In the middle of my first year of junior high school, I decided to switch from trumpet to drums. Using the money from a neighborhood paper route, I was able to purchase my first kit with the help of my parents: a Rogers R-360 kit.
This kit was a workhorse for the next 15 years. From junior high and high school jazz bands to an original punk band to jazz combo gigs to playing at church to recording sessions and finally serving me for several years of original funk and rock bands in Seattle.
These drums survived a house fire in the 90s in Seattle with only the maroon wraps melted off and tarnished hardware. After stripping off the wraps, my Mom hand painted the shells giving them a northwest flavor in my favorite colors of purple, black and silver. A fresh set of heads, and these were back in business being used for recordings, jams and shows in Seattle and then the Atlanta area up to the end of the 90s.
In 2000, a 15-year rest period began for this kit as I decided to pursue skydiving full time.
In 2015, I dug these out of the closet to start getting back up to speed to play for a local church. Within a few weeks of practice, the lug hardware started to fail and crumble. I replaced my original pride & joy with a custom DW kit, but started working at the same time on restoring these Rogers drums.
After installing new lug hardware, cleaning up the bearing edges and replacing heads, my first Rogers kit was singing again.
This kit is now the full-time travel/show kit used with Red Hot Empty and is part of Mike’s Drum Tracking recording gear. Check her out in these clips below: