it's a pleasure for me to announce that dragonforce drummer dave mackintosh has come on board with us today. all of us are very excited and we are looking forward to working him and his band. if you are interested in reading our official press release about dave and dragonforce, click here.
i am taking a week off now going on a short vacation. unless i am stuck in a cell-reception-deap spot, i'll be reporting on twitter and facebook every now and then. feel free to follow me there.
you guys take care, and talk soon.
- norbert

just a short note about the 2009 meinl drum festival in moscow. we made an online survey in russia to find out which artists from our roster they want to see perform. the votes were obvious and here is the line-up of the 2009 meinl drum festival:

- thomas lang
- benny greb
- mike terrana
- wolfgang haffner
- snake (russia's no1 punk drummer)

there may still be some changes or additions to that line-up, so keep checking for updates.
the event will be held on june 06 at the moscow palace of youth. we are organising this event together with our russian distributor, o.k. & co. company, who will be in charge for ticket sales. check out their website ok-co.ru for more details, or go to meinldrumfestival.com

more and more german drummers who attended our previous meinl festivals here in germany approach me showing interest in making the trip over to russia for this year's festival too. we're really proud and honoured to have such loyal fans. thank you!

- norbert

raphael saini is a meinl artist living in sardinia. for quite some time we have tried to find a date when he could come and visit our factory. and today finally he has jumped on a plane and flew to nuernberg. hannes, one of our trainiees, is currently shuttling him over to the factory. raphael will be here today and tomorrow checking out the factory. he is very active playing in his extreme-metal band "chaoswave" and also does a lot of clinics all over italy which he books by himself. he is an excellent drummer and a great ambassador for meinl in italy. i am looking forward spending some time with him today and tomorrow.

and while i was writing this, raphael JUST arrived....................

as you know (and in case you didnt, then you know it now) you can listen to a mp3 file of every cymbal we make here on meinlcymbals.com. that's been very well received and many drummers told us how helpful that service is for them in order to find their sound. that made me think and i got the idea what if we choose a reference cymbal set up of every series we make, hire a drummer and record the full set in order for you to be able to really hear the cymbals how they blend and sound together in a real playing situation?

yesterday we've finally managed to do it. i had our artist felix lehrmann fly in from berlin. i booked a day at a local studio (powerstation studios in cadolzburg) and we recorded a 2-3 minute track of almost every cymbal series we make. felix has done an amazing job in capturing the vibe of every series in his grooves and beats. almost all of them were first takes too. his drumming blew me away. his incredible studio experience made it real easy for us.

so now we are going to produce a 2-3 minute video clip of every of the following series in which felix is demonstrating their unique sound:

mb20
byzance traditional
byzance brilliant
byzance dark
byzance extra dry
byzance jazz
soundcaster fusion
soundcaster custon
mb10
mb8
generation x

those clips will go online shortly. not only will they offer an additional guideline for you in choosing the right meinl cymbal, more importantly for us drummersis that we will get to see and hear some amazing grooves played by a realy groove monster, felix lehrmann. stay tuned and enjoy the clips when we have put them online.

- norbert

I was digging deeper and deeper into the wormhole known as youtube.com last night, and came upon the new Lamb of God video for Set To Fail, the first single off of the band's soon to be released new album, Wrath, which will hit the shelves February 24. 

Meinl Cymbal Artist Chris Adler is ripping it up. Blast beats too! I mean, c'mon! I have to admit, I have heard the entire record from start to finish and it is an absolute monster. LOG and Chris have come up with a real winner this time.

Check out Chris' artist page at meinlcymbals.com by clicking here.

people email us:

Hey hows it going?!
Um I'm just curious. how is it possible to get an edorsement/sponsership from you guys??
ive been playing drums for roughly 8 years. and ive never found a cymbal i like more then a meinl.
let me know!!
I need this! i'd love it. im sure you get this everyday.
but im a serious drummer and will be for the rest of my life.
until the day i die. or happen to lose an arm.. or leg.
but yeah
let me kno asap!
thanks for ur time

being endorsed is still a desirable status for every drummer. if its handled the right way, a mutually beneficial relationship can be achieved. all good. when i receive an inquiry like this, the answer is always the same: "thanks for your interest. attached is our endorsement application form which has all the information you need to apply for a sponsorhip with us."

to make this process easier, you can from now on download the pdf directly from our website. so if anyone of you is thinking about sending us a similar email wanting to become an endorser, simply download the form here. everything you need to do is described in the form.

- norbert

" whatever can go wrong, will go wrong " is what murphy's law means. it has been named after u.s. engineer edward a. murphy jr. and describes sources of errors in a complex system. i am sure many of you have their own personal experiences with murphy's law.

"sources of errors in a complex system" describes it pretty damn good. during the last couple of days i had to face some sources of errors in my complex work system which, to be honest, have thrown me a little bit off track. i've mentally dealt with them as good as i could and things are coming back together again slowly. let's see how everything turns out at the end. stay tuned.
- norbert

our team keeps getting bigger. let me welcome our newest member - johannes matze - who is our sales representative for the netherlands and belgium since february 01st this year. great to have you aboard! we are looking forward to working with you.

with musikmesse being less than two months away, it was about time that we started to meet with WD+B, a great booth building company with who we have worked for many years now. they do an outstanding job for us at the messe. today we discussed the general booth layouts, structures, and other logistical issues for our booth. as in previous years, we will feature our in-booth-drumshows again. performing for us this year will be three great drummers:

thursday, april 02: gergo borlai, an awesome drummer from hungary
friday, april 03: derek roddy
saturday, april 04: jost nickel

check out their artist profiles and videos. i am especially stoked to present gergo borlai. his videos here on the website have been viewed hundreds of times and received an incredible feedback.

other than that i have been working on finalizing the line-up for the meinl drum festival '09 taking place in moscow. i will have more news about it later this week. so stay tuned.