Po' Boy Journal

11/10/2008

TRX Cymbals

Po Boy Drums is proud to announce our partnership with TRX cymbals beginning this month! With the demise of the ever popular Po Boy Cymbal line-up we decided to go out and search for another company that was pushing the envelope and making world class cymbals for less than the norm. While turkish cymbals are more expensive, TRX is making some cymbals that are serious heirloom quality in sound and apearance for less than some of the top "boutique" turks on the market. Also of note, the spectrum of sound is truly full of possibilities. the range gravitates from brighter more open sound to the classic dark, gritty and trashy sound of a traditional turkish house. One of our endorsers recently rolled through town with a set of these cymbals and I was seriously blown away byt them even before seeing the price! check them out here: www.trxcymbals.com to see the fulls story! Also, be on the lookout for the product line in our shopping cart soon! Use the coupon code TRX to get 15% off of the cymbals on our end through the end of the year! This deal is only available through the journal too folks...so get rewarded for keeping up with us!

Soap box ended….

Tony Chadwick - owner, Po Boy Drums 11.10..2008

10.28.2008

Getting back to the philosophy, Drum!

Philosophy:

You know it is funny...the way a company can really lose sight of itself through the everyday cycle of running itself. I came to the realization the other day that this company is no different. We were trying to do too much too fast, trying to pay too much attention to what is happening with other companies, and trying too hard in general. Po Boy has really spent too much time on doing all of this. (Read: Tony has gotten off track.) Now for the realization...we are back to the original philosophy we started with. Building a community of drummers who are dictating the way we approach making these drums. We originally started with Taiwanese drums that were mind blowing for their sound and looks. We started the company trying to get a group of working drummers together to promote, network, and talk with each other and about the drums. We began trying to make a truly professional drum kit at a mid level price. Also, we started by going back to the fundamentals of what drums sound like, how they work, and what needed to be changed based on feedback from our network. So where are we at now? Well, we are back to square one…but we have changed the way we go about it. As you may or may not know we are now producing all of the A.M.Y. Custom and club series drums here in the United States of America with our own wood, shells, and vision. Gone are the limitations and headaches of having to ship all of the kits from another country. While there will surely be other headaches…I.E. delays in finishing, and the like…we now have complete control of the system…which we did not have before. Now we are making more efforts to get the drummers talking to each other…and you will see more of this in the future with the new ideas and tools we are going to make available. Thanks to Cliff and Matt for taking some of this stick…it will come back to you guys! While we cannot make the drums mid level pricing…this was happening with the import Customs anyway...we are truly offering a custom drum set at prices that are silly compared to other custom houses out there. Finally…we are able to start the innovation process all over again with the production here in the US. This is key as we are always trying to push the envelope with finishes, innovations, and general sound. Again…you guys will see this more and more in the future! So in a nutshell…Po Boy Drums is on the road to some great stuff! Keep a watch out guys…and keep sending the feedback and comments my way! It really keeps me going!

Soap box ended….

Drum!:

I had a great and enlightening conversation today with Eric frank from Drum! Magazine. Needless to say we have been very very cautious about relationships with publications due to our original philosophy for growth. I talking with this magazine I was very impressed with how down to Earth they are as a company. I am confident in saying that their dedication to every aspect of the industry…not just the big acts or big companies…was inspiring. They also have a publication called Traps that really delves into a whole other aspect of drumming. Check these guys out folks! I was running around their sites today and was real happy to see the depth of their passion…and it is passion. Most notable is their constant features on folks you have not heard about! IE Sammy Clark, Adam Jarvis…etc

Check them out at: www.drummagazine.com and www.trapsmagazine.com and check them out for yourself! I am excited to start working with them and showing them a whole other group of drummers out there!

Anyway…props to the folks at Drum! and Traps For their forward thinking style!

And thank you all for reading and listening to my rants!

Tony Chadwick - owner, Po Boy Drums 10.28.2008

10.10.2008

Branding, John Lennon, and Jimmie-C Maple Series and other misc. updates!

Here is some cool stuff for you: we are going to start branding all of our A.M.Y. Custom Series drums. No...I am not talking about simply putting on badges... I am talking about seriously branding the drums cowboy style. I have been thinking of this for a long time...and originally wanted to put some badge "stickers" under the gloss coat. Matt wanted to get a wood burning kit. this seemed like a lot of work. Well, our esteemed endorser Chad Peterson got married this summer and got me a steak brander with my initials for being a groomsman. Seriously cool! Amy and I started talking about it, a custom branding iron is the way to go. I am talking to several different companies about using our logo with an electric branding iron...and it looks like it is going to work! Just in time too...i am almost out our of badges. Matt has redesigned the A.M.Y. Custom badge as well. Be on the lookout for it! I love it...

So what does John Lennon have to do with all this? Nothing really. I got a call last week and was asked if we wanted to backline the Paint in at the Civic Center Park in dowtown Denver for John Lennon's birthday. Well, we did it yesterday and I had a ball. We put one of hte new jimmie-C maple drum kits up ons stage and everyone was pretty blown away by them. I was too! Also, there were (at least those I could see) 30-40 artist all painting, and a lot of people who really care out there supporting John Lennon's vision of peace and art. What a killer day. All the bands were great...and I have to say it was a lot of fun running into drummers I have not seen in years. Thanks to Kathy for gettin me involved! You rock!

Jimmie-C Maple Series. Damn these are sweet. I am so proud of getting this into the line-up, especially after hearing them live yesterday. They are exactly what I was shooting for in terms of sound, and the micro-venting really did make a difference in the attack and overall sound of the drums. The snare was killer. Classic maple sound through the mains, and no fussing to get the sound there. In fact Skinny (the sound guy o the day) showed me that the EQ's were flat across the board on the drums...and they sounded killer. They looked pretty snazzy too. Get into the store and check out the new series! The link is in the next section of updates...right...here:

Updates:

The store is still in development. I have gotten past a lot of the main product issues and am now testing the affiliate program, coupon system, customer rewards program, and seperate logins for wholesalers, endorsers and other retailers. Guess what endorsers: You don't have to wait for me to call you back to see what your pricing is going to be...it will all be in the cart! Get on ASAP and create an account as we will be setting all that up next week.

Also, you guys can check out the cart here for a look at what is happening with it! http://www.poboystore.com is the address...and although it is not finished yet, it is secure and the pricing is right at this point. Also...the first 100 people signing up will all be getting a bunch of bonus customer points...and who knows...one of you may even get an 8" prototype popcorn snare in one of the new Distressed antique finishes I hve been working on.

As always...thanks a ton guys!

Tony Chadwick - owner, Po Boy Drums 10.10.2008

10.06.2008

Hello again

Well…I chained myself to the computer today, turned the ringers off, and got to finishing the coding on the shopping cart site. As a result, the final product features are getting done! We should be ready to go on the shopping cart as of the end of this week, and we should be able to link up tomorrow so everyone can get a sneak peak!

I also took pictures of the new CC Vintage drums today. Man they are beautiful. Seriously…I cannot say enough about these! I was thinking of offering them in natural finish as well as wraps., but after finishing the pictures I decided to do these au’ natural exclusively due to the fact that they are unbelievably seriously breathtakingly beautiful.

Here is a little about them:

I ordered a set of the Keller Vintage shells to test them to see if we could do a vintage style shell with Mercer, maple and mahogany. Keller makes one with poplar cores, maple re rings, and two plies of African Mahogany. After getting these shells I was pretty blown away by what they were doing…and as the saying goes… If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix it… so I made the drums with their shells as is. Another benefit of this…I don’t have to make a ton at a time…and they are cheaper than the custom shells…so there you go!

They are old school sounding, old school looking, and old school feeling drums. We used the single point tom and bass lugs and a floor tom suspension system to keep them new and fresh…but other than that they are completely from the old school. Also, we will be selling these in “Build your own” CC vintage options as well as a standard 4 piece and a standard 5 piece.

Drum sizes:

Kicks: 18 x 14, 20 x 14, 22 x 14, 24 x 14, 26 x 14

Toms: 10 x 8, 12 x 8, 13 x 9, 14 x 10

Floor Toms: 14 x 14, 16 x 16, 18 x 16

Snares: 14 x 5, 14 x 5.5, 14 x 6.5, 14 x 8

Here is a sneak Peak:

Tony Chadwick - owner, Po Boy Drums 10.06.2008

The soon to be famous journal entry number one: 10.03.2008

Hello to all!

Thanks for taking the time to check out the journal. I want to post this as often as possible as the growth we have experienced has made it tough to keep the information stream going by mouth one on one with you. The intention of this journal is twofold: First, to give everyone an inside look at the trials and tribulations of a start up drum company. The second is to convey to everyone the constant attempts to progress and try new and different things, and to share information that we are hoping will make not only our company stronger, but the drumming community in general.

So where to begin?

My name is Tony Chadwick, and I am the owner and founder of Po Boy Drums LLC. I started this company about 3 years ago because I had and still have a very passionate belief that the gear you need to make a living on, learn on, and just generally experience can be better. We started this company with an E-bay store, a vision, and a commitment to make pro level gear better. We took the feedback we got from E-bay to heart and really listened to what drummers wanted, and really researched and developed our line of drums around this principle. We began our production overseas with a great deal of success and tremendous praise from the initial owners, product testers, and endorsers of Po Boy Gear. We cannot claim (as I don’t think anyone truly can) that everything has gone perfect, and to make a very longs story short…we have recently moved a good portion of the operation here to the United States to better control the product flow, and also to be able to make our flagship A.M.Y. Custom Series an heirloom quality, true custom drum set for less hard earned cash than many other companies demand. I do not want to be famous, I do not want to be the next drum industry millionaire…I really truly just want to make a living for my family and continue to support the independent musicians that are out there making their dreams and musical vision come true.

With this being said…and believe me this is the reader’s Digest version…we truly had to take s step back due to some customs problems to make this huge change in philosophy happen for you the consumer. We have really started the process from scratch to get to the point we are at right now…which is truly making drums that are instruments we are proud of!

For those of you who have not spoken with me in a long time, or who have been inquiring about particular series of drums we had to temporarily shelf… (The Destroyer Series is back on the radar…), we truly are sorry for the delay. Re tooling, re working, and re defining a company is something that truly does not happen overnight. It has taken us at least 6 months of hard work, brutal learning curves, and a lot of innovative testing and research to get to the point of the new Po Boy Drums release we are poised to bring to the market for this holiday season.

Here are just a few new things to look forward to in the upcoming year:

The release of a free floating set of toms for a drum set. I am so excited about this it is unbelievable.
The full release of a free floating set of toms for a drum set. I am so excited about this it is unbelievable.
The full release of our new A.M.Y. Custom Line of USA custom drums.
The Upcoming release of our new metal snare line up.
The formation of affiliate programs, customer rewards programs, and yes endorsers…the beginning of our too long awaited bonus program for you guys to help with life on the road for doing what you already do!
A whole bunch of new finish options
The continuing refinement of our popular satin textured gloss finish
A lot of educational opportunities, music festival demos, and general being out there and part of the music scene on personal levels.

I hope this is enough for now…it truly is just a teaser of things to come!

Thanks again for checking out the journal, and keep checking back to get a taste of what is happening on this unbelievable journey we are on as a company. We are excited to keep in touch with you!