Between the 3rd and 8th of August 2019, the town of Żywiec, Poland saw the third edition of Open Minded Drum Camp. The previous ones were organized by drummer/educator Szymon Fortuna and the internationally respected Moeller method master, Claus Hessler. This year, the pair made a significant addition to the bill – Claus Hessler’s former teacher and international drum education icon, Dom Famularo. We obviously jumped at the opportunity to have a chat with Dom (see: HERE). Now, it is time for Dom to tell us all about the gear (drums, cymbals, heads, sticks) he was using to conduct his classes during the camp.
“I am so honored that I have been playing Sabian cymbals for over 30 years. This cymbal here that I happen to be playing here in Poland is an Evolution HHX Ride created by Dave Weckl – the brilliant minded Dave Weckl, who understands sounds and ideas. It’s a great, great cymbal. Dave created a sound in his line, not only the HHX Evolution, but also his Legacy line. Beautiful cymbals that Sabian makes. To my left here, I have an 8” AAX Aero Splash. There are holes in it, it gives a fast, sharp sound that’s extremely exciting. When you want that fast, sharp punch, that’s the cymbal for it. Here, I have a set of fantastic hats. They click and sound so great – HHX. They’re part-lathed, all hand-hammered. It’s a beautiful design that’s partly lathed and partly natural. What I have here is a 16” HHX Evolution Crash. It matches the ride. A fantastic cymbal – fast punch. You hit it – it says its peace and gets out of the way. To my right, I have some HHX Evolution hats. Again, this one sounds so great! These two cymbals are 18” Chinese cymbals from Sabian. Sometimes, I play an 18” and a 20”, but this happens to be two 18-inch cymbals. For that punch and Chinese sound, that’s so exciting. I love it so I have these two cymbals with me. That’s my Sabian setup here in Poland.
Let me show you my drums now. I’ve got a fantastic Mapex drum set. I usually play the Saturn drum set but this is a Designer drum set. I’ve got a 10” rack tom, a 16” and 14” floor tom and a 13” snare. It’s totally different in the setup. I try to change my setup so it challenges me, so I can hear different sounds and the excitement of what these Mapex shells deliver. Beautiful shell designs.
I’ve got Evans drumheads – UV1 on the toms. These are on all my kits. These are the Level 360. They sit around the rims and the shell of your drum so perfectly well. They sit, they’re beautifully balanced and they last a long time. The Evans heads are fantastic!
I play Pro-Mark sticks, many different types. I have my own Dom’s Pad Stick, which I play on the practice pad. I’ve got my kit stick, but I also use many of the other sticks: the 5A, the 5Bs, the Rebound, the Forward. All of these sticks have different feels. They’re always with me in my stick bag and I’ll grab a different pair for a different song or style – whatever feels right for that tune. Pro-Mark are tools for me so I have many different tools. They make them all fantastic. With the Active Grip the stick lays in your hand.
These companies are great. Not only do they make great products, but they all support education. That to me is absolutely powerful because it’s all about you and all these products are made great for you and they support education for you to grow. This is the magic of all these great companies! Thank you very much. Bye bye!”
