WARNING! This post contains explicit descriptions of drum sizes, shells and hardware. It may not be suitable for all audiences. Viewer discretion is advised.

I bought my first DW drum set in December of 1994. It was white Marine Pearl and included: 8 x 10 tom, 9 x 12 tom, 13 x 15 tom, 16 x 22 bass drum, and a 5.5 x 14 Craviotto/DW snare. From the first day I played this set, I fell in love with the sound, look and feel of it.

These drums were used exclusively with my band, The Fundamentals over a 20- year period. The group performed close to 1500 shows ranging from club dates and concerts to private parties and special events. The set was safely stored in road cases inside of the band truck, which was parked outside of a storage unit. Unfortunately, the truck was exposed to temperatures ranging from freezing to extreme heat, and over time due to the extreme temperatures, the shell coverings started to crack.  I was immensely bummed out.

So, in March of 2014, my good friend, Garrison at DW, told me to send the drums down to the factory in Oxnard, CA, and he would have them refurbished for me.  Well, to my great surprise, the good folks at DW not only recovered the shells, but they also replaced all of the lugs, hoops and mounting hardware. The only things that remained from the original drums were the shells and badges. And, as it turns out, those were original 5+3 shells from Keller. Today, I am very pleased to say, these drums sound, look and play better than ever. I am grateful and blessed to still own this beautiful set and to be a part of the DW family.

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I just came across this photo of Neil Peart. It was taken at his Toronto studio in 1994 when I interviewed him for my second “Lessons With The Greats” book. At that time I had found him to be very pleasant, extremely well spoken and generous with his time.

From that point on he would always be sure to comp me tickets for my friends and family to the local Rush shows. The seats were always the best in the house, and backstage passes were also included with most of the shows.

When he was studying with Freddie Gruber, Neil would send me a note telling me about his progress and discoveries. Considered by many to be one of the worlds greatest drummers, I was amazed on how humble he was through his learning process.

Neil was not only generous with tickets to the Rush shows, he was also very generous in helping out our Soundwall Rock Music Camp. Here is a picture of one of his touring snare drums, and an autographed cymbal that he donated to the camp.

Neil has been gone since January 7. I miss my friend. And I’m sure many drummers world wide miss him as well.