Saturday 3rd May and we were late half an hour… and every single minute we missed was a pitty!
I went, with my girlfriend Katharina, to see Wolfgang Haffner playing his last gig of the Acoustic Shapes tour 2008. When we finally arrived at the venue, the collector at the doors told me,  I am to late, the gates were closed! Damn, no chance! We went there to see the gig and after I was begging him for a couple minutes he decided to let us in. Dudes, if you get the chance to see Wolfgang Haffner, catch it. The gig was simply amazing. I do not have to tell you about Haffners drum skills, they are just undescribable! But what made the evening special was the whole spirit, the feeling of the music and, not at least, the humour Wolfgang spread over the audience. Just amazing!

Check out the pics!

Cheers, Thomas…

Greetings,

I'm pleased to announce that Moe Carlson of the Canadian band Protest the Hero, is now an official Meinl Cymbal artist.

Moe is one of the most exciting drummers to hit the scene in a long, long time. Moe and the band take equal parts prog-rock, hardcore, and metal, add their virtuosic chops and infectious melodies and come out with a sound all their own that's refreshing and exciting. Check out their new album, Fortress for a taste of what I'm talking about. In the sonic sense, these guys are cosmic voyagers.

When I was entering Moe's information into the database for his artist profile, I was blown away to find out the he's only been playing drums for 8 years!!!???!!! That's absolutely insane. When you listen to the dexterity, precision, technical skill and musicality that oozes from his playing, it will be hard for you to believe also.

Moe's getting ready to head to Japan and China, which I know he's stoked about, and then he and the band will be on the entire VANS Warped Tour in the US this summer.

Welcome Moe!!!

Greetings,

A funny thing happened to me last January when I ran out of the NAMM booth to chase down one of our Meinl Cymbal artists, who walked by the booth when he was supposed to have been doing an artist signing for us at any moment.

As I was walking at a good clip to catch up with said artist, I looked to my left and saw Tom Hunting walk by...

Tom is an original member of one of the heaviest, deadliest and nastiest thrash bands of all time - Exodus. For those of you who need an education, Exodus played a huge role in forming the original early 80's Bay Area Thrash Metal movement (heck...Kirk Hammett of Metallica was even a member of Exodus at one point), by storming onto the scene with a razor sharp sound and attack that pummeled audiences into dust.

At this point it's probably very obvious that I was a fan. Absolutely! Still am too. When I was a kid, I HAD to learn the drum part to The Last Act of Defiance. So it was very cool for me to get to meet one of the guys that had a big influence on me in my formative drumming years. What I found was a person who is very humble and who is very happy to still be doing what he loves for a living.

Tom and Exodus are now back and better than ever, with their latest album The Atrocity Exhibition, Part 1 making a massive impact on today's metal scene. Tom's drumming still has that on-the-edge-precision that made him relevant in the 80's and 90's, and makes him relevant now.

Welcome to the team, Tom!

Greetings,

This last Saturday, April 26, two separate Meinl Cymbal artists hosted clinics in the US. Nick D' Virgilio hosted a clinic at Just Drums in Midlothian, Virginia and Derek Roddy hosted a clinic at Explorers Percussion in Kansas City, Missouri.

Both clinics were a great success and a huge round of thanks goes out to Shane Fowlkes and his staff at Just Drums and to Wes Faulconer and his staff at Explorers Percussion. Both teams worked very hard to make the clinics a memorable experience for all who were involved and attended.

Check out the photos.

Take care,

Chris

Greetings,

If you want to know what some of your favorite Meinl Cymbal artists have been up to, maybe you should check out Alternative Press magazine from time to time.

Just this year alone, three out of six covers have been graced by bands whose drummers play Meinl Cymbals. And all three bands - Paramore, (February 08) Panic At the Disco (May 08) and Cobra Starship,(June 08) are in the top of the charts here in the US right now.

Not bad.

Check out the photos.

Greetings,

Just a heads-up...two Meinl Cymbal artists are giving clinics this weekend in the US. Both clinics happen on Saturday, April 26.

Nick D' Virgilio will host a clinic through Just Drums in Midlothian, Virginia. For more details, click here.

Derek Roddy will host a clinic through Explorers Percussion in Kansas City, Missouri. For more details, click here.

Anyone who can make these won't want to miss them. Nick and Derek are both great human beings and great drummers with a lot of knowledge and experience that they are always willing to share with everyone.

Take care.

Chris

arthur hnatek is a 17 year young drummer from geneva, switzerland and today he stopped by at our factory to choose his set of cymbals (which then ended up being a mixture of byzance and generation X). so far I have not heard much about this young musician until yamaha drums decided to host their legendary groove night at the 2008 musikmesse in frankfurt and invited arthur to play at their prestigious event. many drummers from the u.s. and from all over europe played that night, but it was this 17 year old kid who got stuck in my head. arthur performed tower of power's "you've got to funkifize" and he sounded simply amazing. bernhard castiglioni of drummerworld.com and jojo mayer stood next to me while he was on and all of us where seriously impressed by his mature playing and technical abilities. a meinl video podcast will be available soon about arthur.

here is arthur's artist feature for more info about him and his new meinl cymbals. I am proudly welcoming him to our family and looking forward to working with him and inspiring his playing with our cymbal sounds.

ps: i would like to thank wolfgang haffner for introducing arthur to me at the 2008 musikmesse which originally has paved the way for arthur's and our relationship. coincidentally, wolfgang just called me to say hello while I was typing this blog and was delighted to hear about meinl and arthur. it's come full circle :-)

Congratulations to Meinl Cymbal Artist Brann Dailor and Mastodon!

Rolling Stone has just named these guys 'Best Metal Band of 2008' in their Best of Rock issue, which hits the streets any day now.

Congratulations to Brann and the boys for a well-deserved honor.

U.S. magazine "DRUM!" is doing its annual readers poll. everybody can vote online for his or her favourite drummer, band, equipment, etc.

some of our cymbals got nominated this year - which i think is awesome.

here is a link to the website where you can give your votes:

VOTE DRUMMIES 2008!

every once in a while a nearby school sends an intern so he or she gets a feeling how it is to have a "real-job". this time they even sent two young ladies our way who will help and support us in our daily work for the next three weeks.

welcome jenny (left) and jacqueline! i hope your time here will be a valuable experience for any future job decisions you will have to make in your life.