Howdy y'all

LonestarSapper

LonestarSapper

Member
Howdy fellow skin beaters. New member here. I have been dreaming of having my own drum set since I was maybe 12 or 13. I never thought I would ever own one beings as how expensive they are. I'm a disabled Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran that suffers from severe depression and PTSD. I have only played a handful of times in my life and I guess you could say that I am a kind of idiot savant on the drums. My wife heard me playing once back in 2018 and was shocked that her husband could play. Not to say I'm on par with Danny Carey or even remotely any good. Anyway, I digress. She noticed that after playing, even for the short time I did play, that my mood and entire outlook on the world were very much improved. She kept encouraging me to get a kit somehow, but our funds are not great. Very much inadequate to even make it through many months. Anyway, to stop her nagging (lol) I started looking for any programs for veterans out there that might be able to help. I found a great organization based here in Texas called Soldiers Songs and Voices (https://www.soldiersongsandvoices.com/) that gives veterans with PTSD and other mental health issues guitars and other stringed instruments. I reached out anyway and the awesome guy that started the organization asked me to call him. He did his best to find me a kit but kept striking out. I reached out to a few Facebook groups and ended up with two kits and a bunch of nice cymbals. One kit is a 5 piece Tama set that a Marine sent to me which I have dubbed the Devil Dog set and the other kit is a 5 piece Premier Royale. After all that being said I am wondering if anyone can help me find out if the Premier is a junior kit because it looks smaller than the Tama. Any help is greatly appreciated.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20221128_232942672.jpg
    IMG_20221128_232942672.jpg
    192.5 KB · Views: 11
  • IMG_20221128_232949826.jpg
    IMG_20221128_232949826.jpg
    153 KB · Views: 11
  • IMG_20221128_233210172.jpg
    IMG_20221128_233210172.jpg
    188.4 KB · Views: 10
  • IMG_20221128_233713112.jpg
    IMG_20221128_233713112.jpg
    127.6 KB · Views: 11
JimmyM said:
Can’t help you with the set, but I am very glad you found something that is useful to help you out with your situation. Much respect!
Click to expand...
Thank you very much, Jimmy. We are now facing the challenge of getting the Devil Dog to fit in our little 5th wheel trailer lol. And I need a few more cymbal stands and a throne. Lol Much respect and love back at you.
 
Here is the Devil Dog almost set up. Tight fit lol
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20221129_003133428.jpg
    IMG_20221129_003133428.jpg
    248.7 KB · Views: 18
Welcome to Drummerworld ...... and thank you for your service.

The Premier Royale was an entry/mid level kit, from the early 80's. Judging from this short video, they should sound great, with the right heads on 'em. I believe the shells were mahogany.


Don't see a bass drum in your picture, but the 3 toms look like power toms ..... and all rack toms, no floor tom. More pictures would help. But it should be a full sized kit. If your Tama bass drum is a 22", the Premier might be a 20", but I don't think they were offering anything smaller than a 20.
Here's a kit on eBay ....... https://www.ebay.com/itm/3846696684...rCBd5Gxijd3GBi450lu/fconM=|tkp:Bk9SR-bFhKWYYQ
 
Thanks for sharing your story, so glad to hear you were able to be resourceful and come up with a nice collection of drums!

Just wanted to chime in that, even if the Premier kit is a Jr kit, there is certainly a trend towards small kits, particularly in urban areas. It looks pretty cool to me!

I know the point of your post was to find out more about the Premier kit, but your story is inspiring and I bet a lot of folks that read it would be delighted if you share your progress here in this thread. Just a thought.

All the best and welcome!
 
Welcome to the world of drumming!!
Very therapeutic. I think more people should play drums for just that reason. Best of luck!
 
end Goat said:
Thanks for sharing your story, so glad to hear you were able to be resourceful and come up with a nice collection of drums!

Just wanted to chime in that, even if the Premier kit is a Jr kit, there is certainly a trend towards small kits, particularly in urban areas. It looks pretty cool to me!

I know the point of your post was to find out more about the Premier kit, but your story is inspiring and I bet a lot of folks that read it would be delighted if you share your progress here in this thread. Just a thought.

All the best and welcome!
Click to expand...
Thank you for the warm welcome! I absolutely love drummers! The generosity and love I got on my post in that Facebook group was unexpected and overwhelming. I only posted in the group asking if anyone had a kit for sale or knew of anyone that did. One Marine from Pennsylvania started the landslide offering the Devil Dog kit as a donation and even shipped it to me after having new heads put on all 5 drums. He even included 2 sets of sticks and a hi-hat stand (which was a bitch to put together, but that was because I was making it harder than it had to be lol). He has been a good friend as well. Then another member of the group sent me a 21" Sabian Rock Ride, a set of Zildjian hi-hat cymbals, a 17" Zildjian Rock Crash and 3 other cymbals. I looked them up. He probably sent me close to $1500 worth of cymbals. Then another guy from up by Dallas sent me the Premier kit. I got a few others that have offered to send me kits if I can pay for the shipping. One guy from Massachusetts has a Pearl Expert (?) 5 piece and others. I have reached out to the guy that runs the organization I started this journey with asking him if we could get together and get some of these drum kits to some of my fellow veterans so they can beat the crap out of something other than themselves. I haven't had a reply yet but he is a travelling musician and runs this group so he's a busy guy. I also got offers for free lessons etc. I'm just looking to get the Devil Dog set up and level then I can start disturbing the neighbors lol

As far as documenting my journey here I would be delighted to, and hope I don't bore y'all. I tend to get long-winded here because I keep to myself a lot and my only company is my awesome wife and my 2 puppies.
 

Attachments

  • received_1564526897319239.jpeg
    received_1564526897319239.jpeg
    124.6 KB · Views: 9
Welcome aboard! Can't help with the Premier kit, but as far as space and tight fit, you can sometimes save a little room by facing the kit to the wall or window. Seems natural to put our backs to the wall so we can play to the room, but in very small spaces it helps to face the wall. Not as pleasing a view, lol, but it can help. An added bonus is that you don't have to squeeze around behind the kit to take the throne. 🙂
 
"Just because they're smaller doesn't make em Junior!"
just listen to drummer Tony Williams..1964-65-67--69
Those look like good Premiers and
Good luck to you man!
 
jda said:
"Just because they're smaller doesn't make em Junior!"
ask Tony Williams..
Those look like good Premiers and
Good luck to you man!
Click to expand...
Thank you jda. I know it would look hideous but I have been thinking about "Frankensteining" the Tamas and the Premiers together but I just don't have the room presently. Lol
 
Once you get into those Premiers- and look inside- they may have the same shell as the Top line of the time../series/
That would be "rings" top and bottom inside.. "reinforcement rings".../wood/
You'll figure that out See inside.
 
jda said:
Once you get into those Premiers- and look inside- they may have the same shell as the Top line of the time../series/
That would be "rings" top and bottom inside.. "reinforcement rings".../wood/
You'll figure that out See inside.
Click to expand...
Opened one up.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20221129_084737470.jpg
    IMG_20221129_084737470.jpg
    276.4 KB · Views: 8
  • IMG_20221129_084754587.jpg
    IMG_20221129_084754587.jpg
    391.2 KB · Views: 8
  • Like
Reactions: Jml
Got it Still good.
 
Stroman said:
Welcome aboard! Can't help with the Premier kit, but as far as space and tight fit, you can sometimes save a little room by facing the kit to the wall or window. Seems natural to put our backs to the wall so we can play to the room, but in very small spaces it helps to face the wall. Not as pleasing a view, lol, but it can help. An added bonus is that you don't have to squeeze around behind the kit to take the throne. 🙂
Click to expand...
My current throne is two cinder blocks with a pillow lol
 
LonestarSapper said:
Opened one up.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's the shell (painted black inside) that I thought you had. Since you're on Facebook, you may wanna check out (join) the Premier drum group. Tons of knowledge there. And a great way to source not only info., but parts, if you need anything. Being an English drum company, we didn't see many of those Premier kits, here in the US. Your kit might be the Royale APK. Here's one on Reverb.

reverb.com

Premier Royale APK Flame Snakeskin 4-Pc. Kit 12/13/16/22 | Reverb

This Premier APK Royale drum kit is a 4-piece shell pack in a glossy, red finish called Flame Snakeskin from Premier's APK catalog in the 1990s. This kit features two rack toms, 12" & 13" configured with 6 lugs and rack off the bass drum/tom mount. The 16" floor tom and 22" bass drum feature ...
reverb.com reverb.com

The Tama kit ..... very popular kit. And you look like you have a great selection of cymbals.
 
Thank you so much for serving our country. I'm glad you're wife noticed what happens when you play the drums. I've always felt playing drums has been mentally good for me and I hope for you also. You don't have to be good or be in a band to play drums. I've played along with music and just played whatever came out for many years without being in a band. This is a great forum I'm sure you'll enjoy being a part of it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top