What do you give to three hugely successful drummers who already have all they could ever want? What about their own limited-edition, personally decorated, stunningly crafted snare drum that they can belt seven bells out of? That ought to do it.
The recipients of these Drum Workshop ICON snares are Rush’s Neil Peart, Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason and Queen’s Roger Taylor. And when you’re dealing with rock royalty like this you can’t just knock out any old rubbish with a fancy paint job and their name attached to it. Especially when it comes to the snare. Peart in particular might have dozens of drums in his kits, but any drummer will tell you that the snare is hugely personal and is the centrepiece of their sound.
As is to be expected, DW have done things properly. The company’s expert designer John Good put the ICON drums together, and each is a snug match with the snares that Peart, Mason and Taylor use on the road and in the studio. Each also features some lush artwork: Rush drummer Peart’s matches the look of his huge Time Machine tour kit; Mason’s depicts Pink Floyd’s iconic Dark Side Of The Moon artwork; Taylor’s is decorated with inlays of Queen’s instantly recognisable logo.
They must be pretty special. As Peart himself says: “This is the ultimate tribute, the ultimate trophy. This is one of the rare things I am going to keep for myself.”
But that doesn’t mean you can’t have one too. DW have made 250 of each of these three snare drums available to the public, and one can be yours for (drum roll please)… £1,551.69. That price includes the drum (obviously), a premium case to keep it in and a certificate of authenticity. What’s nice is that a portion of that goes to charity. Peart has chosen the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation, Taylor the Freddie Mercury Phoenix Trust, and money from the Nick Mason snare will go to the small rehearsal studios made available to young musicians at London venue the Roundhouse.
£1,551.69, www.dwdrums.com
