you certainly do like to break things

Yeah I've seen sticks like that... But when you play the kind of music I do, you usually go through stuff like that rather quick... I don't know what you used to play, Doug but I'm sure it's nothing like what my band does.

Nice set dave!

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We didn't play heavy metal but almost every other type of music you can think of. I knew most of the drummers around here at the time including the pros. There's no way I would have treated my kit like that, even if I could afford to. I don't think that Keith Moon on one of his bad days would either. It took me a long time to pay off my kit & I used it to earn the best part of my living. My day job was not well-paid at the time & I made more from one night's drumming than in a whole week at work.

The main problem I had was everyone, including the other musicians in the group, complaining that my drums were too loud. Someone once told me my bass drum was the loudest he'd ever heard. I would have thought that with the amplification & mixing units available these days you could play a lot lighter, not heavier. I know one thing. I'm glad I don't live next door to you.

PS. I took these photos at a friend's 60th birthday party earlier this month. I used to play drums for him back in the early 60s & he's still a pro rock musician & singer. He's the lead guitarist furthest away in the shots with his son on rhythm guitar. His grandson plays pretty handy guitar & also jammed with the group. That's 3 generations of the same family in the band. The girl on drums is the bass player's daughter. She's the best young heavy rock drummer I've seen for a long time.



Just remember when she's famous you saw it here first. 8)

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You're very lucky James. It was very different in my day. My Dad would sometimes help out but I had to pay him back. I'll be forever grateful as not many parents in those days would have encouraged their sons to be musicians. My younger brother played bass guitar which was a new thing then. I got all my stuff through hire-purchase was also a pretty new thing. It took something like 2 years to pay my kit off so you can be sure I looked after it.

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I have another shot of that kit somewhere. The cymbals looked fine to me so it might be an optical illusion. I don't know what make they are or who it belongs to as my friend runs 2 different bands & I imagine it's owned by one of his regular drummers. The girl was only sitting in for a few numbers. When you play someone else's instruments you're pretty careful not to damage them.

What shook me more than anything is the shot of your hi-hat. I've never seen anything like it. Looks like the Mad Moon went berserk & set about it with a sledgehammer. LOL

oops..

  I had a drummer once whose drum heads looked like that but he used broom handles (seriously) for drum sticks because he couldn't afford real sticks, this was like 15 years ago at least.
  I saw his brother (who also played in my band for many years) about 2 years ago and was told that he (broomstick boy) is still a loser living in his Mom's basement with no job, the only difference is that now he actually has kids, and I'm quite sure his Mom is paying for the kids to survive.
  I can still remember the night I replaced him (broomstick boy) with a real drummer, they were both so pissed, of course when the drummer was sent packing, the brother quit (a quite good guitarist with real equipment) and they just couldn't understand why I was kicking him out, the kit he played on was duct taped together and was hand painted, he used the aformentioned broomsticks or any other fairly straight piece of wood for drumsticks, all his cymbals were either cracked or had chunks missing from them, we had to nail his bass drum down because it would roll away, he smoked so much that he could only play a song or two before having to take a break, he never used soap because he claimed to be allergic to it, he was overweight and would sweat like crazy so he would stink up the whole garage, that is when he would get out of bed long enough for us to practice, (practice always being in the evening because I've always had a real job to go to everyday) and after several years of this they just couldn't figure out why I wanted a different drummer.
  You might be wondering why I kept him around as long as I did, well his brother (the guitarist) was my best friend growing up, we started our first band together before we could drive a car and played together for many, many years, but after a while I had to do something if the band was to ever progress, in the process I destroyed a friendship I had since I was a kid, this was not the only time I had to do something like this to try and achieve my musical goals, I ruined a lot of friendships and that is a big reason why I gave up the band life.