the 2010 musikmesse ended laster saturday. from all the 21 musikmessen i have attended for meinl, this has been the one with the most controversial discussions prior to its start. several companies decided not to attend the show at all, others reduced their floorsplace remarkably, and a heatedly discussion was going on about the extreme noise level in the halls. a lot was going behind the scenes this year.

however once the show started, most of that was forgotten and everyone was just trying to have a good time. after all, it has been another fantastic show for us in every aspect. my personal highlight of the show was accepting the m.i.p.a. award for the byzance vintage benny greb sand ride. once again, thanks to everyone who voted for us. also, thanks to all of you who stopped by at our booth and checked out our new products. your continued support means a lot to me.

here are some fotos i took from our booth.

- norbert

here is a brandnew video which benny greb produced exclusively for us. it features benny's wonderful playing along with our newest cymbal, the byzance vintage sand hat, which we developed togehter with him over the last couple of months.

you can find more information about the sand hat on its respective byzance vintage product page.

if you happen to be at the musikmesse next week you can test the sand hat at our booth in hall 3.0. b25. looking forward to seeing you there, and.....enjoy the video.

- norbert

ps: a big thanks goes to matthias dangel for filming, editing, and mastering this video.

here we are preparing our two poster pillars with the meinl drum festival poster which we got today from the printing shop. both pillars are going to be positioned at various spots of interest for the next couple of months before the festival.

to start with, they will be displayed on the open-air exhibition ground near the agora tent at the upcoming frankfurt musikmesse. watch out for them in case you will be attending messe next week.

pre-sales for the meinl drum festival have started this week. thanks to all who have already ordered their tickets.

- norbert

the plannings for the upcoming meinl drum festival are in full swing. the last couple of days we have applied meinl drum festival decals on all our company cars and trucks. they are on the road in germany, holland and belgium. maybe you will see one of them somewhere on the autobahn?

i am also still working on finalizing the line up. one last performer is going to be added soon. once it is confirmed, i'll let you know. ticket pre-sales have started for both the festival itself, and for benny greb's groove workshop. check out meinldrumfestival.com for details.

- norbert

on february 26th - 28th, the first thomas lang drum camp took place in los angeles, california. thomas himself has made this video here which captures the vibe and atmosphere of the event. check out what the participants had to say about their experience. it seems that thomas' new teaching concept has proven itself to be an efficient and modern teaching method.

four more drum camps are already lined up:

london: april 9-11
berlin: april 18-20
austria: 23-25
new york: june 7-13

check out thomaslandrumcamp.com for more information and also if you want to sign up for it.

- norbert

it all comes together in the end. i remember when i've had the idea to make a benny greb signature ride. it was at the 2008 namm show in los angeles when benny and talked about it for the first time. the reseach and development which followed then has been especially challenging for us. it took 18 months of development time until we were finally able to introduce it at the 2009 summer namm show in nashville. ever since it has become the favourite ride of many drummers.

a few days ago i found out that the sand ride is now nominated for the presitgious m.i.p.a. award in the best-cymbal category. this award is like the grammy of the music-instrument-business. more than 100 magazines from all over the world vote for the best products in more than 40 categories. being nominated already is a great honour. the award ceremony is held every year at the frankfurt musikmesse where the final winners are chosen and i really hope that we will be it!

inspired by the success of the sand ride, we have started to work on a sand hat for benny. last friday finally at a workshop at musik-produktiv in switzerland benny has played the final version of his sand hats for the first time. everyone loved them and we can not wait to finally introduce the byzance vintage benny greb sand hats to the public at the upcoming musikmesse in frankfurt.

from the first signature ride idea to the mipa nomination, more than two years have past. sometimes you just have to be patient and it will eventually all come together in the end.

to all of you who plan to attend the musikmesse: make sure to stop by at our booth b25 in hall 3.0. and check out our new benny greb sand hats.

- norbert

i have just announced the line-up for our this years meinl drum festival. it will take place on june 26th, 2010 here on our premises in gutenstetten, germany.

here it is again:

gergo borlai, hungary
oli rubow (de-phazz) & bertil mark (thomas d), germany, will be doing a drum/percussion duet
dave mackintosh (dragonforce), england
chris coleman (prince, chaka khan, n.k.o.t.b.), usa
thomas lang, austria

there is one more artist to be confirmed. he could not give me his definitive OK so far, but i'm sure i'll be able to announce his name soon too.

our dear friend benny greb will also be part of the meinl drum festival. however, he won't be playing on the main stage. instead he will host an exclusive groove workshop for a limited amount of participants together with the great german bass player frank itt. their master class will be all about musical interaction between drums and bass. this is for sure going to  be an unforgettable lesson for all groove workshop participants.

details about ticket pre-sales for the meinl drum festival as well as details about benny's groove workshop will be announced very shortly on meinldrumfestival.com. so stay tuned.

i'll be on the road in europe for the rest of this week and will be posting on facebook and twitter meanwhile.

- norbert