Drum Nostalgia

I brought a bunch of keepsake items back to New York with me from my last trip to my hometown in Maryland. Going through them has been a trip! In addition to goofy pictures, report cards, and childhood artwork, there were a few musical-related items that I thought would be cool to share here.

My First Real Drum Set

Though my first drum set was a kids Noble & Cooley kit out of a Penny’s catalogue, my first real drum set was this 90s era Pearl Export kit my that my parents surprised me with. This thing has been a workhorse, and in fact, I still occasionally use the bass drum, floor tom, and some of the hardware to this day. Unfortunately, I still can’t get the sound of these B8 Pro cymbals out of my head. I can tell the above shot is from my Mr. Bungle’s Shotgun days by the black heads.

Here’s the same kit with a slightly different setup This was taken during my first run of a musical: The Music Man with Apple Alley Players in West Virginia.

Here’s she is with yet another set up. I don’t recall this particular tom setup, and I’m sure it didn’t last for very long. This picture is from a gig with Simple 4 on the last day of high school. I wish there was a better shot of our homemade tie dye banner that’s hanging on the truck. Yes, our high school was adjacent to a cemetery.

The Gretsch Kit

Christmas day 2006. My parents once again hook it up with a new kit! This time, a Gretsch Catalina Bop kit. The small size of this kit was especially beneficial when I moved to NYC and had to schlep gear around. It got a lot of use, but I sold it last year to a young lady drummer in order to make room for my Yamaha kit.

Recital Programs

And finally, I came across my recital programs from the University of Maryland. I remain very proud of both of these programs and had a blast putting them together. And wow, I used to play A LOT of mallets.