interview by Raquel Pinheiro; photos: courtesy of Repercussion Drums (RD)
Andrew Johnson and I met through an interview I conducted with Simon Gilbert (of Suede). There were certain specifications regarding Simon’s 5000 years bog oak snare drum I needed to be certain of. As these things go, Andrew’s snares, drum kits, the wood he sources, how he crafts the drums marveled me and I have been wanting to interview him ever since. Andrew has had a few jobs, from city trader to freelance photographer, and has been drumming for the last 25 years. Andrew, for whom music has always held a strong interest, set up Repercussion Drums in 2017.
Repercurssion Drums specializes in making hand made snare drums and drum kits, in a workshop that sits in the shadow of the magical Glastonbury Tor. Andrew’s snares and kits have a unique look and the sound of the ancient landscape that sorrounds his worshop can almost be heard in the instruments he makes.
There is a lot to cover with Andrew. Here, we talk about thousands of years old wood, stave construction, colours, snare drums and other mystic, magical places.
01 – “We are on a mission to find wood that can tell its own story..” How does this sentence from your website translates into the drum? What story do the drums tell after being made and played?
I’m fascinated, and always have been, by the ‘sense of place’ that an object holds within it and its connection with the environment that it was surrounded by. An old bottle that you might find in an old house or in the ground, has a story within it, so in one sense it has ‘witnessed’ many things, however mundane they might be.
With the tone wood that I try to find, I am looking for a piece of wood that (if it could talk) has a story to tell. The wood from San Quentin prison that I bought from a lumber yard in California, was in place when Johnny Cash played a concert in the prison… hidden inside that wood is the story of that concert.
As humans we can perhaps feel that connection on some sort of level, I believe. It has no discernable and measurable effect on the drum sound itself, but it connects the player with the instrument on a fundamental level as she/he channel their musical idols in the pursuit of a perfect and heartfelt musical performance.
02 – What took you to search wood in both unusual as well as iconic places such as The Hollywood Bowl, San Quentin Prison Hospital, etc? You’ve incorporated the numbers of the Hollywood Bowl seats on snare drums. Why and what other delightful surprises do you incorporate on the drums?
Most of this is answered above but in the case of the Hollywood Bowl Series; this venue has played host to all the big stars of opera, swing, jazz and rock and in a sense, the seating at the venue has witnessed ALL of these performances – this fascinates me.
03 – What is stave construction, how does it differ from other construction methods and how it impacts the sound of the drums? Why did you choose this construction method?
Stave drums are built like a cooper makes a barrel. The drum consists of 20 staves, each one cut at a precise angle so that when they are all put together, they form a circle. Each stave is glued to the one beside it. Once the glue has set they are put on a ‘jig’ that removes the wood from the outside and inside (two separate processes), forming a perfect cylinder. There are several more processes before you have a working instrument.
The other method, and the one that is used by all the mass producers, is a wrapped ply method. Several layers of very thin plywood are formed around a metal cyliner and all glued together, producing a perfect cylinder.I chose the stave method because it accentuates the character of the wood in a way that is impossible for the wrapped ply method.Stave construction is not an option for mass production – too much waste, too many man hours, too many processes.
04 – You use 5000 years old English bog oak wood for some of the snare drums and kits you build. Are there differences, in technique and feeling, between working with thousands of years old wood and much more recent wood? Why and when did you start using 5000 years old English bog oak wood?
I love to work with the bog oak. It has a beautiful feel to it and every moment that i’m working with it i’m wondering what the treee that this piece of wood came from has witnessed. Given that it is over 5000 years old, did it ever see a human?, did a early ancestor touch this tree? Were it’s neighbours cut down to produce houses and boats? What was it like as sea levels rose and it was consumed by the bog which eventually claimed it etc., etc.
To work, it is similar to other oak but is a bit harder and more brittle which brings its own challenges! It is black due to the chemical reaction between the tannin in the wood and the qcidid conditions in the bog in which it has been sat. The longer in those conditions, the deeper the black of the wood.I’ve been using the wood for about ten years. I met a local wood worker who gave me a bit to work with and I was hooked – primarily to the history of this amazing resource.
05 – One thing that stands out on Repercussion Drums kits are the colours. Liike the yellow, my favourite colour, on the Val di Fiemme kit. But there is a very special colour for you, Klein Blue.Why is it so, where do you source the pigment, what draws you to Klein blue?
As a part time painter, I have always loved colour. I remember going to an Yves Klein exhibition in London some time ago and being totally transfixed by his own colour, Klein Blue. It was as if you could dive into the painting… such depth of colour!! Many people have tried to recreate that blue – they get close but when you view it up against the real Klein blue you realise what an incredible colour Klein Blue is.
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