"Pearls"

Playing my "Micky Mouse" toy drum-set, Christmas 1974

Spring, 1975, sitting in my father’s blue Ford F-150 I look out aimlessly onto the road as the vague blur of buildings and open fields whiz by.  The balmy evening is a nice reprieve from the cold gusty Wyoming winter.  Life in Cheyenne as a six year old brings a great diversity of activities, depending on the time of year.  Dad smiles while unexpectedly slowing, pulling the vehicle into the parking lot of some unfamiliar retail building.  Stopping the truck he hastily comments that he has some business to attend to at the “Trading Post” and opens the drivers side door. I watch him jump up the small step way to the entrance and disappear inside.  My mother waits in the pickup with me.  Some time goes by. . . In a soft voice I am reassured that it shouldn’t be too much longer.  The door swings open suddenly and a man clammers out taking careful, awkward steps toward our vehicle.  Silhouetted against the parking lot lights I can make out the ever familiar shapes of drums being carried by my father; a bass drum with two tom-toms and a small cymbal attached. Dad opens the topper covered truck bed and loads them in, along with a floor tom, snare drum, and other various parts.  He hops back in the driver's seat.  My parents explain to me while traveling home that they have just bought me a used but professional quality drum-set, the price of which was 250 dollars (a lot of money at the time to be spending on something other than gas, food, and a mortgage).  I am completely taken by surprise.  Evidently, according to them, They felt I showed promise musically after “Santa” had left the toy Micky Mouse drum-set for me over Christmas, the set which I forthrightly played and totally destroyed in a short two week period.   I’m amazed, I’m confused, but most of all, I’m excited . . .

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Performing at the Buffalo Ridge Grade School talent show with the Pearl drum set in it's original format as purchased by my parents. "Drummer Boy" costume made by my mother. Cheyenne, WY. 1976

Playing along to a debut record by Quarterflash. An album that I enjoyed. Las Vegas, NV. 1981. Years later I would become the drummer for the progressive rock band, NORTHSTAR, who's record producer was, ironically, the drummer of Quarterflash, Brian David Willis.

I still have those drums!!!  They are Pearl™ model NC-4DL Deluxe.  They were made in 1972 out of 9 ply fiberglass / mahogany shells with a sparkle blue wrap finish. I remember the drum shells had a discernible but pleasant aroma.  I sometimes would just sit and admire them set up in the corner of the family room, their sparkly finish glistening like tinsel in the dimly lighted expanse.  To my young mind, they were supernatural.  They still do have a very distinct scent, probably due to the composite materials they were put together with.  These were the drums I eventually started and continued my early musical career with. 

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Performing with Las Vegas touring variety show group, Genisis II, 1982

Soundcheck before a performance with CHIVALRY, Great Falls, MT. 1984. The Pearl drums had now been added to a new set of black colored TAMA drums and refinished to match. The Pearls are on the right side of the full kit as viewed in this photo. This is a picture I had given to my Grandmother, Kathryn. Many, many years later, after she passed, this print was returned to my possession. The handwritten note at the bottom reads, "Grandma, To a good person who I love a lot. Thank you for all the support you've given me! Love, Jdj (Jeffrey David Jewkes)."

Promotional shoot for NORTHSTAR, 1986

Recording with NORTHSTAR, 1986

Outdoor concert with NORTHSTAR. The now refinished black colored Pearl drums had a different tuning lug design than the TAMA, as discernible in this snap shot. Salem, OR. 1986

I subsequently retired my revered Pearls from performing and recording service in the summer of 1987.  Since then I’ve recorded and performed with many different drum brands.  To name a few: Slingerland, Yamaha, Gretsch, Dixon, Cannon, Ludwig, TAMA, as well as electronic drums from Simmons and Roland.  All the while drums came and went, were bought and sold, the Pearls remained quietly sequestered in storage, waiting. . .

An image of the last Pearl + Tama drum kit arrangement sitting in the NORTHSTAR rehearsal studio before the whole thing was replaced by a brand new (and even bigger) set of drums. Summer, 1987.

The two tom- toms from the Pearl set did have a short lived existence as part of a small "jazz combo" kit I put together for practicing. They were stained a trans-spice red color.

In the fall of 2014, some 27 years after their official retirement and in preparation for a new venture, I woke these old relics up from their long slumber. I’ve slowly been restoring them and reconfiguring them over the coarse of 2015.  I’ve given them a new color finish.  In a new twist I've installed custom designed and built (by yours truly) electronic triggers.  My plan is to use them in two potential configurations for an upcoming 2016 production: 1. As a fully acoustic set.  2. As part of a hybrid electronic kit.

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Prepping the Pearls for their new finish color, heirloom white. I also re-sealed the inside of the shells and re-cut the drum head bearing edges. Evans, CO. 2014

In the foreground: An electronic kit I built in which I have now reconfigured and color matched to combine with the Pearls to make a "hybrid electronic" kit. The acoustic kit in the background is part of my Gretsch drum-set.

Part of the custom trigger system I built and installed.

Part of the custom trigger system. One sensor is for the drum head, the other is mounted to a shell lug to sense rim shots. This is a snare drum conversion.

Piezoelectric "buzzers" (sensors) purchased from Radio Shack. I use these as transducers to detect the strikes on the the drum head and send the signal to an electronic drum brain or Trigger-to-MIDI interface.

Sanding and cleaning the metal ring of a drum head I cut out in preparation for making a custom built mesh head for electronic triggering.

Testing one of the half scale Simmons SDS-V style electronic drum pads I built.

Sowing in a two layer mesh head using a type of wind screen available in bulk at Home Depot, Lowes, and other hardware stores.

Fully restored 1972 Pearl NC-4DL now in heirloom white, front view.

Fully restored 1972 Pearl NC-4DL in heirloom white, back view.

Dad playing my set in the first incarnation of the NORTHSTAR band room, I always knew he wanted to be a drummer! 1985

Why did I go through the trouble of getting these time-honored drums back in shape you ask? For recording reasons, it’s all about sound.  They have a certain sound I’m after.   For emotional reasons, it’s all about nostalgia. . . This new undertaking is defiantly going to have an aspect that is reflective of my earlier years.  What better way to pay homage to those years than to utilize an instrument from the general era.  Sure, I own other, newer, drums. . .  Sure, I am able to obtain pretty much any kind, type, brand of drum-set I want.  Doing so, however, would not accomplish what is the most important angle to me personally though.  You see, using these particular drums once again is a nod and tip-of-the-hat to my Mom and Dad, two true "pearls" who have ceaselessly admired my talents . . . Two true "pearls" who believed enough in my young abilities to invest their effort and a significant amount of money to provide me with my first set of real drums, an act that laid the ground work for my path in music.  So, ultimately, the motivation to reinstate these drums after all these years is to foster the hope that they might stand as a simple symbolic gesture toward my parents, that every sound they make voices my love and respect.

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Pearl set "hybrid electric" configuration. Summer, Fort Collins, CO. 2015

Pearl set "full electric" configuration. Summer, Fort Collins, CO. 2015