friends” album. I saved letters, notes, Christmas cards, audiotapes from famous musicians. I save letters, notes, Christmas cards from family members too.

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Collin Drums of Maine: Handcrafted Stave Drums

Posted on February 15, 2015 by Scott K Fish

Aroostook County man drawing attention with custom, hand-crafted drums
By Julia Bayly, BDN Staff
Posted April 14, 2013, at 9:06 a.m.

FRENCHVILLE, Maine — …Curtis Collin, a young craftsman from northern Maine.., has a passion for working with wood and a passion for music. Two years ago he combined the two with Collin Drums, a business making custom, handcrafted stave drums….

“In 2011 I wanted to build myself a snare drum, so I did,” Collin said from his basement drum-assembly workshop in Frenchville. “Then I decided to build the whole drum kit and you know, I thought it was pretty good.”

So Collin…began to produce stave-style drums, instruments made much like barrels, with individual wood strips forming the body of the drum.

In a stave drum…the strips are glued along the edges, allowing the sound to travel from the drum’s head…down each individual stave without encountering any sound dampening glue.

Maple, mahogany, birch and ash all produce different sounds, he said, and are the four most common woods he uses, though he can work with many others.

The complete kits run around $4,000, with his snare drums fetching up to $1,000.

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