Outlaw Drums Makes Debut at 2020 NAMM Show
The NAMM Show is the place for instrument manufacturers to make their grand debut or to premier new products. Since the first show in Baltimore, Maryland in 1902, The NAMM Show has grown from humble beginnings with exhibitors showcasing their products in booths inside a YMCA hall to the hotel rooms of the Palmer House in Chicago, and now companies vie for a spot in Anaheim’s Convention Center. Displaying product lines on everything from the small but immensely effective 50 square foot booth to a massive two story display taking up major NAMM Show floor real estate, exhibitors all share the same sentiment, if you want to be seen, you need to be at The NAMM Show.
The 2020 NAMM Show continued its legacy for being the top destination for emerging manufacturers and Georgia-based drum manufacturer, Outlaw Drums, decided 2020 was the year to begin their NAMM Show legacy. Outlaw Drums has a unique approach to creating their drums, bringing new life to ancient wood using time honored craftmanship techniques with modern tools. Focusing on projects utilizing “200-600 year-old wood reclaimed from tobacco barns, gymnasiums, plantation houses, and old bridges,” Outlaw Drums takes the time and effort to not only ensure the highest quality product is manufactured from unique woods, but they take the time and care to highlight the woods story in the form of features like “nail holes, saw kerfs, spots in the wood that were stained from years of tobacco leaves or where oil ran down and dripped on the floor for years from a mill.”
In the percussion area of the show floor, after wading through the buzz of enthusiastic musicians, we took some time to chat with Michael Outlaw, President of Outlaw Drums about his inaugural NAMM Show experience.
How long has Outlaw Drums been creating these unique drums?
About 12 years. Prior to deciding to attend The 2020 NAMM Show, we were a relatively smaller operation and making the decision to exhibit at The Show is acting as the push for Outlaw Drums to expand operations. We’ve always heard such great things about The NAMM Show that we made the decision that this is where we need to be to achieve our goals.
How does utilizing the reclaimed wood effect the sound and visual appearance of your drums?
By using the reclaimed wood we are making both a unique sound and appearance with the drum. By using an already aged wood from the beginning of the manufacturing process, a player gets a more vintage tone. Since we use woods that come from mature trees, often between 400 to 600 years old that have been taken down by storms, it creates an all-around unique experience for our customers.
Is all your wood locally sourced and then manufactured in Georgia?
Most of the wood Outlaw Drums sources to manufacture our products comes from a small radius outside Sylvester, Georgia. However, in many cases customers send us wood to craft their drum from. They may have a piece of wood that has some sort of an heirloom or sentimental value to them that they will send to us with the request to make a drum. We’ve made drums out of dressers, church pews, and other unique sources for wood. What is unique about this is our efforts to get our customers involved on our Facebook and Instagram. We send video of their individual drum being handcrafted complete with time lapse to showcase each step in the process. We’ve found that customers feel that they become a part of the manufacturing process, and they become empowered in the process, having a hand in creating their drums.
As a first-time exhibitor at The NAMM Show, why did you decide to exhibit?
NAMM is basically the biggest show you can attend if you want to take your company and your business to the next level. Everybody who is anybody comes to The NAMM Show so naturally it was the place to go for Outlaw Drums. We do a lot of reclaimed wood and have a niche area of the market where a lot of the times we go out and find these storm damaged trees and buildings, tear them down and build drums out of them. The NAMM Show is a perfect place to represent that as there are a lot of musicians who like unique and different products, what better way to do it than in California. Outlaw Drums is ready to take our products to the next level, already in Guitar Center and Musician’s Friend, we are just so excited for this to be our first year at The NAMM Show and to see the amount of traffic coming by our booth. We are anxiously awaiting the chance to head to Summer NAMM in Nashville this year.
Despite it only being your first NAMM Show, what has been the highlight so far?
It has to be this drum kit we’ve brought to our booth. Everybody who has stopped by and has played our kit has loved it. That and being able to showcase Outlaw Drums “Purple Heart” drum and the drum we’ve made from an old railroad tie. Outside of our booth, the highlight has been hanging out with Jared Falk, Canadian professional drummer and educator. Jared did a video for us a while back so it was great to see him again.
For more information on Outlaw Drums visit them at http://www.outlawdrums.com/home.html or follow @outlawdrum on Facebook or Instagram.