Pork Pie Drumhead

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Pride. We hear a lot of people say this word. To be honest,

it is too often used and without proper context. Pride has to be

earned; it is forged and tempered by experience and heartfelt

effort. When you have worked hard and proven yourself

through trials and tribulations, failure and success, you

cultivate pride. Im not speaking about a sense of superiority

but rather, a place of respect that deserves admiration.

When you look at the Pork Pie website (www.porkpiedrums.

com), you see a photo of Bill Detamores hands. Bill has a

right to feel pride. Pork Pie is a well-known and respected

company that has earned its place among the goliaths in

the drum and percussion industry. Bill understands that this

success storys most vital tools are his handsokay, maybe

his brain and a lot of sweat as well. The Pork Pie motto is

Made By An American. This simple phrase reveals that

Detamore gets it. He understands that there is a difference

between the American Spirit and just claiming that a product

is made in the United States. That difference is pride. Pride,

which has been earned.

Pork Pie wasnt always such a recognizable name and

its CEO wasnt always the man he is today. Bill has been

through a few incarnations and wears several hats to this

day. Everyone whom I spoke with about Bill Detamore

describes him as a workhorse, the type of guy who will make

it happen. Some of the stories I heard about his determination

and constitution are so remarkable that they almost seem

unbelievable, and yet those who tell them swear they are

true. Pork Pie made its success happen the old-fashioned

way, by earning it.

Speak with anyone in the industry and they know Pork Pie

and its owner. One of the reasons that Bill is so respected,

besides the obvious high quality of his products, is that

the man has worked at every level of the business. Hes

still cutting bearing edges, holding business meetings and

managing his staff. Depending on what hour of the day

you show up, you will nd either blue-collar or white-collarDetamore. Im sure Bill would be much more comfortable

with the blue-collar moniker. Success is something that he is

comfortable and happy with, but he still loves the hands-on

approach. This is the reason that Pork Pies quality has

always been at such a high level. Its an open secret that

Bill does a lot of custom work for other companies and high-

prole clients. He is not allowed to say who the work is for,so lets just say that you know these companies already. The

result of this is Bills secret-agent status. This is yet more

proof that Bills work is respected (and maybe feared) by the

leaders of the industry. He just smiles and states that he is

happy people appreciate his work.

Part of what makes Bill Detamores story so entertaining

and inspiring is the fact that he started out as many of us do,

with a desire to play drums. It is a common factor that we all

share. Ever connected to his roots, Detamore still lives in the

Made By An AmericanBY KELLY KING


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house that he grew up in, raising his family within the same

walls where he rst began discovering and playing drums.There may have been some updates to the home, but it is

still the same place where a 16-year-old Detamore began

jamming along to Led Zeppelin. Its also where Bill began his

foray into drum making, out of necessity more than anything.

Bill impresses upon one of his daughters the virtue of a

savings account while simultaneously recalling his early

drumming days; there is a unifying theme. He recalls, My

parents were raised during the Depression. They understood

the value of a dollar. They wanted me to understand the

concept of wanting something and earning it. When I said thatI wanted to play drums they said, Okay, but were not going

to help you. Youre going to have to do it all on your own.

I was determined. The only problem was, I didnt know

how to go about getting the money together. Id been to music

stores and knew how much a new drum set would cost. I

was not going to be able to afford that. I got a bass drum and

a 13 tom from someone. I got a bass pedal and a snare. I

didnt have a mount for the tom, so I fashioned a wire into a

mounting piece. The tom just hung there.

There was a guy who lived up the street and played

drums. One day I went over to his house to see his kit. He

had a huge drum set! I couldnt believe it! I asked him how he

could afford this mammoth setup. He explained that he wouldgo to these different places and buy a used drum or stand

or cymbal, whatever, and then piece them together. I didnt

know it, but this was the starting point for my future.

I began going to drum stores (like JD Wilson Music) and

buying used drums. I started taking them apart to see how

they were constructed and how everything worked. I would

refurbish them and sell them in The Recycler. My dad had

every kind of tool imaginable for me to use. He painted cars

and taught me how to paint. I started reading and learning

about bearing edges. At some point I was completely redoing

the drums. It was my own little business. I never thought it

would turn into a lifelong career. I was just trying to support

my drum habit.

The same desire, struggle and ingenuity would culminate

in a lifelong pursuit of building the kind of quality instrument

that I have always wanted to play, as Bill puts it. This is the

beginning of pride, this perspective of I want the best and I

can also share it with others. To understand how Pork Pie

became an entity, one needs to go back to understanding

Detamores parents inuence.

WORKING DAY AND NIGHT

Bills parents strongly instilled the ideals of responsibility

and practicality in him. Though his mind was always focused

on drums and drumming, his folks thought he should pursuean education. Detamore agreed halfheartedly. He reveals,

I never did the cover-band thing. I was always in original

bands. My rst band experience was in 1980. My rst gigwas at the West Valley Supper Club off of Ventura Blvd.

The venue was about the size of my house, but it was very

cool. I still have the poster from that gig. My band played

on Wednesday and two nights later, the original lineup of

Missing Persons played. I have the poster to prove it. I

always enjoyed rehearsals and gigs, all of that, but I realized

early on that I didnt have the mental capacity to sit around a

hotel room with three other guys waiting to shower. Hanging

around for two or three hours after soundcheck is not my idea

of fun. I decided that it was best to keep playing music as afun thing rather than a vocation.

I went to school and got an AA in Graphic Arts. Recalling

the mindset of my parents, I put my degree to use right away

and worked on the Space Shuttle program for the next veyears. The job was cool but I still continued my drum building.

I understood the need to earn a living, but I also wanted a

business that I loved and could call my own. This was around

87 or 88. The only responsibilities I had were my place, mycar and my dog. I was working a lot, but I didnt have a lot to

pay for, so I was doing okay.

Give a guy like Bill Detamore some time and the word

starts to get around. Bill states, I was starting to get a

reputation for the drum thing when John Good of DW called

me. The guy who was doing their nishing wasnt working out


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and they were getting ready for NAMM. They asked if I could

come help out. I had this government job working on the

Shuttle and knew that I would be getting the holiday vacation

time off, plus I had vacation time coming. Together that gave

me two weeks to help DW get ready for NAMM.

Drum Workshop was happy with my work and asked me to

keep coming back even after NAMM. For six months I would

work my day job and then go straight to DW and work, in

addition to still working on my own drums. It was running meinto the ground. I was too tired and nally told John [Good]that he would either hire me on full time or I wouldnt be

able to come back. The 60-70 hours per week at the day jobfollowed by two other jobs just wasnt working.

I gave notice at my day job on June 1st and started full

time at DW on June 15th of the same year, so I guess they

liked me.[Laughs] It was a matter of the right timing for me.I was young enough and without any major responsibilities. It

was the right time for me to take a risk and believe in myself.

The biggest step would happen when Bill would make Pork

Pie his sole professional focus.

GET PORKEDThere is no denying that the drums made by Pork Pie

Percussion are amazing. Bill Detamore took a lifetime of

research and study and channeled it into a ne product. PorkPie prides itself on being the place where you can build your

personal dream kit or hot rod what you have. Whether you

are getting a maple kit, acrylic kit or snare drum, every single

drum is signed by Detamore. Its the customers assurance

that Bill stands behind every product and has a connection

with each customer. He wants his hands to be a part of every

instrument that comes out of Pork Pie.

It cannot go unmentioned that Pork Pie drum thrones

turned the industry around. In fact, if you search YouTube,you can nd a promo from another major drum company thatcontains a long tracking shot of the workers, about a dozen

of them, all sitting on Pork Pie thrones as they work. That

alone speaks volumes. So how does Bill produce such great

drums? He is an open book about his methods.

Detamore comments, We could talk for a long time about

different materials and their properties. I love maple drums

and always have loved them. Different drummers want sonic

qualities that certain materials bring to the table. We offer

these possibilities.

The true difference in what makes a drum sound goodis the bearing edge. That is no secret. I have a specic waythat I do things and a reason for doing it that way. It takes

knowledge but also skill to do it. Just like playing drums. You

might know what someone is playing, and even how they are

playing it, but executing it well is a whole other challenge.

Its Bills love of one particular company that led to his style

of cutting edges. He reveals, Just as I love maple shells, I

also love Remo drumheads. Im not knocking what the other

companies do; its just that my tastes lean towards Remo.

The problem with most drums, even new ones, is that the

bearing edge doesnt meet the head at the proper angle.

This wasnt even a consideration back in the days of calfskin

heads. A calfskin head is dried and molds to the form of thedrum and edge. It always ts correctly. But plastic, that isdifferent. Its not going to change. A head might pull, but

otherwise you have one specic preformed shape and angle.I cut my bearing edges to meet that angle exactly.

The edges on Pork Pie toms are 45 degrees and then I

do a round-over counter-cut from the inside out. Long ago I

gured out the radius of the collar on the drumhead and hadcustom router bits made to match that. See kids, geometry

can be applicable in real life! Of course, a great bearing edge

is only part of a great sounding drum, but it is all related.

Bill continues, To make a drum resonate as much as

it wants, you have to have as little stress as possible on

everything. An isolation system takes the stress off of theshell. A tom mount that goes into the shell will stie it. Toneis lost from stress on the shell. That will eventually lead to


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a shell going out of round. The way

that you mount your drums will have

short-term and long-term effects on the

sound of that drum. There needs to be

a holistic approach to the construction

and maintenance of your drum, just like

your carif its a classic.

Different drums have different voicesand purposes; hence they need an

individual approach. Detamore notes,

My bass drums have a 60 degreeedge, or a 30 degree, depending onwhich side you are looking at. The

counter cut is bigger coming from the

outside of my bass drums. The simple

reason for this is that a bass drumhead

has a larger collar than a tom head. Old

Ludwigs had a 60 degree edge on theinside. The radius on the top was giant!

I have people that bring me their old

Ludwigs to redo the edges. I will take

it and just give it some denition. Thebiggest thing is to make it at; youllnever nd one that is at and round. Ijust tell people to let me do my thing

and if they dont like it I will redo it for

free. In all the times I have redone those

EXTRA BACON PLEASE

Bill Detamore has done work for a very respectable clientele, which includes

some of the drum communitys most highly recognizable names. During one

year alone, Bill worked on 12 drum sets for Metallicas Lars Ulrich. This was back

when Lars had the double-bass, multi-tom behemoth. Ulrich was just one of many

important drummers Bill has worked for. With his many years of toil and high-

prole artists, there are bound to be some interesting stories. One in particularstood out to Drumhead.

Detamore states, One day I got a call from Joe Hibbs. He said that Nick

Menza (the drummer for Megadeth at the time) wanted an acrylic kit. This was

quite a long time ago, before everyone was working with acrylics. It wasnt a

popular material like it is now. You could only get the shells from Zickos.

At this time I had never worked with acrylic. Anyone who knows about it can tell

you that acrylic is not easy to work with. It is not as forgiving as wood and other

materials. I knew that I needed to do some homework. I went to a place that sells

sheets of acrylic and bought several. I spoke with the people that worked there

because I knew they would have experience with it, and they had probably heard

a lot of stories, good and bad.

I did my research and tried different things to get familiar with the material

before I actually started working on the shells. I gured it out. Nick had requestedtwo kits, one for stage and one as a backup. Each kit was double bass, two racks

and two oor toms with a snare. That was a tall order. Bruce Jacoby (now atRemo) was Nicks drum tech, and at that time a he was coordinating a lot of this.

The big obstacle was that I had two days for this whole process! I started at 7 a.m.one day and worked almost 40 hours straight with no breaks.

As I was working, a semi pulled up to my house. It was the bands equipment

truck. There was a guy working for the band to load them on the truck. As I was

putting the drumheads on the kit, he was loading them into the cases. He was very

cool about it and told me no rush, but I knew that I needed to get everything ready

ASAP. I slapped those heads on without him having to wait for me.

I relaxed after two days of straight work knowing that I made it happen and

kept everyone happy. The rst thing I did was reward myself with a great big pizza.The funniest part is that I was told Nick played them at one show and decided that

he wanted wood instead of acrylic. So they are probably sitting in a ight case

somewhere, brand new. I have to say, he really appreciated the work though,because a few weeks later a platinum album showed up for me as a thank you.

REAL PORK, NOT THAT VEGETARIAN STUFF

You have to be reliable in business. If you take advantage of your customers,

you wont last long. Hopefully your customers appreciate that sentiment, but it can

sometimes be a costly lesson for a business owner, as Bill can personally attest.

He comments, Jim Carnelli has become a good friend of mine. He was also my

rst customer. He called me up and said the he had a new Noble & Cooley snarethat he had purchased from Valley Arts. He wanted me to cut the edges for him.

It was June and it was so hot that I was sweating like crazy. Jim was sitting in a

chair at my shop, watching me work.

I had literally just started working on the edges when the drum slipped out ofmy hand and onto the router, which took a huge chunk out of it. The rst thing Ithought to myself was Oh no, is this an omen for what my life is going to be like

as a drum maker and business owner?

I turned everything off and said to Jim Ive just ruined your drum. He walked

over, took a look at it and calmly asked me what we were going to do about it. I got

on the phone and called my friend Gary at Valley Arts, explained the situation, and

asked to buy a Noble & Cooley snare to replace the one I just ruined. Gary knew Ihad just left my job to start my own business and gave me a great deal. Well, Jim

and I got in the car and drove over to Valley Arts and I bought a new drum right

then and there. Jim is a good client and a good friend to this day. He told me that

as soon as I told him to get in the car so I could go buy him a new snare, he knew

that he could trust me with his life. That kind of integrity and responsibility is very

important to me as a person and as a businessman.


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old Ludwigs, Ive never had anyone

ask me to redo them after I put my

edges on them. It just makes them

easier to tune.

Back when Pork Pie was a one-

man operation, cutting bearing

edges was a big part of Bills

business. He recalls, From 92 to97 I did bearing edges on three tove kits per week. Since I was theonly Pork Pie employee, the money

was pretty good. I dont do thatmany now. Unless they were manufactured

that way, modern drums dont usually go out

of round. Due to cross lamination and hard

woods, they stay true to shape.

MAKING A SILK PURSE

The vintage-drum business has exploded

in the last several years. Part of the interest

from the drum community is based on

a return to the good ol days and part

of it is due to the ne craftsmanship. A

man like Bill Detamore understands thetruth and the misconceptions that

many have about this type of gear.

As someone whom has worked

extensively with the prized, vintage

kits of famous and not-so-famous

drummers, he has seen the inner

workings of these kits. He knows

their strong and weak points.

Bill points out that a drum is not

great just because it was made

in a certain era or has a logo

or badge on it. You dont know

that a drum is good just by the

name, Detamore declares. You

can make some assumptions, but

until you take it apart it is anyones

guess. I have certain drums that I

appreciate. One key factor is that

drum making has really come a

long way. For example, some of

the thinner shells that were made

require reinforcement hoops. If

they didnt have these, the shells

would go out of round. They had a

layer of poplar inside, and that is

not a strong wood. They may

sound good, but they arent

that sturdy, which is why many

of them dont last. They just

cant stand up to the abuse that

most gigging drummers put on

them. Just natural wear and

tear takes a lot out of a thinner

shell like that.

Some of the equation

comes down to understanding

and nances. Bill comments,

Because there is such interestin the vintage thing, I will get

people that purchase these kits

and bring them to me. They want

to take them out on the road. I

had a guy who brought in ve kitsthat he had bought. These are

drums from a huge company. Not

a single one of the kits had shells

that were still round. The problem

with many of these vintage kits is

that they need a lot of work. The

bearing edges are bad, hoops are

bent and the hardware is in awful

shape. These things are all xable,but once youve spent $1,500 on a kit, youllneed to spend another $1,000 just to get itready to be played. There are exceptions,

but this is the norm more than most people

like to admit.

When it comes to working on someone

elses drums, Pork Pies work is not limitedt

o the individual. The dirty little secret is that

Detamore has done and continues to do

work for many companies out there. To be

blunt, there is assembly line and there is

craftsmanship. When you want something

done very well, you take it to an artist.However, you can push that expert

too far. Bill explains, I do a lot of

work for other companies. I cant

really talk about the current ones

because of our agreements. He

recalls, The rst NAMM show I didwas in 91. I was working on kitsfor Tim Alexander of Primus and

Brain of the Limbomaniacs, doing

a custom nish for Alan White ofYes, and preparing for NAMM all

at the same time. Ill never forget

how tired I was! I was working two

to three days at a shot on no sleep.

Something amazing happened

because of that show. I received a

call from Joe Hibbs, who was with

Tama at the time. He explained that

they had the Ibanez Custom Shop

in North Hollywood and that they

wanted a custom shop for Tama

(both are part of Hoshino) to do

bearing edges and whatever for

their artists.

Joe asked if he could come

over to my place and discuss

it. He came over with another

gentleman from Tama. Ill never

forget that it was the rainiest

day I can remember, ever. I

was hoping that this wasnt an

omen. Ha! We talked and they

asked me to do a test on some

drums. They werent looking

for a favor or freebie, they just

wanted to see what I would do.

It was bearing edges.

Joe and I became greatfriends through the years. I

ended up doing work for a lot


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of Tamas artists: Simon Phillips, Mike

Baird and others. It was at this time

that I met this young Tama artist who

was getting talked about so much. He

was playing with a guitarist named

Joe Satriani. This whiz kid would later

become editor-in-chief of Drumhead

magazine, Jonathan Mover.

The relationships that you make and

the work people do, their ethics, these

things all come into play later in life.

Mike Baird is a really important guy tome. He is completely honest. If I want

the straight truth about something, Ill

call him. He will come over and check

it out. If he doesnt like it, he will say,

point blank, that he is not into it. Thats

precious to me. The same goes for Joe

Hibbs. We have a professional and

personal respect. When Joe left Tama

to go to Premier, he took my custom

work with him.

When we refer to an artist in the

pages of Drumhead, it is almost always

in reference to someone who has beensuccessful as a performing musician.

In fact, most of those involved in the

industry are musicians, even if it is not

the sole focus of their vocation. The

moniker successful and admired artist

perfectly describes Bill Detamore.

The great drummers that we all

admire have risen from obscurity and

honed their craft, making a name for

themselves. They had a unique voice

that separated them from the others.

A spark would start a re and attentionwould be gained. The oldguard would

take notice, and eventually that fresh

voice would be heard, maybe even

inspire imitators.

One of the most inspiring moments

is when someone is creative and

successful without stepping on others.

There is nobility that comes with that.

We would all probably like to know who

uses Bills work and keeps it hush-

hush, but Bill refuses to reveal that

information. He allows others to gain

from his abilities, all the while pouring

his heart into his true voice, Pork Pie

Percussion.

There is something touching about

people who do something because

they feel it in their core, not for

personal or nancial gain. It is evenmore heartwarming to see that calling

achieving successbecause it is done

for the right reason. There is a name

for the personal feeling one gets from

this way of life: pride.

The Pig Gave It Awayby Corey Manske

In the mid-90s during spring break from college, I traveled to Southern California tovisit a fellow musician buddy. While checking things off my list of tourist attractions to

see in Hollywood, I made my very rst visit to Guitar Center. At the time, Primus washuge and I was a big Tim Alexander fan, so actually being able to see Pork Pie drums

up close was a treat. I remember drooling over a high-gloss side snare and admiring

the now-familiar Pork Pie pig stamped on the batter- and snare-side heads.

I was enamored and I asked the employee behind the counter if he had any

literature on Pork Pie. He handed me a pamphlet, if I remember correctly, and on the

back there was an address. Not being from California, I asked my buddy how far we

were from Canoga Park. He gured we were 30 minutes away and seemed up for theadventure when I begged him to go check out the drum-building factory with me. We

never found a factory in the middle of that beautiful residential area. Instead, we argued

about where we were on that particular page of the Thomas Guide(this all preceded

widespread GPS). We agreed to take one last pass and hed check the left while I

checked the right. Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw something familiar. I

asked him to stop and back up. There, painted on the backboard of the basketball hoop

on the driveway of a nice house was THE PIG! The license-plate border on the car in

the driveway read: Pork Pie Drums - Get Porked! Turns out, it wasnt a factory at all.

I walked up to the front door and nervously rang the bell. No one came. I knocked

on the door. Still, no one came. I pulled out a business card for the band I played in

at the time and jotted a quick note on the back. Noticing a few pairs of shoes on the

front porch, I slid the business card with a demo tape into a pair of slip-on Vans. I was

bummed as I walked back to my buddys truck, but then we both perked-up as we

heard some noise coming from the backyard. I stopped, peered over the gate and

noticed lacquered drum shells drying in the sun on the eaves of the detached garage.

I could hear a saw and electric sanders. I peeked through the gate and tried to get

someones attention. Eventually a man covered in sawdust came to greet me. He

was Bill Detamore and for the rst time in my drum-geek life, I knew how it felt to bestar-struck.

I admitted to leaving a demo tape in his shoe on the porch, mentioned being a bigTim Alexander fan and gushed about how amazing his drums sounded. Bill recounted

a recent conversation with Tim about some new drums and spoke with real verve

about his drum-making process. I was inspired, and as I began to thank him for his

time, he asked if Id like to see the kit they nished the day before. Of course I agreed.He opened the door to reveal the stacked kit and I was speechless. It was a larger kit,

blue stain over beautiful wood grain, if I remember correctly, and the chrome of the

now-famous hourglass lugs gleamed in the sunlight. It was stunning. I thanked him

again as we shook hands and I returned to the truck. My rst trip to Magic Mountainthe next day didnt hold a candle to 20 minutes at Pork Pie talking to Bill.

A half-dozen years later I moved to Southern California to pursue a career in music

and ended up getting a job building drums at Orange County Drums & Percussion.

Back then, those custom drums were built by a handful of us in a small warehouse ina Santa Ana industrial park. A few months later, I attended my rst NAMM show (andseveral to follow) as a drum builder for OCDP.

At that NAMM show, and at every show since, Ive enjoyed visiting with Bill. Though

we were technically competitors, there was always a positive sense of camaraderie

and mutual respect between OCDP and Pork Pie. Each year we recall how we met

that day so many years ago. We talk about how much has changed. He shows me all

of his new beautifully crafted creations and with a handshake and a smile, we celebrate

the legacy that is Pork Pie Percussion. Bill has had an immeasurable impact on the

drumming community and likely has made a zillion friends as a result, but with his

genuine warmth and passion for his craft, he makes me feel like Im the most important

person on Earth for ve minutes a year. Its an honor to know you, Bill. Congratulations

to you and everyone at Pork Pie for your continuing success!WEBFOOT

www.porkpiedrums.com

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