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My Pearl Story Vol. 2 – Stories from the Pearl Family Around the World
2026-10-27
CATEGORY : events
To celebrate Pearl's 80th Anniversary, we invited drummers around the world to share their personal stories and memories with Pearl.
Here are some of the wonderful stories shared by our Pearl community.
[Tom Moore]
I am on my second set of Pearls. My first kit was a 1989 BLX in 103 Piano Black. I still own it, but I now also have a 2005 Masters Studio kit. To me, Pearl birch drums cannot be beaten. I played many gigs with my ’89 BLX kit, loved every minute of it, and will probably never part with it. Now for my cool Pearl story. I am 67, and three things still get me excited like a 12-year-old: dogs, baseball games, and new drum gear. One of my best act-like-a-kid moments happened around 1993, when I was in the Marine Corps and driving from Virginia to my next duty station in California. I knew Pearl was in Nashville, so I talked my wife into letting me find the Metroplex Drive building—this was before GPS—because I wanted to peek at a building full of drums. We found it late in the day, and you were still open. I thought I might go inside and ask for a couple of stickers or some Pearl swag while trying not to be obtrusive. I approached a woman at the front desk and, in a polite, shy, almost begging tone, said, “Ma’am, I’m driving across the country, and I’m a Pearl customer. I was wondering if I might get a couple of Pearl stickers.” She asked me to wait a minute and returned with a man named Scott. He introduced himself: “Hi, I’m Scott Miller, the artist relations guy. Would you like a tour?” I had to stop myself from jumping up and down. Pretending to be calm, I replied, “If you’re sure it’s no trouble.” The tour was incredible. When we returned, the woman at the front desk had gathered all kinds of Pearl swag for me. I still have the Myron Grombacher, Kenny Aronoff, and Tico Torres posters you gave me hanging in my drum room. It remains one of my best memories.
Thanks again!!
Tom Moore
[t.A.K.a]
桜も散った春先に入学した大学の軽音部。
そこには、後の親友であり、同じドラマーとしてはライバルとして凌ぎを削った戦友が先に入部していた。
「スタンド類の片付け等分かるのか？」と同年ながら、先輩風を吹かせてきていた。
メロコア、パンクが得意な彼。
私は、当時ニューメタル、ヘヴィロックと言われていたジャンルが好み。
使用ペダルは、初期エリミネーターペダル。
彼は、ベルトドライブの赤カム。
私は、チェーンドライブの黒カムと、使い方も真逆。
安定性を向上させるヒンジ部分の無償修理も同時期に依頼。
そして、同じ仕様のツインペダルを購入したのも同時期。
大学の卒業と就職を機にドラムを辞めようと2人で後輩へ使用ペダルを継承。
それから、20年余り経つも、2人とも新しい機材を購入して、細々とドラムを続けている。
そして、私のペダルがアクシデントにより壊れた2026年の夏。Pearlの新製品として発表された「Eliminator Mono Pro Chain Double Pedal」
次に買い換えるならロングボードと決めていたので、エリミネーターユーザーとして、帰還する。そんなことを飲みの席で話してたら、あの時の彼も、発売を心待ちにしているという。
私達のエリミネーターの時間がまた動き出した。
[Brad Kinchen]
I had won a marvelous Pearl snare in a contest with the express idea of giving it my drumming friend, when I gave it to him he was absolutely thrilled with it and watching him integrate it into his kit and make great beats with it was one helluva a wonderful thing.
[Squillz]
When i was 8 I had a completely random, out of nowhere spinal bleed which paralysed me from the chest down. I always hated being labelled as "disabled" and always be encouraged to take part in "wheelchair" X,Y or Z. I just wanted to hang out with my friends who never saw me as different and as the years went by, I knew music was my passion.
I sat behind a drum kit for the first time when I was 14, figured i could operate the kick just by resting my front right wheel on the pedal, putting my brakes on and rocking forward to hit the kick.
I now own a beautiful Pearl Reference which is one of the few things that gives me a reason to get up in the morning. When I play drums, I don't feel disabled. All I'm focusing on is staying in time with the music, and in those blissful moments, I am alive and I am free.
[Kali]
My Pearl story began in 2019 at Rockin’1000 in Frankfurt. I was fourteen years old and that day completely changed my life. I saw with my amazed childlike eyes my very first drum booth and I decided to improvise something, for the first time in front of so many people. I’ll never forget the excitement felt while I was playing “Painkiller” intro, hearing the powerful sound coming out from that Master Maple kit exposed. Thanks to such an unforgettable experience I got amazed by the world of music around me and I understood playing drums would have become my life and biggest dream.
Soon afterwards, I bought my first kit, a vintage black Pearl Export, which accompanied me through all the countless hours of rehearsals, playthroughs and shows across Italy till now. It was an essential part of this journey.
Later at the age of seventeen I started studying with George Kollias: seeing my teacher playing everyday with such a big Pearl Master drumkit made my love for drums even bigger… All my favorite drum legends I looked up to for my entire life were Pearl artists! I became obsessed!
And I had the chance to meet some of these heroes at NAMM Pearl both too. Having the opportunity to get a closeup view of every performance, talking with the entire Pearl team, discovering the instrument deepest details was the biggest inspiration boost ever and I can still feel my heartbeat speeding up when I sit behind a Pearl kit, remembering the true passion they shared with me.
I officially signed with Pearl this year, having the chance to play with wonderful Reference Series double kick kits on my first Australia and Japan tour. And meeting Pearl Japan team on the other side of the world was a true honor!
Now that I am also studying mechanical engineering while touring, would be dream maybe one day to design my next Pearl double pedal!
Looking back, Pearl and everyone from the team have always been there for me in all the major moments of my life, through every single step of my journey, believing in my drumming and helping me becoming the drummer and artist I am today… and the journey has just started.
Happy 80th anniversary, Pearl. Thanks for growing me up everyday like a family.
