At the beginning of October, I travelled from Halifax to Ottawa to spend a few days at Dave's Drum Shop, one of Canada's best-known independent drum retailers. The trip was an opportunity to reconnect with my friend Dave Dudley, meet some of the people behind the shop, and capture some original content for DrumRunners.
With Sabian Day scheduled for October 1, it was also a great opportunity to get a closer look at some remarkable drums and cymbals, meet people in the industry, and begin building the collection of videos, stories, and profiles I have planned for DrumRunners.
Dave's Drum Shop // Ottawa, Ontario // Main Showroom
BEHIND THE SCENES // DAVE'S DRUM SHOP
One of the things I wanted to accomplish during this visit was to get a better sense of the people and day-to-day operations behind Dave's Drum Shop.
Along with spending time with Dave Dudley, I had the opportunity to interview Grant, who looks after shipping and operations, and Christine, who handles ordering and accounting. It's easy to focus on the instruments when visiting a drum shop, but there's a lot happening behind the scenes to keep a specialized business like this running.
Dave Dudley // The 'Dave' in Dave's Drum Shop
Dave was also generous enough to let me record some drum and cymbal demonstrations in the shop. That gave me the chance to spend time with some particularly interesting instruments, including a Sonor Vintage Series 150th Anniversary Craftsman's Collection kit paired with Sabian prototype cymbals.
Sonor Vintage Series // 150th Anniversary Craftsman's Collection // Sabian Prototype Cymbals
The visit also gave me plenty of ideas for future DrumRunners features, particularly more in-depth profiles of independent drum shops and the people who make them work.