Neil Peart's Steampunk tour kit at Just Drums

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Intro


$am Albidone's impressions


Photos


  

 

Intro

On November 15, 2014, Just Drums in Toronto, Canada, hosted an afternoon showing of Neil Peart's Time Machine drum kit. Neil's longtime drum tech, Lorne Wheaton, and Darren Schoepp from Roland Drums were on also on hand to answer questions.

For those of us who couldn't be there, Just Drums, Roland Canada, and many fans posted photos throughout the day. This was one of my favorites:

In addition, drummer $am Albidone shared a nice write-up of the event, as well as many detailed photos of Neil's kit. Thanks to $am for sharing his story and all the photos!

A Great Day to Live Near Toronto: Seeing Neil Peart's Clockwork Angels "steampunk" drum kit

Text by $am Albidone

Contributing photographers: $am Albidone, Mike F. D. Deyo, Bruce Lee

I've often posted how great it is to live in Burlington, Ontario, Canada. Burlington is the half way point between Niagara Falls and Toronto. We receive rock radio stations from Toronto, Hamilton, St. Catharines, and Buffalo, New York. At any given time you're sure to find Rush playing on the radio. Saturday, November 15, 2014, was an excellent day to live close to Toronto. Neil Peart’s "steampunk" Clockwork Angels drum kit was on display at Just Drums in Toronto.
 
As we arrived around 10:30 a.m. (the event was from noon to 4:00 p.m.), a lineup of around 25 people had already begun. The store, normally open at that time, was closed and would begin letting people in at 12 noon. Being a mighty and influential member of the community, I was able to get in prior to everyone else.  Not really. A friend who was accompanying me has a friend who works at Just Drums, so we were allowed to get in through the rear "employee-only" entrance (so much for mighty and influential). He knew I was not only a huge Rush and Neil Peart fan—but also a drummer in a Rush tribute band called Wavelength using a Neil replica kit. I will forever be grateful for the access he gave us.


$am Albidone with his DW Neil Peart replica kit

As I approached the back entrance who comes walking up? Lorne Wheaton! He graciously shook my hand and greeted me with a "good morning."


$am Albidone with Neil Peart's drum tech Lorne Wheaton

When we walked in, there it was, in the center of the room, on the custom riser, Neil’s Clockwork Angels kit. The room had only a handful of people, employees of Just Drums, a guy doing some filming and some reps from Roland Drums. We had unlimited access and an unobstructed view of the kit for approximately an hour before everyone came in, so I was able to get some great, up-close shots. 


The Clockwork Angels drum kit: A work of art
 

(Please visit the album on my Facebook page for additional photos.)
 
At 12 noon the doors opened and Just Drums flooded with people. As we all know, the drum set created by DW Drums and Sabian Cymbals is a masterpiece. Everyone was blown away and snapped photo after photo of Neil’s kit, most with mouth and eyes wide open. It was understood—look, but don’t touch.


Clockwork Angels drum kit detail

Lorne Wheaton remained available to anybody and everybody who had questions or simply wanted a photo. Also present was Darren Schoepp from Roland Drums. Darren is the man who teaches Lorne EVERYTHING about the Roland Drums and often times gets a shout out from Neil in the concert tour books. Lorne had his drum rig there that he uses to control all the sounds during the shows, including the two TD-30 brains and assorted sound banks. The drum kit electronics were not wired, but it appeared that the rotation device was there. However, while I was there I did not see the riser rotate. 


Roland TD-30 brains loaded with "2112" and "Grand Designs" samples

There were Roland stations set up throughout the store so you could play and sample different electronic kits. They had created a very special Roland kit that was set up in the configuration of Neil Peart’s acoustic kit. The Roland shells were wrapped in a one-of-a-kind steampunk finish. Very cool and very well done. One drum was even personally signed by Neil Peart. The custom wraps were created by Nathan McLaren from NM Custom Drums. This kit was available for people to play and sample, which I was happen to take advantage of. There were special drawings of Just Drums t-shirts, Roland headphones, and sticks from Neil Peart’s private stick bag—the sticks specially made for Neil with the NP logo on them.


Roland drums with custom Steampunk finish and Neil Peart autograph (courtesy of Roland Canada)
Overall it was a fantastic day and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see this amazing Clockwork Angels piece-of-art drum kit.  Words can’t describe it. The pictures say it all. It was special knowing that this kit had travelled all over the world and had been played by the master Neil Peart.
 
The staff of Just Drums, Lorne Wheaton, and Darren Schoepp were all amazing and very accommodating to everyone. Truly an amazing day. Today was a great day to live close to Toronto.

$am Albidone - Facebook page 

Wavelength, A Tribute to Rush - Facebook page

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