We’ve been doing this for sometime now…

The Sleishman Drum Company is an Australian based business, founded in 1971 by Don Sleishman, inventor and drum manufacturing pioneer.

They say that necessity is the mother of invention… true words indeed.

1968 Sleishman invented and developed the worlds first ‘Twin Pedal’ for drummers.

Don’s initial idea for a twin pedal for one bass drum first came along when he noticed a good friend of his could do great nerve rolls with both feet. Don’s first thought after seeing this amazing, natural technique was ‘Hey… you have to get into playing double bass drums!’

This friend of Don’s also had a disability, which meant that carrying 2 bass drums around was really not an option. So, the seed was sewn. There was that classic light bulb moment ‘two pedals on one drum then’.

Off to work the inventor went…

Big Band legend, Louie Belson’s famous double bass set up was an inspiration for Don as he designed and built early prototypes. The natural positioning for Don was to place the drummer in the centre of the pedals, therefore the drum kit. Quite different when you think of double kick pedals of today, but logical when you picture actual double bass drum set ups.

 

This radical new design took plenty of local and international drummers by surprise and it was decided by Don and his early business partners to produce and market a brand new concept to the drumming world.

With hands and feet directly in line with each other, along with a central position at the drum set, a real balance was felt by those open to Don’s new idea.

1971  saw the Sleishman Twin pedal patented, produced and commercially marketed.

There was no denying it,the pedals established the Sleishman brand as unique and innovative.

 Drums

Don was not going to stop inventing at the pedal though…

As a natural tinkerer, with a love of drum sound, engineering and finding a better way, Don was always working on his drums (various Rogers, Ludwig and Premier kits), to improve their sound.

Working as a professional drummer six nights a week in Sydney, Australia during the seventies, afforded Don the time of a day to work on his and other drummers set ups to improve their sound. The big two improvements came from bearing edge re work on either out of round or damaged drums and stripping shells of their pvc wrap – cleaning them up and lacquering them they look great as well.

Another ‘light bulb moment’

1978 saw the vey first Sleishman free floating drum tuning system invented and applied to the acoustic drum set.

After stripping down one of these tom shells, Don balanced the shell from the inside on his index finger and tapped it. He heard a nice tone that sustained.

With no lugs, bolts or fittings on the shell, it was resonating freely.

In thinking about how great that tone of the shell was, combined with it’s resonance, Don immediately thought about how this could be transferred into the tuneable drum…

 

The benefits of this new design by Don were immediate and quite noticeable. The drums had just so much more tone, resonance and well… life!

1979 Patent for the drum tuning system was first granted. It was a two ring system known as ‘Sleishman Total Suspension Drums’. Don began by converting existing drums over to this new tuning system.

1981 Trading as ‘Sleishman Innovations’ the first drum sets were sold locally and internationally. By the mid 80’s don had gained a solid reputation within Sydney, Australia for creating drums of unique and truly great sounds.

– Early 80’s Modern Drummer advert for Don Sleishman’s new suspended shell drum.

Reso Springs

1983 Saw another first by Sleishman ‘Floor Tom Resonator Springs’  were added to the drums. Further improving floor tom resonance and tone, these springs have become a staple part of our drum kit’s.

1991 saw Sleishman begin a new partnership company. The company moved to larger factory premises and as a true indication that Don was very much on the right track with his drum sound, one of Australia’s most talented drummers, David Jones became the major endorsee of the company.

By the mid 90’s Sleishman was making plenty of custom drums. Word was out.

1995. The decision was made to take out new patents on this improved system. The system was further developed and patent was granted. Don had found that by having the drum in a complete suspended state.

The same year, Roger Taylor (drummer/song writer with the band Queen) was introduced to Sleishman drums in the UK and after hearing in person, Roger ordered a set to be built by Don immediately.

Roger went on to use his Sleishman drums to record the last Queen album with Freddie Mercury on vocals ‘Made In Heaven’.

Queen would later collaborate with writer/comedian Ben Elton to produce ‘We Will Rock You’ the musical. Sleishman of course supplied the drum set for the Australian season.

By the late nineties/early 2000’s, plenty of well known Aussie drummers were playing Sleishman. Steve Prestwich (Cold Chisel), Tony Floyd (Things Of Stone & Wood, Men At Work, Black Sorrows), Mickl Sayers (Screaming Jets) were all converted to ‘The Sleishman Sound’

 

2001 Sleishman decided to re develop it’s original invention – The Twin Pedal.

2002 – Will Calhoun of the US based band ‘Living Colour’, meets Don whilst touring Australia with the project ‘Jungle Funk’. After trying one of Don’s updated twin pedals, Will immediately orders a set and becomes a Sleishman Twin Pedal artist.

 

2002-03 Sleishman applies new patents to the re developed Twin Pedal.

2004 – New Twin pedal Patent Granted and work begins on new production model!!!

2005 – David Sleishman, son of Don Sleishman takes over running the day to day operations of the Sleishman drum company.

2006 – First new production run of the Twin Pedal completed. Sleishman begin distributing pedals within Australia and internationally

–       Big Bang Distribution USA signs up as the first US based distributor for the Twin Pedal and immediately orders.

2007 – Sleishman shows at the NAMM trade show in Anaheim for the first time in 10 years.

–       US dealers take on the Sleishman pedal in increased quantities

2008 – Sleishman begin to sell custom drums on mainland USA after a second consecutive NAMM show.

2009 – A new, mid range, high quality model of drum is developed ‘The Omega Series’. This move is aimed at gaining brand growth along with higher market share.

– Sleishman Europe is formed and product is sold via distribution in The Netherlands.

2010 – Sleishman drum products are distributed in the USA by ‘Sleishman USA’ LLC. A partnership between Marcus Vee Hinder and Suchada Chantarachot. This is a two year agreement.

–       The first Omega Series production is completed and is distributed throughout Australia, USA, Europe and Asia.

2011 – Sleishman & Sleishman USA joint show at NAMM trade show.

–       Due to a brand/patent licensing dispute, Sleishman and Sleishman USA agree to part ways as of March 2012.

–       Sleishman USA continues to trade up until this time.

–       Sleishman begins planning for a new US distribution model with Michael Turner and Lee Griffin

2012 – Sleishman begins production on new ‘Omega Series’.

–       Existing Sleishman USA agreement expires.

–       New agreement for USA distribution is signed and new Sleishman LLC is formed.