Roo drumhead?

I can attest to the fact that heads from Kentville Drums are *excellent*. I'll actually choose these over calfskin heads. Steele (the man behind Kentville) is a highly skilled and knowledgeable drum builder/repairman on top of making some excellent kangaroo hide drumheads. He's also a genuinely good person.
 
BenOBrienSmith said:
I can attest to the fact that heads from Kentville Drums are *excellent*. I'll actually choose these over calfskin heads. Steele (the man behind Kentville) is a highly skilled and knowledgeable drum builder/repairman on top of making some excellent kangaroo hide drumheads. He's also a genuinely good person.
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I agree! Steele Turkington at Kentville Drums got it right with these kangaroo hide drumheads. Super nice guy with amazing drum restoration skills.
 
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Aw, not the roos!!!

:(

So I never played them before, but do they sound or feel different than calf? Are they as fussy as calfskin heads? Not that I’m considering one, but I grew up with calfskins on my set and just wondered how they compare.
 
Never would have thought of this in a million years lol
 
Interestingly enough, Steele sources all of his hides via a government sponsored culling program because kangaroo population needs to be controlled. Compare that to all of the negative aspects of plastics and the waste associated with synthetic drumheads...

Lots of interesting conversations to be had around this stuff and I'd be lying if I said it didn't keep me up some nights, particularly when I was working for D'Addario.
 
BenOBrienSmith said:
Interestingly enough, Steele sources all of his hides via a government sponsored culling program because kangaroo population needs to be controlled. Compare that to all of the negative aspects of plastics and the waste associated with synthetic drumheads...

Lots of interesting conversations to be had around this stuff and I'd be lying if I said it didn't keep me up some nights, particularly when I was working for D'Addario.
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I can see that. Making plastic goods isn’t exactly a squeaky clean process. And even though I have times where I’m vegan, I walk no moral ground regarding our animal friends. But I still want to play drums, so…
 
BenOBrienSmith said:
Lots of interesting conversations to be had around this stuff
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@TheJarvis kicked off a roo thread a while back…worth a look for the friendly banter and giggles had by all! :ROFLMAO: Recyclable synthetic heads would be my preference…🤔:)

Kangaroo Hide Drum Heads.

I tried the Kangaroo Hide snare head form Kentville Drums a while back and I was very impressed the overall quality and tone. Has anyone else tried or experimented with them, love to hear some feedback.
www.drummerworld.com
 
Since they are harvesting the animals for the benefit and health of whole population, it seems reasonable to make most of what nature provides from this necessity. Though numerous mammalian species protected and limited, there also some that can get out of control (for an ecosystem) and then state intervene thinning population. We have the issue with white tail deer. Their population can quickly explode and then because of so many traffic accidents, in-breeding gene traits, or various pathogens ( lots of populations are having issues with viral and prion diseases.) the state comes in and harvest a bunch.
 
BenOBrienSmith said:
Interestingly enough, Steele sources all of his hides via a government sponsored culling program because kangaroo population needs to be controlled.
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If you actually look into it the cull is quite controversial. Do Kangaroos actually NEED to be controlled? Also, govt officials are not out on the culls, where it is often the case that female Kangaroos have been shot with baby Joeys in the pouch.
Kangaroos sometimes eat field crops that farmers want for their cattle, that is the main reason they are culled. Of course the roos were their first.
If you travel around rural parts of Australia it is quite rare to see a Kangaroo. They aren't at plague proportions. They've lost a lot of habitat to roads, house building and farming. Many thousands are killed on Australia's roads every year.
 
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Chris Whitten said:
Absolutely zero evidence of that. It is ALL about stopping roos from eating grass grown for cattle.
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I was going by that short wiki article-I don't know much about Australias ecosystems other than problems from introduction of non-indigenous species. So I found this article that has a more historic view , balanced view, and addresses the struggle between man and environment. Human activity and the roos are linked at the hip. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8230889/

Really we can get into a discussion of how European practices (British empire) changed habitats across the globe. Probably one of the greatest drivers of anthropengnic climate change with advent of Industrial Age in Great Britain, then agriculture and poor use of rsources-since indigenous populations more conservation minded. The US is an Europeanized version of it's former self-since Europeans harvested and sold indigenous species and replaced with European. The impact europeans have had on indigenous population is worse by usurping their practices like Aborigines and Native Americans who maintained conservation of resources. I like this article because it suggest giving control of these species back to Aborigines whose practices controlled them for millennia.
 
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Chris Whitten said:
If you actually look into it the cull is quite controversial. Do Kangaroos actually NEED to be controlled? Also, govt officials are not out on the culls, where it is often the case that female Kangaroos have been shot with baby Joeys in the pouch.
Kangaroos sometimes eat field crops that farmers want for their cattle, that is the main reason they are culled. Of course the roos were their first.
If you travel around rural parts of Australia it is quite rare to see a Kangaroo. They aren't at plague proportions. They've lost a lot of habitat to roads, house building and farming. Many thousands are killed on Australia's roads every year.
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I'm aware, as I have looked into this and I've had conversations with Steele Turkington (the man behind Kentville Drums) about this a while back. The simple fact is that this is happening and Steele is able to make use of the hides. If he stopped making roo hide drumheads it wouldn't have any influence on the culling program. They're not killing them specifically to make drumheads.
 
Yes, absolutely.
I'm a vegetarian - but people still slaughter beef cattle and eat them. You do what is best for your own conscience.
I don't need a kangaroo skinned to enjoy playing drums.
And I just don't agree with sugar coating it by claiming they HAVE to be culled.
Also, the manner in which they are culled is effectively unregulated and consists of guys driving a ute late at night, shining a powerful search light at the Kangaroo, which freezes in fear and is shot. There is no way of knowing whether it's a female carrying young at that distance.
Where I lived a couple of local farmers used to let young men shoot kangaroos for fun. No police are driving around checking on this at 2am.
 
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