GEAR - WEAR & TEAR

Made By An American
BY KELLY KING
Pride. We hear a lot of people say this word. To be honest, it is too often used and without proper context. Pride has to be earned; it is forged and tempered by experience and heartfelt effort. When you have worked hard and proven yourself through trials and tribulations, failure and success, you cultivate pride. Im not speaking about a sense of superiority but rather, a place of respect that deserves admiration. When you look at the Pork Pie website (www.porkpiedrums. com), you see a photo of Bill Detamores hands. Bill has a right to feel pride. Pork Pie is a well-known and respected company that has earned its place among the goliaths in the drum and percussion industry. Bill understands that this success storys most vital tools are his handsokay, maybe his brain and a lot of sweat as well. The Pork Pie motto is Made By An American. This simple phrase reveals that Detamore gets it. He understands that there is a difference between the American Spirit and just claiming that a product is made in the United States. That difference is pride. Pride, which has been earned. Pork Pie wasnt always such a recognizable name and its CEO wasnt always the man he is today. Bill has been through a few incarnations and wears several hats to this day. Everyone whom I spoke with about Bill Detamore describes him as a workhorse, the type of guy who will make it happen. Some of the stories I heard about his determination and constitution are so remarkable that they almost seem
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unbelievable, and yet those who tell them swear they are true. Pork Pie made its success happen the old-fashioned way, by earning it. Speak with anyone in the industry and they know Pork Pie and its owner. One of the reasons that Bill is so respected, besides the obvious high quality of his products, is that the man has worked at every level of the business. Hes still cutting bearing edges, holding business meetings and managing his staff. Depending on what hour of the day you show up, you will find either blue-collar or white-collar Detamore. Im sure Bill would be much more comfortable with the blue-collar moniker. Success is something that he is comfortable and happy with, but he still loves the hands-on approach. This is the reason that Pork Pies quality has always been at such a high level. Its an open secret that Bill does a lot of custom work for other companies and highprofile clients. He is not allowed to say who the work is for, so lets just say that you know these companies already. The result of this is Bills secret-agent status. This is yet more proof that Bills work is respected (and maybe feared) by the leaders of the industry. He just smiles and states that he is happy people appreciate his work. Part of what makes Bill Detamores story so entertaining and inspiring is the fact that he started out as many of us do, with a desire to play drums. It is a common factor that we all share. Ever connected to his roots, Detamore still lives in the

house that he grew up in, raising his family within the same walls where he first began discovering and playing drums. There may have been some updates to the home, but it is still the same place where a 16-year-old Detamore began jamming along to Led Zeppelin. Its also where Bill began his foray into drum making, out of necessity more than anything. Bill impresses upon one of his daughters the virtue of a savings account while simultaneously recalling his early drumming days; there is a unifying theme. He recalls, My parents were raised during the Depression. They understood the value of a dollar. They wanted me to understand the concept of wanting something and earning it. When I said that I wanted to play drums they said, Okay, but were not going to help you. Youre going to have to do it all on your own. I was determined. The only problem was, I didnt know how to go about getting the money together. Id been to music stores and knew how much a new drum set would cost. I was not going to be able to afford that. I got a bass drum and a 13 tom from someone. I got a bass pedal and a snare. I didnt have a mount for the tom, so I fashioned a wire into a mounting piece. The tom just hung there. There was a guy who lived up the street and played drums. One day I went over to his house to see his kit. He had a huge drum set! I couldnt believe it! I asked him how he could afford this mammoth setup. He explained that he would go to these different places and buy a used drum or stand or cymbal, whatever, and then piece them together. I didnt know it, but this was the starting point for my future. I began going to drum stores (like JD Wilson Music) and buying used drums. I started taking them apart to see how they were constructed and how everything worked. I would refurbish them and sell them in The Recycler. My dad had every kind of tool imaginable for me to use. He painted cars and taught me how to paint. I started reading and learning about bearing edges. At some point I was completely redoing the drums. It was my own little business. I never thought it would turn into a lifelong career. I was just trying to support my drum habit. The same desire, struggle and ingenuity would culminate

in a lifelong pursuit of building the kind of quality instrument that I have always wanted to play, as Bill puts it. This is the beginning of pride, this perspective of I want the best and I can also share it with others. To understand how Pork Pie became an entity, one needs to go back to understanding Detamores parents influence.

WORKING DAY AND NIGHT

Bills parents strongly instilled the ideals of responsibility and practicality in him. Though his mind was always focused on drums and drumming, his folks thought he should pursue an education. Detamore agreed halfheartedly. He reveals, I never did the cover-band thing. I was always in original bands. My first band experience was in 1980. My first gig was at the West Valley Supper Club off of Ventura Blvd. The venue was about the size of my house, but it was very cool. I still have the poster from that gig. My band played on Wednesday and two nights later, the original lineup of Missing Persons played. I have the poster to prove it. I always enjoyed rehearsals and gigs, all of that, but I realized early on that I didnt have the mental capacity to sit around a hotel room with three other guys waiting to shower. Hanging around for two or three hours after soundcheck is not my idea of fun. I decided that it was best to keep playing music as a fun thing rather than a vocation. I went to school and got an AA in Graphic Arts. Recalling the mindset of my parents, I put my degree to use right away and worked on the Space Shuttle program for the next five years. The job was cool but I still continued my drum building. I understood the need to earn a living, but I also wanted a business that I loved and could call my own. This was around 87 or 88. The only responsibilities I had were my place, my car and my dog. I was working a lot, but I didnt have a lot to pay for, so I was doing okay. Give a guy like Bill Detamore some time and the word starts to get around. Bill states, I was starting to get a reputation for the drum thing when John Good of DW called me. The guy who was doing their finishing wasnt working out

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and they were getting ready for NAMM. They asked if I could come help out. I had this government job working on the Shuttle and knew that I would be getting the holiday vacation time off, plus I had vacation time coming. Together that gave me two weeks to help DW get ready for NAMM. Drum Workshop was happy with my work and asked me to keep coming back even after NAMM. For six months I would work my day job and then go straight to DW and work, in addition to still working on my own drums. It was running me into the ground. I was too tired and finally told John [Good] that he would either hire me on full time or I wouldnt be able to come back. The 60-70 hours per week at the day job followed by two other jobs just wasnt working. I gave notice at my day job on June 1st and started full time at DW on June 15th of the same year, so I guess they liked me.[Laughs] It was a matter of the right timing for me. I was young enough and without any major responsibilities. It was the right time for me to take a risk and believe in myself. The biggest step would happen when Bill would make Pork Pie his sole professional focus.

GET PORKED
There is no denying that the drums made by Pork Pie Percussion are amazing. Bill Detamore took a lifetime of research and study and channeled it into a fine product. Pork Pie prides itself on being the place where you can build your personal dream kit or hot rod what you have. Whether you are getting a maple kit, acrylic kit or snare drum, every single drum is signed by Detamore. Its the customers assurance that Bill stands behind every product and has a connection with each customer. He wants his hands to be a part of every instrument that comes out of Pork Pie. It cannot go unmentioned that Pork Pie drum thrones turned the industry around. In fact, if you search YouTube, you can find a promo from another major drum company that contains a long tracking shot of the workers, about a dozen
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of them, all sitting on Pork Pie thrones as they work. That alone speaks volumes. So how does Bill produce such great drums? He is an open book about his methods. Detamore comments, We could talk for a long time about different materials and their properties. I love maple drums and always have loved them. Different drummers want sonic qualities that certain materials bring to the table. We offer these possibilities. The true difference in what makes a drum sound good is the bearing edge. That is no secret. I have a specific way that I do things and a reason for doing it that way. It takes knowledge but also skill to do it. Just like playing drums. You might know what someone is playing, and even how they are playing it, but executing it well is a whole other challenge. Its Bills love of one particular company that led to his style of cutting edges. He reveals, Just as I love maple shells, I also love Remo drumheads. Im not knocking what the other companies do; its just that my tastes lean towards Remo. The problem with most drums, even new ones, is that the bearing edge doesnt meet the head at the proper angle. This wasnt even a consideration back in the days of calfskin heads. A calfskin head is dried and molds to the form of the drum and edge. It always fits correctly. But plastic, that is different. Its not going to change. A head might pull, but otherwise you have one specific preformed shape and angle. I cut my bearing edges to meet that angle exactly. The edges on Pork Pie toms are 45 degrees and then I do a round-over counter-cut from the inside out. Long ago I figured out the radius of the collar on the drumhead and had custom router bits made to match that. See kids, geometry can be applicable in real life! Of course, a great bearing edge is only part of a great sounding drum, but it is all related. Bill continues, To make a drum resonate as much as it wants, you have to have as little stress as possible on everything. An isolation system takes the stress off of the shell. A tom mount that goes into the shell will stifle it. Tone is lost from stress on the shell. That will eventually lead to

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GEAR - WEAR & TEAR

a shell going out of round. The way that you mount your drums will have short-term and long-term effects on the sound of that drum. There needs to be a holistic approach to the construction and maintenance of your drum, just like your carif its a classic. Different drums have different voices and purposes; hence they need an individual approach. Detamore notes, My bass drums have a 60 degree edge, or a 30 degree, depending on which side you are looking at. The counter cut is bigger coming from the outside of my bass drums. The simple reason for this is that a bass drumhead has a larger collar than a tom head. Old Ludwigs had a 60 degree edge on the inside. The radius on the top was giant! I have people that bring me their old Ludwigs to redo the edges. I will take it and just give it some definition. The biggest thing is to make it flat; youll never find one that is flat and round. I just tell people to let me do my thing and if they dont like it I will redo it for free. In all the times I have redone those

Bill Detamore has done work for a very respectable clientele, which includes some of the drum communitys most highly recognizable names. During one year alone, Bill worked on 12 drum sets for Metallicas Lars Ulrich. This was back when Lars had the double-bass, multi-tom behemoth. Ulrich was just one of many important drummers Bill has worked for. With his many years of toil and highprofile artists, there are bound to be some interesting stories. One in particular stood out to Drumhead. Detamore states, One day I got a call from Joe Hibbs. He said that Nick Menza (the drummer for Megadeth at the time) wanted an acrylic kit. This was quite a long time ago, before everyone was working with acrylics. It wasnt a popular material like it is now. You could only get the shells from Zickos. At this time I had never worked with acrylic. Anyone who knows about it can tell you that acrylic is not easy to work with. It is not as forgiving as wood and other materials. I knew that I needed to do some homework. I went to a place that sells sheets of acrylic and bought several. I spoke with the people that worked there because I knew they would have experience with it, and they had probably heard a lot of stories, good and bad. I did my research and tried different things to get familiar with the material before I actually started working on the shells. I figured it out. Nick had requested two kits, one for stage and one as a backup. Each kit was double bass, two racks and two floor toms with a snare. That was a tall order. Bruce Jacoby (now at Remo) was Nicks drum tech, and at that time a he was coordinating a lot of this. The big obstacle was that I had two days for this whole process! I started at 7 a.m. one day and worked almost 40 hours straight with no breaks. As I was working, a semi pulled up to my house. It was the bands equipment truck. There was a guy working for the band to load them on the truck. As I was putting the drumheads on the kit, he was loading them into the cases. He was very cool about it and told me no rush, but I knew that I needed to get everything ready ASAP. I slapped those heads on without him having to wait for me. I relaxed after two days of straight work knowing that I made it happen and kept everyone happy. The first thing I did was reward myself with a great big pizza. The funniest part is that I was told Nick played them at one show and decided that he wanted wood instead of acrylic. So they are probably sitting in a flight case somewhere, brand new. I have to say, he really appreciated the work though, because a few weeks later a platinum album showed up for me as a thank you.

REAL PORK, NOT THAT VEGETARIAN STUFF

You have to be reliable in business. If you take advantage of your customers, you wont last long. Hopefully your customers appreciate that sentiment, but it can sometimes be a costly lesson for a business owner, as Bill can personally attest. He comments, Jim Carnelli has become a good friend of mine. He was also my first customer. He called me up and said the he had a new Noble & Cooley snare that he had purchased from Valley Arts. He wanted me to cut the edges for him. It was June and it was so hot that I was sweating like crazy. Jim was sitting in a chair at my shop, watching me work. I had literally just started working on the edges when the drum slipped out of my hand and onto the router, which took a huge chunk out of it. The first thing I thought to myself was Oh no, is this an omen for what my life is going to be like as a drum maker and business owner? I turned everything off and said to Jim Ive just ruined your drum. He walked over, took a look at it and calmly asked me what we were going to do about it. I got on the phone and called my friend Gary at Valley Arts, explained the situation, and asked to buy a Noble & Cooley snare to replace the one I just ruined. Gary knew I had just left my job to start my own business and gave me a great deal. Well, Jim and I got in the car and drove over to Valley Arts and I bought a new drum right then and there. Jim is a good client and a good friend to this day. He told me that as soon as I told him to get in the car so I could go buy him a new snare, he knew that he could trust me with his life. That kind of integrity and responsibility is very important to me as a person and as a businessman.

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old Ludwigs, Ive never had anyone ask me to redo them after I put my edges on them. It just makes them easier to tune. Back when Pork Pie was a oneman operation, cutting bearing edges was a big part of Bills business. He recalls, From 92 to 97 I did bearing edges on three to five kits per week. Since I was the only Pork Pie employee, the money was pretty good. I dont do that many now. Unless they were manufactured that way, modern drums dont usually go out of round. Due to cross lamination and hard woods, they stay true to shape.

MAKING A SILK PURSE

The vintage-drum business has exploded in the last several years. Part of the interest from the drum community is based on a return to the good ol days and part of it is due to the fine craftsmanship. A man like Bill Detamore understands the truth and the misconceptions that many have about this type of gear. As someone whom has worked extensively with the prized, vintage kits of famous and not-so-famous drummers, he has seen the inner workings of these kits. He knows their strong and weak points. Bill points out that a drum is not great just because it was made in a certain era or has a logo or badge on it. You dont know that a drum is good just by the name, Detamore declares. You can make some assumptions, but until you take it apart it is anyones guess. I have certain drums that I appreciate. One key factor is that drum making has really come a long way. For example, some of the thinner shells that were made require reinforcement hoops. If they didnt have these, the shells would go out of round. They had a layer of poplar inside, and that is not a strong wood. They may sound good, but they arent that sturdy, which is why many of them dont last. They just cant stand up to the abuse that most gigging drummers put on them. Just natural wear and tear takes a lot out of a thinner shell like that. Some of the equation comes down to understanding and finances. Bill comments, Because there is such interest in the vintage thing, I will get people that purchase these kits
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and bring them to me. They want to take them out on the road. I had a guy who brought in five kits that he had bought. These are drums from a huge company. Not a single one of the kits had shells that were still round. The problem with many of these vintage kits is that they need a lot of work. The bearing edges are bad, hoops are bent and the hardware is in awful shape. These things are all fixable, but once youve spent $1,500 on a kit, youll need to spend another $1,000 just to get it ready to be played. There are exceptions, but this is the norm more than most people like to admit. When it comes to working on someone elses drums, Pork Pies work is not limitedt o the individual. The dirty little secret is that Detamore has done and continues to do work for many companies out there. To be blunt, there is assembly line and there is craftsmanship. When you want something done very well, you take it to an artist. However, you can push that expert too far. Bill explains, I do a lot of work for other companies. I cant really talk about the current ones because of our agreements. He recalls, The first NAMM show I did was in 91. I was working on kits for Tim Alexander of Primus and Brain of the Limbomaniacs, doing a custom finish for Alan White of Yes, and preparing for NAMM all at the same time. Ill never forget how tired I was! I was working two to three days at a shot on no sleep. Something amazing happened because of that show. I received a call from Joe Hibbs, who was with Tama at the time. He explained that they had the Ibanez Custom Shop in North Hollywood and that they wanted a custom shop for Tama (both are part of Hoshino) to do bearing edges and whatever for their artists. Joe asked if he could come over to my place and discuss it. He came over with another gentleman from Tama. Ill never forget that it was the rainiest day I can remember, ever. I was hoping that this wasnt an omen. Ha! We talked and they asked me to do a test on some drums. They werent looking for a favor or freebie, they just wanted to see what I would do. It was bearing edges. Joe and I became great friends through the years. I ended up doing work for a lot

of Tamas artists: Simon Phillips, Mike Baird and others. It was at this time that I met this young Tama artist who was getting talked about so much. He was playing with a guitarist named Joe Satriani. This whiz kid would later become editor-in-chief of Drumhead magazine, Jonathan Mover. The relationships that you make and the work people do, their ethics, these things all come into play later in life. Mike Baird is a really important guy to me. He is completely honest. If I want the straight truth about something, Ill call him. He will come over and check it out. If he doesnt like it, he will say, point blank, that he is not into it. Thats precious to me. The same goes for Joe Hibbs. We have a professional and personal respect. When Joe left Tama to go to Premier, he took my custom work with him. When we refer to an artist in the pages of Drumhead, it is almost always in reference to someone who has been successful as a performing musician. In fact, most of those involved in the industry are musicians, even if it is not the sole focus of their vocation. The moniker successful and admired artist perfectly describes Bill Detamore. The great drummers that we all admire have risen from obscurity and honed their craft, making a name for themselves. They had a unique voice that separated them from the others. A spark would start a fire and attention would be gained. The oldguard would take notice, and eventually that fresh voice would be heard, maybe even inspire imitators. One of the most inspiring moments is when someone is creative and successful without stepping on others. There is nobility that comes with that. We would all probably like to know who uses Bills work and keeps it hushhush, but Bill refuses to reveal that information. He allows others to gain from his abilities, all the while pouring his heart into his true voice, Pork Pie Percussion. There is something touching about people who do something because they feel it in their core, not for personal or financial gain. It is even more heartwarming to see that calling achieving successbecause it is done for the right reason. There is a name for the personal feeling one gets from this way of life: pride.
WEBFOOT
www.porkpiedrums.com

The Pig Gave It Away

by Corey Manske
In the mid-90s during spring break from college, I traveled to Southern California to visit a fellow musician buddy. While checking things off my list of tourist attractions to see in Hollywood, I made my very first visit to Guitar Center. At the time, Primus was huge and I was a big Tim Alexander fan, so actually being able to see Pork Pie drums up close was a treat. I remember drooling over a high-gloss side snare and admiring the now-familiar Pork Pie pig stamped on the batter- and snare-side heads. I was enamored and I asked the employee behind the counter if he had any literature on Pork Pie. He handed me a pamphlet, if I remember correctly, and on the back there was an address. Not being from California, I asked my buddy how far we were from Canoga Park. He figured we were 30 minutes away and seemed up for the adventure when I begged him to go check out the drum-building factory with me. We never found a factory in the middle of that beautiful residential area. Instead, we argued about where we were on that particular page of the Thomas Guide (this all preceded widespread GPS). We agreed to take one last pass and hed check the left while I checked the right. Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw something familiar. I asked him to stop and back up. There, painted on the backboard of the basketball hoop on the driveway of a nice house was THE PIG! The license-plate border on the car in the driveway read: Pork Pie Drums - Get Porked! Turns out, it wasnt a factory at all. I walked up to the front door and nervously rang the bell. No one came. I knocked on the door. Still, no one came. I pulled out a business card for the band I played in at the time and jotted a quick note on the back. Noticing a few pairs of shoes on the front porch, I slid the business card with a demo tape into a pair of slip-on Vans. I was bummed as I walked back to my buddys truck, but then we both perked-up as we heard some noise coming from the backyard. I stopped, peered over the gate and noticed lacquered drum shells drying in the sun on the eaves of the detached garage. I could hear a saw and electric sanders. I peeked through the gate and tried to get someones attention. Eventually a man covered in sawdust came to greet me. He was Bill Detamore and for the first time in my drum-geek life, I knew how it felt to be star-struck. I admitted to leaving a demo tape in his shoe on the porch, mentioned being a big Tim Alexander fan and gushed about how amazing his drums sounded. Bill recounted a recent conversation with Tim about some new drums and spoke with real verve about his drum-making process. I was inspired, and as I began to thank him for his time, he asked if Id like to see the kit they finished the day before. Of course I agreed. He opened the door to reveal the stacked kit and I was speechless. It was a larger kit, blue stain over beautiful wood grain, if I remember correctly, and the chrome of the now-famous hourglass lugs gleamed in the sunlight. It was stunning. I thanked him again as we shook hands and I returned to the truck. My first trip to Magic Mountain the next day didnt hold a candle to 20 minutes at Pork Pie talking to Bill. A half-dozen years later I moved to Southern California to pursue a career in music and ended up getting a job building drums at Orange County Drums & Percussion. Back then, those custom drums were built by a handful of us in a small warehouse in a Santa Ana industrial park. A few months later, I attended my first NAMM show (and several to follow) as a drum builder for OCDP. At that NAMM show, and at every show since, Ive enjoyed visiting with Bill. Though we were technically competitors, there was always a positive sense of camaraderie and mutual respect between OCDP and Pork Pie. Each year we recall how we met that day so many years ago. We talk about how much has changed. He shows me all of his new beautifully crafted creations and with a handshake and a smile, we celebrate the legacy that is Pork Pie Percussion. Bill has had an immeasurable impact on the drumming community and likely has made a zillion friends as a result, but with his genuine warmth and passion for his craft, he makes me feel like Im the most important person on Earth for five minutes a year. Its an honor to know you, Bill. Congratulations to you and everyone at Pork Pie for your continuing success!

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