How a year travels by so fast...

 

Last weekend (24/25 July), we showed off a bunch of Sleishman gear to drummers from all over Australia at the annual ‘Australia’s Ultimate Drummers Weekend’, held by our exclusive Melbourne dealer, Drumtek.

 

The weekend has become somewhat of an institution. The show has been running for 18 years now and is a total credit to its organizers.

 

Drumtek founder, Frank Corniola, Drumtek manager, Ray Deegan and their team have produced yet another successful, sold out event that ran with ease.

 

Drummers from all over were entertained by the best in the business at the Darebin Arts & Entertainment Centre.

Steve Smith, Derek Roddy, Rick Latham, Michael Barker, Pete Lockett, Graham Morgan, Grant Collins and Rich Lackowski were all on centre stage to deal out rhythm and inspiration in spades to the drum audience who certainly received their fill over the two days.

 

Steve Smith, Rick Latham, Derek Roddy and Pete Lockett also ran detailed workshops for the keener students.

 

Not only was there two days worth of drum clinics, Drumtek and the Australian Drumscene magazine also hosted the 2010 ‘Best Up And Coming Drummer Competitions’.

 

It’s a non-stop weekend of drums… no matter how you look at it!

 

We set up our booth in the main expo room on the Friday and it was great to see another two Australian drum manufacturers showing their drums as well.

 

Brady drums from Western Australia had a beautiful array of Australian kits and snares. Metro Drum Co (Queensland) was also represented with a number of excellent hand crafted snare drums.

 

Our stand comprised of three Omega Series maple kits- Ebony Fade Rock (black powder coated hardware), Ocean Fade Rock and a Tobacco Fade Fusion set up.

Omega Series Maple- Ebony To Natural (black powder coated hardware)

 

Deep Ocean Fade (Notice the Tobacco Fade 12" on the left with out the top head... free floating all the way!)

Omega Series Tobacco Fade Fusion Kit (Minus the 12" Tom) Looking good!

 

In the open, wooden floored, high ceiling ballroom, these kits just sang!

 

Our snare array consisted of a wide variety of timbers. We brought a 13x7 Blackwood Stave/Jarrah Hoop number (sold already to our European distributor, but we just had to show it off!), a 14x5 Spotted Gum Ply that was nice and bright; yet full of resonance, a 14x5 Ironbark Ply… seriously sensitive, a 14x5 Purple Heart stave with die cast hoops… it’s just a cracking bright drum!

 

We also showed an Omega Series 14x6.5 maple ply snare. It has just about every character you need from a good snare, so we thought we had covered enough snare ground with these babies.

Snare Selection (Spotted Gum 14x5, Purple Heart 14x5, Omega 14x6.5, Ironbark 14x5)

As always, we had twin pedals on the demo kit and out front on a practice pad.

 

The show attendance was great on both days. Both Sleishman craftsman, and myself Louis Rosin were ran off our feet talking to drummers about all that we do.

 

Each exhibitor had performance times on both days for fifteen minutes a day. I took the opportunity to do a little playing and get on the mic (not exactly my comfort zone), in order to demonstrate the BIG difference between our drums and everybody else’s.

 

It’s always daunting to perform in front of a crowd of fellow drummers, but you just go for it and hope for the best. I am fortunate enough to have had an outstanding set of drums to play on though… the Ebony Fade Omega.

 

Last year, the performance ended up being a duet between Don and myself, but as he was busy with gigs all weekend… it was just me on my lonesome this time… Thanks Dad.!

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/sleishdrum#p/u/3/wKSz_1p6w-0

 

Maybe we’ll reprise the duet next year…

 

I think there is some video from this years event. We’ll get that up as soon as it’s edited.

 

As the expo doubled as a sale for the weekend, we were very pleased to equip a good deal of players with new Sleishman kits, snares and pedals. It’s always a buzz to meet your customers face to face and to see new comers switched on to our sound as soon as they hear the drums or feel the pedals : )

 

The feedback was brilliant.

A big thanks to Sabian for providing us with three sets of killer cymbals for the weekend as well. We had two HHX Evolution packs and one AAX Rock Pack. Sounded brilliant... just like their finish

We also used a Kickport on the demo Ebony kit. Very nice indeed and we recommend them to guys if they want more bottom end from any bass drum. They make ours sound even more deadly!

We also used Puresound snare wires on all custom snares. We like the 'Blaster' series and the 'Equalizers'.

Louis and I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend of demonstrating, drumming and catching up with friends that although it’s technically ‘work’, we love every minute of it!

 

Bring on AUDW 2011. If you can get along to the event… do it!

 

 

David Sleishman & A Very Happy (see photo below) Louis Rosin