Back in 2008, long before I ever owned an HD video camera, Bob Gatzen sent me a whole box full of Evans EC series drumheads to try out on my studio kit.
That gift turned into a test drive video that used to be on my YouTube channel.
It’s fun for me to look at this video and see how much my studio has changed & grown over the last 13-or-so years. (Recognize that old Akai MPC in the background?) It’s also a bit of a revelation to see how much much playing has improved and changed over so many years.
If you’re unfamiliar with Bob Gatzen, he was a drummer and an innovative drum product designer who made a couple of incredible drum tuning videos back in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. (Just Google “Bob Gatzen Drummer” and take a trip down that rabbit hole.)
Because of personal & health reasons, Bob essentially disappeared off of the worldwide drum scene several years ago. And, since personalities and information on the Internet change at the speed of light these days, much of Bob’s work has moved to the proverbial bottom shelf. But his influence and innovations continue to find themselves useful to scores of drummer worldwide to this day.
I wanted to put this older video up publicly here on the blog as a bit of a tribute to Bob and as a reminder to me of how far I’ve come since this video was shot. I hope you enjoy it and get something valuable out of it.