 Welcome to the drum history podcast. I'm your host Bart van der Zee and today is all about GMS drums I'm joined by Rob Mazzella and Tony Galino Rob and Tony. How are you guys? Hey, how you doing Bart? We're good. Good Bart How are you man? Good? Thanks for being here. So, uh GMS is a drum brand that I have just always I've never actually played a drum set or a snare, but I've seen GMS Everywhere, I mean very famous bands. It's just Regarded as one of like the best drum brands in the world and it's very I feel like you guys are kind of want to kind of an early Boutique drum brand like that that boutique term sort of blew up obviously in the you know 2000s, but you guys been doing it for a long time over 30 years. So Why don't we go back to the beginning and Rob, why don't you take it away? All right In the beginning we started in 1987 and I it was it was really kind of innocent and We had both Tony and I had Mutual friend who owned a drum store in Long Island in Queens called the Long Island drum center and his name is Tony Fabiano and What my history was working on some I was a machinist by trade and I was I was Making some parts for drums and I always brought them into the store And I would show Tony Fabiano these parts and he always told me he said you got to meet this guy Tony Galino because he works on drums and I never really the thought never crossed my mind of to what this was gonna wind up being It was just an innocent, you know Wow, I'd like to meet this guy and then one day we were both in the store and Tony Fabiano introduced us and We just hit it off and I wound up going over Tony's house and he said he had some plans on on Some parts he wanted made and and I looked at it and he as he's talking I'm like this could be kind of fun and you know, it's not a matter of just making some parts and putting a drum together I said this could be a business actually and We just started doing it and then One thing led to another and then Tony Fabiano actually sold the first drum for us and Wow, we didn't really even realize that there was a market out there was more for fun and That's the way it started. So that's fascinating. So it was a different you said that was in the 80s, right? Yeah, 1987 was a year. Okay. So that was obviously a different time for drums. Were you guys making kind of like? Similar kits that you've always made or where I mean that was like power toms and double bass and hair metal Well, it was typical of the era, you know deep toms, you know, the bass drums were getting longer. Oh god, don't get me started but You know It was yeah, it was the time. I mean snare drums too. We were doing snare drums probably first Yeah, you know But yeah, of the time if you look back on You know some of the pictures and stuff it's I'm like, oh my god, we actually did this, you know You're making these deep toms. I can't tell you how many times now like to this day where I get people say I need you to cut my drums down and And I do, you know, why not? Yeah, seems pretty obvious now, but so GMS. I get the Galino Mazzella, what is the S? What does GMS stand for? Why don't you tell us that? Well, there was there was an S and He was actually my neighbor he was older, you know, he was probably like my father's age, you know But he was a drummer like in the day, you know in the 30s or 40s or whatever and You know, he was He was an interesting character, but you know, he was he was involved kind of in the beginning Okay, but that's a that's a long time ago. Now you guys Like I think I started noticing GMS drums. I was a kid. I was born in 90, but So I started noticing you guys though like in the music videos for a lot of like Like I guess you would call them 90s bands like STP. Yeah, so so you guys had some serious Artists on your roster. How did you go about getting these people? I mean you from starting out with, you know, pretty modest Beginnings, how did it grow? That kind of grew organically And really I think one of the big there were a couple big catalysts actually There was an association we had one of our first artists was a guy named Mark Zander out in In California and he had who's at a band called fates warning but he also owned a rehearsal studio called bills place and Stone Table Pilots was rehearsing at bills place and they played on Mark's drums and Eric He loved them and he set up his first meeting with us on on their first tour And they were in New York and he took the train out to Long Island from New York City and we've been friends ever since and That's one of the relationships that you know, I guess it's one of our longest You know so another thing that kind of springboarded us into artists and Kind of more worldwide recognition was around. I think it was 1990 we We formed an association and a business partnership with Pistey symbols the Pistey symbol company and they started Distributing us Worldwide really so that really blew us up and and gave us a lot of Worldwide attention. How does that work? How does Pistey help distribute with a drum? So would it just be like if if a store carries Pistey, then they likely will then carry GMS or I've never heard of that It's it was a little complicated in some ways but in other ways it was again kind of innocent the guy who was running Pistey at the time was Eric Pistey or still is but Eric saw something in us That was unique and that bar you got to understand the time what we were doing was unique it wasn't what it is today and You had you had companies like your Ludwigs and pearls and Tamas and They were all over the place, but they were very stock and there was nothing To set them apart from besides each other and when we came in we was we were doing things like matching Custom colors and custom sizes and it was very exciting and Pistey saw what we were doing We got through to Eric through some one of his actual employees saw us and and recommended it and we met and It was just kind of happened real quick. He saw what we were doing He says, you know, I'd like to be part of this and and that's how that started man. That's interesting. I feel like That's what it takes is is getting That little extra help from somebody else You know what I mean to just get that that jump forward and and I think drums are really The word of mouth goes a long way because I mean you guys Obviously to this day have a very big roster of drummers who who appreciate the quality of everything you do So I think people see that and go, you know, this is apparent and I your snares are of note I feel like a lot of people really like your snare drums as well So it's just a tension to detail, you know, I always say it's not rocket science. Yeah, they work. Yeah Yeah, very quality stuff I know I've I've picked up and held a couple GMS snares at various stores and It just feels like very high quality stuff So, okay, so you start in the 80s you go through the 90s Obviously a lot of people are playing them people seen stone temple pilots, you know on on MTV using GMS drums That's gotta be a huge boost in sales Did you guys get overwhelmed at that phase at all or what's your what's your shop like? Why don't you tell us about that like how is the production line? How does all that work? well that It did it blew up real fast and when we first started we both kind of quit our jobs and jumped into it and We started in a small shop with you know, one or two guys helping us and Through the Pisces connection it just kind of snowballed because now we go from a small shop getting a couple orders here and there to a whole sales team going out and and selling the product for us and They were able to make associations with stores and So it blew up real fast and we went from a small shop in Hicksville Long Island to a larger shop in Farmingdale and that's that's the shop We had for the longest time. How many employees do you guys have? I mean these are your hand-making all of these drums right like each drum set is put together by by a person here in Long Island, right? Yeah, so at the time Let's I guess to make it relevant to as opposed to what it is now But at the time like in the mid 90s when you know, I would say that was was a peak I would say we have about eight or nine employees So and we were putting out one or two kits a day. So it was a good it was a good flow. Wow. Yeah Which I mean like it's so funny to think compared to like, you know pearl or something like that's the difference I think with it with a company like you where one or two kits a day They're they're beautifully handcrafted put together drum sets Versus a company that's spitting out thousands a day. So I think that's what the attention to details What people noticed like Tony was saying now, do you guys make your shells or what what do you use for shells? No, we don't we've always used Keller. Oh nice. Okay shells, you know because to gear up to make your shells You know, it's a multi-million dollar. Yeah endeavor. Yeah And you know, why? Because you might as well get someone who knows what they're doing who makes a quality product You know, even at that time I have to believe the only people that were making Their own shells were the Asian companies. Yeah, the Japanese companies You know the pearls the Tamas and things like that and the Yamaha's and who even I don't even really know for sure Yeah, but any of the the smaller American guys, you know, everybody was using Keller There was another company called Jasper here at a business, you know So you didn't have a lot of choices really unless you wanted to make your own but you know, I'm diverting here Yes, you know, we don't make our own shells. No, and I think It's interesting because so I had Justin Owen on we did an episode about Keller shells a while back And and I just think that Keller I don't want to say it got a bad reputation Because I think that there was that such a boom of like there was all these boutique drum sets that came out in the mid 2000s and I bought one I have one not gonna name a brand but it's Keller shells and it sounds amazing and Keller Makes great stuff. Yeah, you're fantastic. You know, they did get a bad rap because everybody, you know But it's and leave that to the drum for yeah, I mean, you know once that came about every so Just another set of killer shells. I'll stop You know, what people just don't know what they're talking about, right? But if you let me Elaborate on what Tony said and he's cut and he's right in a way. It became a thing where There was articles of separation the drum business turned into a Lot of people now doing what we started doing when we started doing it there weren't a lot of people That were doing Making custom drums, but through Keller I think what Keller did in a way They went into a distribution of their shells which made it available to more people Well, we first started doing it. We had to deal with Keller We had certain amount of quantity we had a buy We had so it was there was a hurdle to get over to actually doing what we did But when Keller started distributing their cell shells through small Companies where people could just buy one Then you started seeing a lot of people become drum companies So now all of a sudden they were it went from just one or two or three or four to Dozens to hundreds which I believe today that probably are so yeah if that helped with a little of the history of That no it absolutely does because I know I had a misconception With Keller about it being like Keller spits out Million of the same drum shell, but I didn't realize that no they actually like like let's say I think it was gratch or at some point They want the shell to be like this with this man applies and this like their custom shells being made From Keller so you can get your own mold and I've bought through one of the websites like a Keller shell And I put together my own snare and it was not If if I saw him with the snare that I built I wouldn't have bought it if that makes sense I would have been like well that looks cheap and crappy so Yeah, and and I think people can go listen to that episode, but it's funny because you said like the like Jasper went out of business It's a tough business, but I know Keller. I didn't really realize that they make Tons of stuff. They make like building stuff. He said they made like platform shoes I mean they make like everything so well, it's a big company Yeah, they got five divisions Exactly Wow Anywho this isn't about Kelly, but I know but would you guys say that all right? So let's take just kind of a little bit about the the climate when you started with other custom drum builders like you said there was There was Tama there was Pearl there was Ludwig Who else was doing sort of what you guys did because it had to be just a if if anyone a couple other Companies well basically for if you really think about was us noble and Cooley Joe Montaneri and Billy a pork pie. Okay Yeah, those are some great. That's great company. We and and we all Started about the same time. No one Cooley was earlier Sure, because I remember that I remember when I was starting to just fool around with stuff I took notice of them Montaneri was doing a little early, but us and Billy over at pork pie was exact same time Yeah, cuz I it's funny you said it cuz I also equate like like pork pie I equate him to seem like old Primus music videos Exactly yeah herb yeah So so it was a really neat time I think obviously it seems like that was a cool Moment in time for you guys are a part of something special, you know, it's you know, it's not like that anymore We were all very friendly, you know I yeah, it's still to this day, you know We you know, I I called I called J. J. I'll call J. Jones over it. No J I'm in a bind. You have like a 16 by 16 shell and he'll send it to me, you know, it's like that But that's just that core. I call, you know almost it You know to to borrow another term was like the core for you know, if you're baseball fan You know what I'm talking about with the Yankees. They called him the core for was the the players anyway It was just you know still to this day. I have great relationships with all those people That's great and part of it might be too that it was pre social media pre cell phone. It was pre it was all It's a little bit more It was just different, you know, it's a totally different world. Where would your main market be? I mean, do you distribute and sell like Globally or do you find that the America is pretty much your biggest point of you know drummers? It's hard to say. I guess you would yes America is our biggest core. We've had a lot of sales in Europe Canada so it's those were I think our biggest Markets, you know, we had a we have we still have a distributor in Switzerland who sells a lot of stuff sticks music Lionel, he sells a lot of stuff for us still to this day. So it's you know, it's I would say those are our major markets. Cool. Now people can obviously They can still buy GMS stuff What is the best way for people to do that if they want to you know, go out and I mean, it's still a boutique brand So are you in like guitar centers and stuff or is that kind of just a luck luck thing that you might find a Kit there or should they just go through the website? The that that section of the business has changed tremendously and it was a time where where that's all we did was sell directly to stores But that has flip-flop Tremendously today. I would say our sales are direct. Okay. So if somebody calls us and They want to order a kit. That's the way we handle it on a custom Per order basis. Nice. That's awesome I feel like the whole world has kind of changed as all of the big box stores are Struggling across the world. So yeah, I'm sure that's That's just the way it goes The music business has changed and you know, we were very fortunate to hit it when we did and I would say that was the last Of the of the heyday of the drum business. It was a lot. It was very exciting time there was a there was a lot of great things going on and I think it's all changed today because I think the musician has changed today when we used to make drums We did we actually did a lot of concert snare drums for orchestras. It was that was a business and that was that was it I guess a prideful thing to be an orchestral percussionist and it was a it was a job, you know, they they they really wanted to be a Drummer, yeah, and that's changed now because I don't really see that anymore, you know where it's a career, huh? That's interesting. I wouldn't and I wouldn't really think of that But you know, I know with a lot of drum companies That's something that I'm not involved in that world and I sometimes forget that it's like, oh, yeah That's a massive part of the drum industry even marching something. I was never I didn't go that route growing up I mean god, of course, that's a huge Source of revenue for a lot of companies. So yeah, that's that's interesting that that that you're not seeing as much of that now It is well, not anymore, you know, it's You know, you have to be You got to get you got to be lucky, you know, I mean, but that's always that's always been but now more than ever You got to be lucky to have a gig, you know, I Can't tell you how many people I know I mean like guys who are really fine players Looking for gigs because they're not out there. Yeah, and you know, forget about, you know It's like you say well, I'm a session drum out. I'll stop give me a break because there's everybody's a session drummer now Because they everybody can record at home. You know what I'm talking about as much as we love the technology It's actually destroyed the business. Yeah, I can speak to that a little bit from a from a Obviously from a drummer standpoint, but mainly from working as an audio engineer for my day job Oh, yeah, it's just made it absolutely and honestly, too The big thing that I've noticed is a lot of voiceover talent, which this isn't even drum related But I think it's interesting a lot of voiceover talent. Absolutely. They can record themselves at home So the need to go and then they use these things called like voices one two three Where you pay 200 bucks you call in you connect to them They're at home. They record the voice over which is for your companies, you know explainer video So that business has gone away Well drummers can everyone can track at home. It's just different. Yeah, I have a good friend who had three main rooms In New York City, you know, I mean large ones. He had one of the old hit factories and He he always he po he pointed to 9-11. He says after 9-11 and I think it's just coincidental. He says, you know The bottom fell out. It just fell out. He says he went from like, you know a two million dollar a year He goes to 700,000. He goes and then it was gone. Well, look in New York. What's left? Are there it was what's left, you know avatars now part of part of Berkeley, right? I mean there there are no there are very little very few studios in one of you know in what was a music capital Yeah, really so that goes that goes to the to the point of like why we were making the Instruments that we did because we kind of felt that we were making them for the people who wanted the the quality to be above what the what the The the general brands were doing and that's what separated us at the time where the our sound quality was better Our construction was better So the choices of colors and sizes Were tailored to the player. So that was a different thing than just Just kind of mass producing things. Yeah, that's interesting. So what in the world of boutique drums? What does make you guys stand out which obviously has been probably one of the factors that's made you be Be able to stay alive for so long. What makes gms different? I think it was the the custom factor the the fact that These drums turned out to be a sum of the parts that made them sound so good and look so good And we did a lot of things that were Not done at the time like I remember we were starting to spray lacquers and Use different kinds of paints and finishes and we were able to spray chrome flakes with Opaque color or translucent colors over them So they would really pop and shine and it really I remember being one of the first companies out there that was doing that But also I think one of the the things that stands out to me tone and you could you could jump in if you want The revolution snare drum was something else. It was something that nobody's ever done before and It was a wooden wood shell And we sprayed metal inside it and that metal was either brass a bronze We had a steel Copper aluminum. Yeah. Yep copper aluminum But we have these different metals that we were able to spray inside and it gave each one a different sound Hmm, man, that's it was called a revolution snare drum. That's fascinating man. So you would just get like Liquified metal basically then and just apply it like that like a paint Well, it's a process, you know, it's a whole process. It's actually powdered and You know, it has you have to put it in a vehicle to actually Get it on I mean there it's it's pretty wild because it actually is metal, you know When you come down to when you first sprayed it looks like hell, you know It looks like camouflage paint or something but you have to sand it and scrape it and buff it and And then it's it's metal. It's cold to the touch the whole bit man, so clearly you guys do some things to You know Innovate does anyone else did some did anyone else kind of steal your idea or are you the only people to really do that? I I haven't seen it. I don't think anybody's figured it out Until this well, I've seen I've seen over the years that some people try to take an actual piece of metal Like a sheet of metal and put it inside to give it a different reflective sound But nobody's ever sprayed it and made it a part of the shell. Well, that's awesome You guys can can do that and make things so so innovative. Yeah, but our minds were always go and it and all these different things that Would would pop up. I mean if I if you don't mind, I'd like to just say one more We were working with one of the guys in our shop was Pete Levine and he had a concept too Which we wound up calling a pvs snare drum, which was a perimeter venting system and we actually had There were no holes on the outside of the shell For the air to escape But we and we had the holes come out through the bottom bearing edge and escape that way Yeah, but but they were they were holes on on the side, but it didn't go Yeah, just a sorry to clarify it didn't go out through holes in the shell the holes were in the bay are in the Bearing edge and then they go out to the through the shell they come go through the bearing edge first and then out It's a cheese, you know, they'll think it's like there was really you need and it's a great great drum Sensitive it's got it's just a really it's got a lot of impact almost like it almost like it's almost like a compressed sound Right that whole column of air comes down and doesn't escape until it it actually just uses the whole bottom head Right and then escapes man. I didn't know any of that. I didn't know I knew your snares were very You know well-known and a lot of people really love them But Clearly you guys are doing you're not just like complacent with okay We've got a snare that people like which I think is is a great thing so you got to always move forward and If you're not growing and moving forward, then you're you know, you're not moving at all You're going nowhere. So so that's true, but it's it's it's hard to you know Sometimes things just happen or somebody does something like Rob said with Pete, you know, I said wow, this is really cool Because it's a it's a drum, you know, it's just so much you can do with it. Yeah, but Sometimes it's a happy accidents You know, you just don't know yeah Yeah, absolutely, and I didn't really say it before but it So I love I've always really liked your badge. I feel like it's it's pretty simple but I've just always liked it, you know what I mean, it's it's very I Feel like timeless and and it sticks out So I think that's something that that that should be noted It's you know, I can always see it You can you can read it from the other side of the room and know what kind of drums they are which is really cool So that's that's Tony. That's Tony's concept. It's awesome. Yeah, let's just you know, the logo is simple Everything is simple, but it's it's it's pretty much unmistakable. Well, it's funny thing. I was watching a Miles Davis You know, it was like a documentary on Miles Davis. Yeah, and there's a shot from a Montreux concert in 91 I think it was his last concert and it's a GMS drum kit in there. I didn't tell you that Wow I forgot. No, and it must have been you know, well at that time, you know It's either pasty or Lionel one of the Swiss connections because it was in Montreux and I was like, oh my god Look at that. I would say it was it was it was blew my mind. I couldn't believe it That's awesome. I watched that. I saw that documentary that was good I'll have to I'll have to go back and watch that I was it's at the end, you know, cuz it was yeah, so you know what I'm talking about. Yeah, I do exactly I was more focused on on him and his recovery and his health and all that Oh, absolutely. Yeah, me too. But you know, I happen to see it because I of course the logo stuck out I saw it immediately. Oh my god. Wow. That's so cool. I'm sure you never get used to seeing your drums on Huge stages with mega drummers. That's got to never get old The bet the funniest thing was the first time we ever saw him on TV. You remember that Rob? Oh, yeah, it was uh Yeah, here. This is a throwback Johnny Carson. That's how old it goes. Wow, and it was it was a Some Russian Dixieland band Of course on course, I actually have that somewhere. I'll have to find it. That's awesome. Cool, man, you guys made it on Carson. That's huge Well, I'll tell you how old we are Yeah, we're old. Now you guys are great. This is this is awesome Now what would you guys recommend to people? I'm not saying this in a way to like let's get some more competition out there But do you think there's room right now like you don't see too many? Brand brand new drum companies that pop up that can last for there's a couple that have been around for a while But a lot of them come in and then they go away Would you say to people who are thinking I want to get into drum building? There's no hope kid Don't worry about it. Just go home or would you say? You know, what advice would you give to someone who has an interest in building drums? What I would say. Yeah, it's it's hard because It depends on the person and what they want to accomplish It depends on the level of what they think the drum business should be for them If it's I could tell you that it what it's going to be is is a one-off operation That's gonna you're gonna sell a little bit here and a little bit there And a lot of guys are very capable and can make some quality stuff, but Can it support your family? Can it can it support? You know Employees that's a whole different thing. So it really depends on what they want to do and the I think the reason why they don't last that long is because you don't have that constant cash flow coming in and Eventually it catches up to you and and you can't yeah, you can't operate. So do it for fun more than right a millionaire, right? well You're not getting rich in this business. I'm at least I don't think so I mean unless you know, you're made you have a major funding and Distribution, but I think that's as we said before that's all changed the thing is Making drums is not hard, you know as as a concept. All right Yeah, but what we bring to the table and it's a lot of times guys will come to me and they say Oh, I want I need like this. I want a fat sounding snare drum I bought like an 8 by 14 or something like that and I owe it and it's come to the point that my relationship with a lot of guys is Now they'll say I want this sound and they'll just leave it at that because they trust that I have The expertise and the experience to make them what they want You know because the people sure most people they read so much on the internet and they as with anything You know, there's too much information and most of it's wrong. Yeah, absolutely You know, it's like Dylan Dylan will say I need this. Okay, great And that's it. He'll just leave it at that and and then I'll make him a drum He says it you nailed it Just be I've done I how many drums have I made? I mean even just me personally. Yeah, yes thousands Tony has I would say almost literally touched every drum that's ever come out of there Hmm. And yeah, which is great. I mean that doesn't happen with other companies I don't think there's a more qualified drum technician in the world that this guy Whatever like what he just said what whatever they tell him he makes it if they will have a certain sound on their head He makes it happen and he knows what he's you know, he knows what he's doing Well, I asked the right questions to us. All right. What do you want it to sound? You know, okay. All right Then fine. Just I said just leave it to me and I'll take it from there You know, tell me what you think you want, but don't tell me how to make it. Yeah, sure And it's not an it's not an arrogance, you know, but you know, Rob knows me and you obviously don't but you know It's it's pretty comical at times because People say and they just look at my face and I go good here we go again Yeah, so that's funny, but but but that's that's part of the relationships that that you know, we have You know with customers I I call them clients. Yeah, you know, we have clients You know the guys who always come back, you know, I have one guy out in the Midwest and he's he's hysterical You make anything new recently I said come on Mike What do you want me to do? I said and he'll always say well, I need something like this and he goes I know I know I'm not gonna say anything else. You'll just make it for me and I'll be very happy He's learned, you know, it works. Yeah If someone were to come to you and say hey, I want a snare drum How do you like people to come to you with like what what's use some give us an example What would they would say to you to get a particular? Okay, you know, I if they said, you know, I want something like really fat, you know You know like, you know a lot of just meat and potatoes I can understand that and then I can recommend something from that If they want something like really cranked up and that's a whole nother thing Oh, and there's a common to I believe there's a common misconception people think a deep snare drum is gonna give you that fat sound And it's it's totally wrong. It's the other way around if you want to get something that's really fat You got to go narrow you got to go shallower You know it because the chamber is just too big sometimes and it just doesn't translate and it why I don't know I can't answer that. I just know that what works Yeah, you know bearing edge choices, you know the amount of lugs the number of lugs on the drum The more lugs you put on the drum It doesn't it becomes a hard feel it doesn't have any gush that has no Meat, I mean personally, I I can't touch anything over eight lugs. I go crazy It just feels like a table to me more lugs and this is something I've always like I understand it But I want to hear it from like an expert Such as yourself. So can you explain in a little more detail the lug Situation like if you have tense so more lugs equals What's a hard it's a harder feel it's a harder feel and why I don't know maybe because there's more things They're adding tension to the head. Yeah, like I said, I'm not scientific about this I just know that the first time I made it a drum, you know When we first started out every snare drum had 10 lugs unless it was like a 13 but like a 14 inch snare drum They all had 10 lugs Okay, yeah, I made one with eight and I went. Oh my god. What the hell is that? I couldn't believe the difference in the sound the pitch the feel it was like It was an epiphany. I just couldn't it blew my mind and the funny thing was I remember what I bought that drum to name that year and a dealer from the Midwest who was also fine drummer He hid it and he and he looked at me and went what the hell is that and it was just an eight lug drum With a little, you know, it wasn't a sharp a bearing edge. What but it was just it was and Then you know, I I realized that there were a lot of eight lug drums out there, you know life in the 50s to see Sure, you know, whatever realized that, you know, they've been doing this for years and I just figured it out You know, it was just one of those things and but you know to me there's a there's a softer feel, you know, it has a little more give in the head and It could tune it tension wise the same as like a 10 lug drum, but it'll have a lower pitch. Gotcha. That's again Scientifically, I can't tell you why physically with the physics of it. I don't know Well, I think sometimes when things are too scientific, you know, it's not it doesn't translate that well You could say like on paper it's supposed to be like this But a lot of times it's like well, that doesn't feel the way it's supposed to you know, well, you know lock everything to a grid Exactly there you go. That's a good. That's a great analogy because again in the studio everything is very tight and by lock it to the grid He's talking about using it dead onto a metronome if you're recording drums and well if it's day if it's dance music You know, I get it. Yes, exactly But it loses that feel of that kind of swing of course speeds up towards the chorus and And all that stuff so well, that's you can still play to a click and have a good feel absolutely sure But if you beat detective it it's a different subject. Yeah, anyway, we digress. Do you guys have any? Cool stories of you know Someone's you got to make a snare in 20 minutes because they're broke and there's 20,000 people waiting And you know in the audience or anything cool like that not that example, but Any cool stories? I have a lot of them Yeah, I don't know if you heard of the band of spin doctors, but Aaron Comis. Oh, yeah, sure We made a kit for him to use at one of his concerts and we brought it to Jones Beach Theater To use that night. They set it up. They did soundcheck but he kept hearing a buzz in it and All night long and and he actually told us about it. We were really we really wanted to to make Aaron happy and Tony and I we went to we went to the show afterwards We we took the drums back to the shop and we took them completely apart I don't remember what time we we worked on them to like four o'clock in the morning till we figured it out and Actually drove it to the next gig in New Jersey for the next morning And it was just a little buzz coming from a log or something, but well, we just That was a crazy night. Well, that's funny to boot. It was it was about a hundred and ten degrees Oh God, it was in July and out that shop that we our first big shop Was the hottest place it was hotter than hell I mean, I I it still blows my mind to this day how hot it was like a hundred and seven in July Yeah, you know, we're working in this And but we were working in the shop at night. We would oh it's nuts man That's passionate, but that's fun. You know, I mean you can look back. Well, that wasn't fun But you know what we also had another great thing James Brown wanted our kids and that was oh, yeah, that was so much fun So we got a call James Brown was rehearsing in California and at Center staging studios And the owner called me up and he goes Rob. You're never gonna believe this James Brown needs drums for his 40th anniversary Tour he took every drum set here He pulled the bass drum down from every one of them and he hit every one of them and when he got to yours He said that's it. That's what I want and I'm like, whoa Right, so we wound up making him he and we did a custom brown sparkle for him And he had two drummers and we actually delivered them to the Apollo Theater for his 40th anniversary tour We hung out with it. It was so it was mind-blowing. That's unbelievable. Yeah. Oh, yeah, that was something I'll never forget that one. If you don't mind me telling a couple of stories Bart Please do I'm just reminiscing, you know after we talked to the day I was thinking there was another band called Splendor who was playing they were recording their first album up in Bearsville Studios and Todd Rungren was the producer and I got a call from the drummer and He he said you're never gonna believe this he goes They had rented the equipment all from Artie Smith who was a drum technician in New York City And he had a cartage business where he would have drums and amplifiers and But he was mostly known for drums as far as I know and Artie had sent up a GMS kit And he had sent up about 40 snare drums and those snare drums were all kinds of old Leadies and you know, just your classic go-to Gretch snare drums and all kinds of stuff and He made the drummer sit in the room and hit every snare drum and he narrowed it down to two and both of them were ours which That's both you remember that town. Oh, yeah, Artie's collection. I mean I saw Artie's collection. It was Unreal it was unreal. I mean Everything that you could possibly think of, you know stuff that was rare what he had everything that's got to make you feel good I mean, that's like a that's a blind taste test there. I'm sure it wasn't blind But but like I mean both but the fact that it's two of that right goes to show that it's not like a one-off Accident where one was just this amazing drum. That's so cool. Yeah, it was fun. Cool. Any other any other stories? some of the Serial things that have happened not necessarily Because of the drums that we made but because of our position Allowed us to meet people that we would have never thought we would have met One of them that my favorite was like Karl Palmer. Oh, yeah, and I remember yeah But like Karl Palmer start he called us up And I remember one of the guys working for us and this is like when we first started He called us up and and this is through the connection of feisty He called us up and and my friend answered the phone and my friend Brian and goes Rob Karl Palmer's on the phone. I was like what I Never would have guessed right so we we we struck up a conversation and we talked a couple of times and he really had a certain sound that he wanted or he had some ideas and so We never Materialized anything out of it, but I wound up running into him at a concert At Jones Beach and they were opening up for a Jeff Hotel I think and he had his drum set set up and I went over and said hi to him and he was all excited. He's like Rob Rob Gotta check it out got to see my the drum I'm telling you about and he brings me out on stage now the audience is packed They still had the cover over the drum set he picks up the cover and Karl and I are We're crawling on the floor underneath his this tarp and looking at his drums from underneath And I'm just like looking over at him like you would in a million years I would have never guessed I'd be with one of these drum guys that world-famous class guy Karl Palmer and here I am next to him. I just blew me away That's so funny. You never know what's gonna lead to what and it's gonna be just a connection and This is so this is crazy, but like I interviewed Bill Cardwell of C&C recently and he said that Karl Palmer called him looking for a specific drum set and that ended up being the very it was radio king Esk drum set but with his sizes and it ended up being the very first C&C drum set so just you saying that Yeah, this sort of like everything is kind of connected here, you know, oh sure And it's funny with those guys too, and I could see it, you know that that he would call Bill or something because Karl my experience with him is he he has very specific ideas and he loves drums Yeah, he loves talking about him and I think it turns him on to to you know to be around that, you know So it's absolutely interesting. Yeah. Oh, that's awesome. No, you're right Though you I've had the same experience with the podcast where I've been amazed at sometimes the connections that it's made with people who just I mean, we're all nerds about it who like talking about drums and It doesn't go away. You know what? I mean the passion never goes away I mean you guys have been involved Tony and Rob you guys have both made thousands of drums like you said so it's like I Mean, I'm sure you still love working on drums and talking about drums. Obviously. Yep Yeah It's a it's a it's been a great part of our lives right tone. Oh sure, you know Both being drummers, but making an instrument that somebody else could appreciate it. That's something special. Yeah Definitely now why don't you guys tell people where they can find you if they'd want to check out your amazing drums and You know social media the website all that good stuff. We have a our website is GMS drums calm and you could send us an email through that and We'll call you and and we could discuss your drums There's also the GMS Facebook page and we have Instagram. So we're all the social media So that's that's the way to do it. Cool So I also want to give a quick shout out to Dylan whistling who is from getting the sound calm who was on a previous episode About funky drummer and recreating that sound and he is who connected me with Rob and Tony and got this whole GMS episode together So big shout out to to Dylan you guys you guys have known known him for a while, right? Oh, yeah Dylan goes way back. Yeah, I remember Dylan when he came to the shop He was always a guy who was he loves drums He was he was curious about him and he played GMS and he wanted to see the shop and he came to the factory one day and And he hung out for a day and we and saw how we made drums and we that man That was I would say over 20 years ago. Oh, we don't remember the exact but he was playing with he was playing with Johnny Soco at the time and And We've been friends ever since and he's done a lot for us. No, he's great and you know Well, he's another great ambassador of yours in the world. Nobody better Cool. Well, I want to thank you guys for coming on the show and taking the time to talk with us and and again, I think that everyone should keep an eye out for GMS and Try to get your hands on some and reach out to Rob and Tony if you would like a GMS drum set So thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me today guys. Thanks Bart. Appreciate it. Thank you, Bart If you like this podcast find me on social media at drum history and please share rate and leave a review And let me know topics that you would like to learn about in the future Until next time keep on learning This is a Gwynn Sound podcast