Amy Lu's View

The one and only drum set that I’ve ever owned before this week, that I got when it was brand new, shows up on a website about “vintage” drums.

Hopefully, that provides some insight into why I have such mixed and complicated emotions about the new drum set I got this week.

It’s hard to feel like I’m abandoning a cherished possession that I’ve had for so long — over thirty years, since I got my drum set the summer before I started my senior year of high school. I won’t claim that all of those years we’ve had together were exciting…many of those years my 1988 Ludwig Rocker set spent just chillin’ in our upstairs. But I like to think the last five years or so, especially onstage at various Twin Cities venues with our band Clusterflock, have more than made up for the downtime.

I’m also conflicted because in this case, “vintage” means not only longevity, but style. My red Ludwig Rocker drum set is flippin’ awesome. It’s a badass classic.

More important than any of that, though, is that my mom got it for me. She was deeply committed to me having a drum set, and even though by the time she could afford it I really didn’t need it, I got it. I don’t even remember how or why we chose the set we did or where we got it from or any of those details…it just became a permanent fixture in my bedroom (complimenting my orange carpet nicely) and an amazing prop for my senior photos.

So if I love my vintage 1988 red Ludwig Rocker drum set so much why on earth did I get a new set?

Believe me, I considered the purchase a lot. I felt a bit like a middle-aged person tempted to have a fling with a younger, newer, flashier version of their spouse.

It really comes down to the size of my Ludwig rocker set: it’s seriously heavy and inconvenient to transport. The bass drum is immense. And as Chad would say, I’m a delicate (or lazy) flower and lugging all that around is quite an undertaking. Plus, the drum set “footprint” is substantial in venues with small stages (not to mention that the new set probably makes me more visible).

Catering to my laziness, delicacy and vanity? Actually, these are all outcomes my mom would completely support. While I have mixed feelings about gettting a new drum set, mostly because of mom-feelings, I have no doubt that my mom would totally think I should go for it.

And I won’t deny that getting new awesome things is cool. And my new drum set is totally cool. It’s a Questlove Breakbeats, also by Ludwig, and even though I don’t fully know or appreciate who Questlove is, I’m totally psyched about my new drum set and can’t wait to try it out onstage at our gigs next week. It’s silver, which wasn’t my first choice (I wanted blue) but silver was a $100 less so as a cheap-ass person I love that, plus the silver reminds me of my glitter eyeshadow.

I didn’t intend on buying a Breakbeats. We went to our beloved and most awesome Minneapolis music store,  Twin Town Guitars, to look at a Tama mini-cocktail drum set. The shopping experience was quite an emotional roller…I went with such high hopes and expectations, but it was soon apparent that the Tama bass drum just wasn’t going to cut it. Doom, despair, and agony on me…but then we saw the Questlove Breakbeats! Still compact, but much more powerful. A huge thanks to our salesperson (Laura, I think?) of helping us navigate through the shopping journey.

I could have made this post about my drum sets more about the sets themselves…the specs, the sound, etc. Instead I made it more about my mom and eyeshadow. Now THAT’S vintage Amy.

And the fate of my 1988 Ludwig Rocker? For the near future, it’s going to hang out behind our couch listening to it’s Ludwig progeny, until I’m ready to move on or we discover we need a really kickass and bigass bass drum. It’s use to chillin’.