Please join us as we have a Q & A session with Roger North, the founder, inventor and artist behind the iconic horn-shaped North Drums. We will have an exquisite 6 piece North Kit on display during the talk. He’ll speak to the origins and construction of this kit and answer questions. As time allows we invite YOU to take it for a spin!
** Please bring any North memorabilia
or stories with you for this informative event!**
North Drums are horn-shaped drums that were designed to project their sound outward, so the audience can hear the most direct qualities of the drum. They were used by a number of notable drummers during the 1970s and ‘80s.
They were invented by Roger North in the late 1960s. Dissatisfied with the projection of his drum sound, North designed these drums to reflect sound forward. The first prototype, a 12-inch tom, was used at Woodstock in 1969. North then established a company and began producing the drums, which were popular with many notable drummers.
North initially made drums for himself and some friends but later decided to pursue commercial production after receiving a patent for the design. He built a small workshop and produced around 60 kits by hand.
North drums were used by many well-known drummers, including Billy Cobham, Alan White (Yes), Doug Clifford (Creedence Clearwater Revival), Lucky Lehrer of the Circle Jerks, and Gerry Brown. They were also used by drum corps like the Concord Blue Devils and the Long Island Sunrisers Drum and Bugle corps. Although primarily a Ludwig endorser, Alex Van Halen incorporated a set of North Drum toms in his enormous white touring kit for Van Halen's OU812 album in 1988. Chad Channing was known for using North Drums in the early years of Nirvana.
Starting in 1973, he began producing the original commercial configuration of the drums and began selling them both directly and through retail dealers to various top musicians and drummers as well as to the general public through retail dealers. In 1976, North licensed the patent rights to Music Technology Incorporated (MTI) to manufacture and market the drums in hopes of higher production and distribution volume. Under MTI management, the drum shells were produced first by a fiberglass manufacturer in Long Island, then for a time again by Roger North in his facility in Troutdale, Oregon.
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