Thomas Lang's Upcoming Drumming Boot Camp in Milan, Italy from October 31st - November 02nd.

To register go to thomaslangdrumcamp.com

In April 2011, Meinl Cymbals and Meinl Cymbal artist Grant McFarland presented the Meinl Cymbals / Grant McFarland / Classics Custom Video Contest.  This was an online contest that challenged contestants to replicate some great metal drumming. The idea was for the contestants to learn Grant’s drum parts to the This or the Apocalypse song “Toro” and then to record themselves playing those parts along to the song and upload them to a site where Grant and fellow Meinl Cymbal artist and TOTA co-producer Chris Adler could judge the entries and choose a winner.

A winner has been chosen.

Michael Dreilich’s video won Grant and Chris over. According to Grant, “Michael demonstrates great stick control, executes the parts flawlessly, and looks effortless doing it. His foot work is dead on the beat, and over all his playing is right in the pocket, nice and tight.”

Chris had this to say: “Michael showed the most confidence and skill performing the track. His ability and mastery of his kit was apparent in the way he was able to smoothly mimic Grant, a phenomenal artist.”

As winner of the contest, Michael will receive a comprehensive set of Meinl Classics Custom Cymbals, the same series that can be seen and heard in Grant’s original “Toro” video.”

Meinl would like to thank every contestant who took the time to participate. Your hard work and dedication to making the best video and performance possible is much appreciated.

Meinl Cymbals welcomes Caleb Clifton to the cymbals family. Caleb drums for the Tempe, AZ-based metal core band Eyes Set To Kill. 

Caleb and Eyes Set To Kill have been featured on the cover of the US newspaper USA Today and have been listed as one of Alternative Press Magazine's 100 Bands You need To Know. The group just released a new album entitled White Lotus and is currently on tour in support of it.

The Thomas Lang Drumming Bootcamp is coming to FINLAND!

Between October 21st and 23rd, 2011 -- Thomas Lang will take his unique educational drumming event to Scandinavia and host his drumming bootcamp at the Sokos Hotelli Lahden Seurahuone in Lahti/Finland.

WHAT TO EXPECT AT THE THOMAS LANG DRUM CAMP?

At the camp, you can expect three full 8-hour days of INTENSE INTERACTIVE DRUMMING LESSONS!

Thomas will personally guide you through exercises and will help you hone and improve your skills.

You WILL leave the camp a better player.

The Camp runs from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM daily with an hour break for lunch and short beverage breaks throughout the day. That’s 24 hours of intense drumming and learning over the 3 action-packed days!

You will play on a standard 5-piece practice pad kit.

If you own a practice kit, you should bring it to the camp.

If you don’t own one, contact us at info@thomaslangdrumcamp.com regarding.

Students should also bring their own double pedal, a drum throne, sticks and notepads.

To register for the Thomas Lang Drumming Bootcamp in Lahti/Finland click go to thomaslangdrumcamp.com

We recently caught up with Meinl Cymbal artist Alex Lopez from Suicide Silence while the band was out on the Rockstar Mayhem Festival this past summer. Alex gave us a few quick words about his Classics Custom hihats. Check it out!

It's coming! The 2011 Guitar Center Drum Off Contest is just around the corner. Beginning next week on Wednesday, September 13, the initial Store Preliminary Competitions kick off. This is round #1 for the 2011 Guitar Center Drum Off. Two more store preliminary competitions follow on Wednesday, September 20 and Wednesday, September 27. The Store Finals will be on October 04, the District Competitions on October 25, the Regional Competition on November 15 and the Grand Finals on January 07, 2012.

This year's Drum Off marks the first time that Meinl Cymbals has joined forces with Guitar Center as an official sponsor of the most prestigious drumming contest in the US.

When the national finals winner chooses MEINL CYMBALS as his/her cymbal brand of choice, the grand prizes will include but are not limited to:

• THE OPENING PERFORMANCE AT THE 2012 MEINL DRUM FESTIVAL IN GERMANY - AN ALL EXPENSES PAID TRIP TO THE MEINL HEADQUARTERS IN GUTENSTETTEN, GERMANY.
• A TRIP TO MEINL USA TO PERSONALLY HAND PICK A COMPLETE SET OF CYMBALS. ALL EXPENSES PAID.
• A CYMBAL ENDORSEMENT DEAL WITH MEINL CYMBALS
• ...and much more

Meinl Artist DIRK VERBEUREN will proudly join the one and only DEVIN TOWNSEND in London this fall for several exclusive live performances.
With a schedule of four shows in four days, VERBEUREN will be at the helm on two of these limited engagements. Each concert will consist of one album performed in its entirety, in which "Deconstruction" and "Ki" will feature VERBEUREN.

The performance dates are November 10 - 13, 2011 and tickets are currently available on hevydevy.com

All shows will be filmed for a future DVD release.

It has been a busy summer for VERBEUREN with multiple SOILWORK festival appearances across the globe, a recording with renowned ex-Nevermore guitarist JEFF LOOMIS, and currently recording with POWERMAD of Wild at Heart fame.  Additionally VERBEUREN has created Library of the Extreme Volume III, in his personal Die Crawling Studio, which is due out this fall. Volume III is the follow-up to VERBEUREN's acclaimed MIDI libraries The Metal Foundry and Library of the Extreme Vol. I & II released through Toontrack.

Meinl’s Byzance Dark Series is one of the company’s most popular series worldwide. It is used by many professional drummers live and in the studio. Their sound is very versatile and can be used in almost all mainstream genres like Funk and Jazz to Rnb, Rock and Pop.

Especially the Dark Series hihats and ride cymbals are considered to be among the most versatile of their kind. In order to meet the requirements of a lot of Meinl artists, the company has now introduced a 15” Dark Hihat and a 22” Dark Ride cymbal. The larger sizes add a bit more volume and beefyness to the sound which perfectly complements the overall dark sound character of the series.

The new Byzance 15” Dark Hihat has an earthy yet defined sound with a fairly low pitch and a short sustain. The new Byzance 22” Dark Ride has a low frequency range with a dark and earthy sound character. The bell sound has a defined ping. Both cymbals feature an untreated finish for a traditional look.