QUEENS HALL, NUNEATON 1st February 2006

During the proceedings at this year’s Young Drummer of the Year Show, during a break, I wandered to the hospitality room to avail myself of some much needed sustenance. The room was filled with the sound of drummers chatting and discussing the entrants so far in the finals. As I was about to leave after taking my fill of food and drink, I espied a dishevelled figure, wearing a variety of ragged sack cloth, slumped behind a table in the corner. I approached cautiously and soon realised the individual was alive, despite the acrid, green alcohol haze wafting from his body.

I gently tapped the man’s shoulder, to see if all was well. Suddenly, his eyes flashed open, focused and then darted in my direction. Before I could utter a word, the figure had leapt to his feet and grabbed my shirt, pulling me towards him. After I couple of seconds, I had managed to ignore the almost overwhelming smell of White Lightning and was beginning to comprehend the high speed babble he was shouting at me. Amongst the allegations of ‘radio in head’, ‘orders from a higher source’ and ‘spare change’, I caught mention of the words ‘Drum Clinic’ and ‘Nuneaton’. I soon realised I was in the company of one the UK’s finest drumming talents, one Craig Blundell and he was ‘encouraging’ me to attend one of his drum clinics a couple of days hence.

This was confirmed by his two attendant 7ft security guards, Olga and Evadne. Olga was particularly helpful in confirming the details, along with the sound advice that she was ‘looking forward to seeing me there’, “If you know what I mean, Herr Ellis?”

So, it was with no little trepidation that, just 72 hours later, I drove into the teeming and bustling metropolis that is Nuneaton and ascended the stairs into the hallowed Queens Hall, which was filled with drummers, drums and drum related goodies.

As there hadn"t been a clinic in our town for about 20 years, I decided to organise one myself  - Kev Bosworth

The idea for the clinic was the result of local drummer Kev Bosworth discovering, after talking to a lot of young Nuneatonian drummers, that very few of them knew about the globally renowned and admired national institutions that are Rhythm magazine, Drummer magazine and mikedolbear.com. Furthermore, he was surprised also to discover that the same drummers were unaware of the existence of the regular drum clinics that are held around the country.

Kev explains “As there hadn"t been a clinic in our town for about 20 years, I decided to organise one myself to draw attention to drum clinics locally and to show different types of drumming.  My stepson and I travel all over to drum clinics and shows and have learnt so much from watching the professionals.”

In order to prick the interest and curiosity (and attendance!) of drummers from both near and far, Kev knew he had to secure the services of a professional, name drummer. Having seen Craig’s hugely entertaining shows twice before, Kev emailed him and as quick as a flash, Craig responded. Kev told me “We were surprised at his prompt response and really pleased that he was willing to do it for us. Being our first clinic we didn"t know what kind of turn out we could expect and having explained this to Craig he put us at our ease and told us not to worry.”

I had arrived on the night just in time to catch the first of the four drumming demonstrations lined up and I was pleased that Kev had opted to show two other drummers at different stages and levels of their careers.  First up was 14 year old Jordan Terris. Jordan has been playing for 3 years and for the relatively short time he’s been playing, is an exceptional drummer and proved beyond any doubt, his armoury of skills. Jordan played along to backing tracks with a level of control and precision often present only in drummers of greater experience.

Craig Blundell

Next up was 22 year old Jamie Oliver, no, not the irritating mockney drumming chef, but a real drummer. Jamie was picked because he is something of a local celeb, so far, most well known for securing the drum throne for a tour with the legendary UK Subs after being ‘spotted’. Jamie gave us a well thought out display of powerful rock and punk drumming, drawing the material for his backing tracks from both old and new punk acts and made a few of us who were ‘there’ in ’76 feel just a little bit more old and creaky. An impressive and solid show of skills, firmly rooted in the true spirit of punk rock, but allied with precise skills.

During the interval, we had a short demonstration by the Nuneaton based Phantom Knights. I, for one, was especially pleased to see this sort of thing at a drum show. I believe this is a great way for young, potential drummers to get to grips with the art of drumming in a fun, disciplined way, along with a team building exercise. We are often told how important sports activities are for our young people, not just for the exercise aspect, but for the ‘team spirit’ that it creates. Well, I think the marching band team has as much value in this respect and I am still at a loss as to why more UK schools don’t include it in the way American and other nations schools do.

The Phantom Knights were formed in 1996 and in their first season they won all the competitions they entered as part of the British Youth Band Association Competition. In 2005 they were equally successful completing an undefeated season. Kev is a former percussion instructor with the Phantom Knights and invited the drum line to attend the clinic as this type of drumming is rarely demonstrated to the public. The performance drew the audience attention from the first beat right through to the last. It was not only a new experience for the young members of PK but also for the listening public who were only expecting kit drumming. Organisers of drum clinics – TAKE NOTE!
 
All through the thoroughly entertaining openers, Mr Blundell’s not inconsiderable Mapex kit glowered down upon us all from the stage and it was now going to earn its keep. To rapturous applause, our very own loveable cross cloned Lee Evans/Frankie Howerd drumming superstar bounded on stage. After a brief introduction and explanation of what was in store for us, during which we got a taste of Craig’s ‘cheeky chappie’ sense of humour (nice to see the phrase “Ooo-er missus” is still alive and well!), we also got a few clues as to which hapless members of the audience would be possible victims for his good natured ribbing. More on that later.

I really can’t over emphasize Craig’s infectious eagerness to communicate the skills and knowledge he has acquired over the years.

Craig opened his show with a demonstration playing along to a track, presumably from his enviable session back catalogue (nice to see you took notes, Ellis – Ed) which segued into an unaccompanied solo section with more dings and dongs than a bell foundry. Great stuff!

I’ve always found the drumming bits in clinics, not unsurprisingly, tremendously entertaining, but for me, the real value is in the Q&A sessions. Hopefully, you not only find out the minute details of ‘how-to’ play something, but with the right clinician, ‘how-to’ become a better career drummer, if that is your wont. After the initial shyness and reluctance to be the first hand up, Craig’s enthusiasm and zest had hands shooting up all over the room. All questions were fielded with a sprinkling of jibes (usually at the questioner’s expense!) but also a great double helping of detail and comprehensive explanation. A word of advice, if you do go to one of Craig’s future shows, do not, repeat, DO NOT leave the room while he’s speaking. Not only is it rude, but the ensuing witticisms at your expense will be massively mirth inducing for the rest of us. You have been warned.

I really can’t over emphasize Craig’s infectious eagerness to communicate the skills and knowledge he has acquired over the years. He is a very down to earth bloke and this came across in his show. He interacted well with his audience and gave a lot of sound advice to questions everything from favoured exercises for practise, warm ups and development becoming a session player and ‘being stood in the right place at the right time next to the right person’. As he said, it happened to him, it could happen to any of us. It was all tangible and practical advice that any drummer of any age could relate to and employ to further their career.

Being a successful drummer is not just about being a good player, it’s all about the ‘other’ things that music books often don’t cover, such as the business side which can take up the lion’s share of your working day before you get within spitting distance of a drum kit. Craig told it as it is. A specific highlight was the obligatory ‘How many drummers are here?’ question from Craig, then of course, ‘how many bass players, guitarists etc’. It’s good to see non-drummers attending, so the rest of us knew who to make fun of and beat up in the car park afterwards.

After what seemed like a ritualistic ‘bleeding dry’ of every ounce of knowledge he could possibly impart to an exceedingly receptive audience, with typically hilarious asides, Craig dispensed the prizes as part of the raffle, all of which were generously donated by the drum companies and organisations involved.

This was followed by what I can only describe as one of the true highlights for me in all the years I’ve stood at the back of clinics, agape. The Blundell finale was a 20 minute extravaganza, which would be best described as a ‘Jive Blundy Megamix’ – with astonishing, reworked drumming. It was all in there, classic rock, pop, punk, you name it, beautifully sewn together to underpin some fantastic and cleverly composed drum parts. Heads bobbed along with the beat, a few who were clearly overcome by his ‘Blundellness’ were dancing in the centre aisle, but all were enraptured by the dexterity and sheer entertainment on show.

After nearly 2 hours of drumming, chatting, drumming, joking, falling over, getting up, audience abuse, prize giving and more drumming, Craig resisted the temptation to exit at high speed to his ocean going limo, and stayed available for yet more interrogation, signing of drums, posters, body parts and oversaw brief guided tours of his fabulous Mapex kit

Any worries on Kev’s part about the evening were completely unfounded as it turned out to be a huge success and exceeded everyone’s expectations. The true spirit of drumming and drummers overflowed, Jordan and Jamie gave great performances, and Craig helped them out beforehand giving them advice, which I’m told helped to settle their nerves before show time. The performance they all gave was extraordinary and the feed back I heard from everyone on the night was unanimously ecstatic.

It should also be noted that whilst many drum clinics go hand in hand with local music stores, manufacturers, suppliers et al, there is sometimes a underlying agenda of ‘selling’ at events. The sponsors presence and ‘big up’ time was quite low key on the night, quite the opposite to their generosity. All who backed the show with mentions and publicity Rhythm, Drummer, Promote-Your-Band and mikedolbear.com sent along boxes full of goodies, as did Mapex, The Music Shipping Company (Aquarian), Protection Racket, Quick Sticks and Intime Percussion (BigDog). Everyone who paid the paltry £2.50 to get in went away with free copies of Drummer and Rhythm, what seemed like hundreds of stickers and posters and some lucky punters even had new t-shirts to try on! The raffle sent some extra double top go-and-see-Matron-for-some-extra-tuck special happy blimey yes drummers away with Aquarian drumhead packs, BigDog stick bags and one dazed looking feller was heavier to the tune of a Mapex Black Panther snare! Special thanks, while we’re at it should go to Richard who has very kindly agreed to donate the use of the Queens Hall for future events that Kev arranges.

This was the first of what hopefully will be many more events organised by Kev and his team. It was great to see the support they got from the suppliers and publications who could have as easily ‘sniffed’, “We’ll see how the first one goes” before committing to “give aways” at their expense. However, a success it most definitely was and all being well, September will see another event with another big, UK drumming name. Watch this space.

Mike Ellis