PREMIER XPK
Behind the Kit 1998 - 2009
22" x 16" Bass Drum.
The dawn of the three up / two down setup. 8", 10", 12", 14" and 16" Power Toms.
Electronic and acoustic setup. Ddrum triggers, Roland PD7 pads, Yamaha DTX brain. (bottom left) Note the Tascam 244 four track (cassette!) Portastudio, this belonged to Simon Edward.
That's me behind the kit in 1998.
Four up / one down setup?... whats that all about! oh yeah, the Timbales on the right.
Roland SPD20 Octapad. Trace Elliot cab.
Kit set up for Theos, a Christian multimedia event. I was ahead of the times, homemade perspex screen. All you need is a couple of perspex sheets from B&Q and a roll of gaffa tape.
Looking good next to the Trace Elliot stack and wedge.
Hello Wembley! No, my kit didn't fall off the back of a lorry, but I did play on the back of one. Somewhere in Wembley.
YMCA! Kit set up at Romford YMCA for another Theos event.
More toms needed! So added a set of Rototoms and second hand concert toms (silver)
Gaffa Tape... A drummers life saver!
Looking good in the lights at the YMCA.
On stage at the Queens Theatre, Hornchurch, Essex. This was the last Theos event in 2000. Check out the video in the vintage vault on StuDrumsTV. This picture is very apt with Simon Edward going off stage left. I stopped playing after this event and hung my sticks up. It wasn't until 2004 I moved to Lowestoft, picked up my sticks again and was back behind it in church.
The more time I spent behind the Pearl/Premier/Mapex hybrid kit the more I liked the sound of an acoustic kit. After years of building a kit from a mixture of odd drums I was ready to buy my first complete acoustic kit. I liked the sound of the Premier Royale toms, they were easy to tune and gave me that Hayman Drum sound that I'd grown up with. It was a no-brainer, I wanted a Premier drum kit. As with all brands Premier had a wide price range. I stuck with my part-ex plan and get the best you can with what you have plan. Up to this point I had never gone out and bought a complete kit and I wasn't about to start now. The advantage of building up a kit slowly since 1988 was I had all the hardware I could ever need, Cymbal stands, Snare stands, Hi hat stands, Racks, Bass drum pedals and Clamps. In fact I had a clamp for any possible setup! This meant I only needed to purchase the shell pack, just the drums. Bass drum and toms, I already had a snare drum The Pearl signature Omar Hakim. No need for cymbals as by this time I had found my cymbal sound and setup. This meant I could stretch my budget a little further along with a part-ex deal. I went to Drums Inc in Hornchurch, in my opinion the best drum shop ever. I part exchanged The Ddrum 4 kit, The Pearl/Premier/Hybrid kit, some hardware and a few spare cymbals! I had a bit of a clear out really, a clear out of unwanted gear accumulated since 1988. (some of the gear I had bought previously from Drums Inc!)
Enter the Premier XPK and the dawn of my main kit setup today. 7 piece kit, three up / two down.
The drum shells were constructed from Birch / Eucalyptus / Birch sandwich. The Birch external suface was hand stained and lacquered in a Topaz colour wood-grained finish. The sound was full and the drums were easy to tune. Low mass tension lugs with springless bracket nuts and integral nylon cushion to minimise any vibration and rattle.