OUR RETURN TO THE FINEST DRUMMING EVENT OF THE YEAR. WE EXPERIENCE FIRST HAND THE EXPONENTIAL GROWTH AND POPULARITY OF THE UK DRUM SHOW, AND ALSO WELCOME NEW MEMBERS TO THE DE BROIZE CUSTOM DRUMS FAMILY.
I left the UK Drum Show 2018 on a massive high. It was the first time exhibiting alongside some global giants in the main exhibition hall. Daunting at first but comfortable after a while, even during the loud periods. All nerves and jokes aside, it’s what I was working towards all year and it resulted in a great introduction to the market. The experience definitely opened my eyes to how big events work and how to tackle the efficiency and approach for the next one. I took part in another 3 shows in 2019: Foote’s Music ‘Best of British Day’ and Matty Brown’s events ‘Industry Drum Day’ & ‘Industry Musicians Day’. I approached these as practise runs on the road to The UK Drum Show 2019. From adapting displays to how to even talk about the journey, a lot has been learnt. I’m often a bag of nerves at shows, although it is slowly turning into confidence as I develop. Alot of people believe the company to be a large team when infact it is mostly a one man operation, until the show. Almost every element of the company has been learnt through trial and error, from making drums to graphic design. 2020 will be only 4 years since I made my first drum.
I was lucky to have met so many incredible and inspiring drummers at this event.
How many can you name? (answers below)
At the first drum show, I used an Ikea table as the body of the stall, I had built a shelf display for the drums to sit in. It was a great idea to see the drums but wasn’t great on playability as people were too scared to pull them out from the display and put them on the empty snare basket to try out. I invested in a Gibraltar drum rack and got all the snare stands I could. This meant the drums can all be seen and most importantly played. The modular and mobile nature of the rack made it easier to attend the smaller events. I can showcase 4 snares on a minimal footprint and can take that on the tube. Yes its a struggle at points but a necessary effort for the progression of the company. This rack had 6 snares on at the 2019 exhibition, it will be further expanded for the 2020 show as it has become the main part of our stand. Next year will have many more additions.
This years line up was incredible and drew a lot of top artists, this reflected with the attendance figures of over 4000 people. The stall was constantly busy given our position right by the entrance to the main hall. It helps being one of the first and last stalls you see/hear in the main hall. We met loads of new people and had a great time catching up with people from last year. The show draws its audience from all over the world and we met Richard Vos from the Netherlands, he went home with a 13”x8” Oak snare, built from a 100 year old cabinet. It was a popular piece as just as he went to go see if it would fit in his personal snare bag, two other drummers began to show interest in it. Upon his return a discussion began about who deserved to take it home. Luckily he became the rightful owner. Furthermore, the other interested drummers did not want to leave empty handed. They stayed at the stall until they found the right sounding snare for them. Haydon Cooper ended up leaving with the eigth snare I built. A 14”x7.5” Beech shell in a black stain, orginally a school cabinet built by Old Seal Furniture Ltd in 1960. Michael Cairns was the third, he returned home to Amersham Music Studios with the most recent snare I had made a 14”x7” genuine Mahogany snare drum, built by Project Office Furniture in 1960. Last year we met Zach Okonkwo, he features in Issue Two of our zine where he talks about the 14”x3.5” picollo snare from the 100 year old oak collection. He returned to purchase another snare from that collection, the 13”x6”. Not only did he return to extend his collection of unique stave snares, he brought his friend Joe, who went home with a 13”x7” sycamore maple snare drum built from an Art Deco era table by GH Bell. He features in this issue and has since used his snare on lots of recordings with the many bands he’s in.
On top of the success and turn out of the show, the stand out experience has to be welcoming Nathan Shingler (middle) to the family. We met Nathan at the 2018 show and he kept in touch online. Having not realised he was a finalist the year prior, he went on to win Mike Dolbear’s ‘Young Drummer of the Year’ 2019 competition. Naturally I reached out and offered if he wanted to use one of our snares for his Masterclass and opening of the show. Nathan decided to go with our Layer Cake snare (left) and we are now working on building a custom 13”x8.5” layered snare for his own collection. His performance was filmed and can be found online via The UK Drum Show channels. We thank him for his enthusiasm and support. Find him online @nathshinglerdrums.
Names from the drum head above: Benny Greb, Matt Gartska, Aaron Spears, Chris Coleman, Ralph Peterson, Ray Luzier, Miguel Lamas, Dom Famularo, Nikki Glaspie, Gergo Borlai, Nathan Shingler, Ben Thomas, Matty Brown, Camille Bigeault, Nicolas Viccaro, Ali Richardson, Beanie Bhebhe, Michael Schack, KJ Sawka, Siros Vaziri, Ash Soan, Kaz Rodriguez.
#theukdrumshow #ukds #ukdrumshow2019 #ukds2019