The Music Edge

Fastest Drummer Contest
2004 NAMM Summer Session - Nashville, TN

I Highlights I

I Battle of the Hands Finals Rankings I Battle of the Feet Finals Rankings I

I Battle of the Hands Preliminaries Rankings I Battle of the Feet Preliminaries Rankings I

NAMM International continued the quest to find the Worlds Fastest Drummer™. The highly charged interactive event was featured at the 2004 Summer NAMM Session in Nashville, TN. The contest consisted of two categories, Battle of the Hands™ and Battle of the Feet™. The Preliminary Heats were held on The NAMM Mezzanine Stage at The Gaylord Entertainment Center Friday, July 23 and Saturday, July 24 . The top ten Fastest Hands and top ten Fastest Feet then competed in a ‘Finals Battle’ of both categories held Sunday, July 25th on the main stage in The Gaylord Entertainment Center.

Included in this year’s event were technical demonstrations, insight sessions and appearances by WFD Champions and World Record Holders Mike Mangini, Jotan Afanador, Art Verdi, Tim Waterson, Seth Davis, Bill Meligari, and Eric Okamoto.

Additionally, Mike Mangini and Jotan Afanador again battled to set a New World Record for Matched Grip single strokes. This time Jotan broke Mike’s existing record of 1,180 single strokes with a new record of 1,199 and regained his title of World’s Fastest Drummer! To add to the excitement, Seth Davis broke his Double-Stroke record when he played a beautiful 1,200!

Sam LeCompte of Thibodaux, LA won The Battle of the Hands with 1,061 single strokes in 60 seconds, while 2nd place went to Brad Broomfield with a score of 1,047 and 3rd place was Sandy Schaefer at 1,007. Winner of The Battle of the Feet contest went to Adam Fachler of Mount Vernon, NY with a foot score of 844 single strokes in 60 seconds. Second place went to Chad Walls with a score of 804 and third place went to Jeff Sallee with a score of 801.

The contest was sponsored by THE MUSIC EDGE.COM, NAMM’s new teen promotional initiative and was open to everyone attending the NAMM Summer Session. Additionally, the Worlds Fastest Drummer Organization, along with the fine folks at NAMM International launched a Fastest Drummer retail participation program called The Music Edge Fastest Drummer Program. This will allow each NAMM retailer the opportunity to fully participate in this extremely exciting international event, and the stores’ winners can advance to compete in the finals at NAMM!

Over $12,000 in prizes were provided by PEARL, MEINL, AXIS, REMO, PRO MARK, WARNER BROS., DRUMOMETER, and laser engraver Tim Byrd.

Grand-Prizes for this year’s contest included: 2 Pearl Drum-Sets, a year supply of Pro Mark drumsticks (with Winner’s name), 2 sets of Meinl cymbals, Axis LongBoard ‘A’ Double Pedal, and 50 Remo drum heads!

Read more in DRUM! magazine online.