And so it comes to an end for another year – the Young Drummer Of The Year 2019 competition has seen Nathan Shingler come out with the prize in what was a very close final. As mentioned by so many who attended, the standard was higher than ever and all those who took part deserve a big

Adrian Kirchler (AK Drums) is a master snare drum maker and restorer. He’s particularly well known for creating drums modelled after those made in the 1920s/30s. As well as making drums under the AK name, he’s also made drums for Craviotto and Ludwig. I’ve been a big fan of Adrian’s work since about 2007 when

Something a bit brighter for the New Year! This is a fairly stock drum in the sense that it was a regular production model for the few years the Club Custom line was available. That said though, I think it’s cool for two reasons; one, the finish - which I’ll come to - is different

James Young We got a chance to ask James Young, MD of Aston Microphones, some questions about the company as we realised that many musicians, particularly drummers, possibly wouldn't know much about them yet. As you will read, Aston aren't another 'UK, rebadged foreign mics' company; there's a lot more too it than

Kauri is a species of wood that grows on the north island of New Zealand. Swamp kauri (also known as ancient kauri) is wood that was buried in marshland and only found in the last few decades. The trees themselves grew for around 1,000 to 2,000 years before they fell around the end of the

Season 3, Episode 5 of The Mike Dolbear Web Show - again filmed at EastWest Studios in Los Angeles. This time, Mike catches up with three very different people, including a Brit! Kaz Rodriguezis one of the most talented players to come out of the UK in the last few years. Currently (after this was

Think you're a drum geek? If so, we have the perfect thing for you! Following on from the last 'Drum Geeks In The Shed' video, where Dave Bateman, Gareth Burnett and Matt Keenan talked about snare drums, we have a new video all about bass drum beaters. Want to get geeky about which work, which

As this is the start of a new series, I thought I’d come out of the gate with a little bit of style. The name Craviotto (https://www.craviottodrums.com) is probably known to most people by now. Or it should be anyway. This drum, which is number 14, was a limited run of just 25 pieces worldwide

Think you're a drum geek? If so, we have the perfect thing for you! This is the first Drum Geeks In The Shed video, where mikedolbear.com stalwart Dave Bateman (centre) talks to Gareth Burnett (on the left) and Matt Keenan (on the right) about a different aspect of drum gear, and in this case, snare drums.

Season 3, Episode 4 of The Mike Dolbear Web Show - again filmed at EastWest Studios in Los Angeles. This time, Mike catches up with two very different players who really are at the top of their games.... Eric Harland is an incredible modern jazz player (who tells of his love of John Coltrane's A