The Story of Bennett Drums

I was inspired to open Donn Bennett Drum Studio in Bellevue WA in 1996 when I arrived at the music store where I taught drum lessons and found an ‚ÄúOut of Business” sign in the window. With no openings available in any other local music stores I opened my own drum studio and soon attracted more students than I could handle alone. We currently teach 200+ drum students every week.

We soon opened a drum store at the same location. With 5 other drum stores in the area and a large chain store moving in, we had to do something that everyone else wasn‚Äôt. We specialized in used and vintage drums to offer greater value and to attract customers that a chain store couldn‚Äôt. We offered lessons, rentals and repairs allowing us to apply our passion and experience in a way that set us apart from our competitors. By differentiating, offering services that others were either unable or unwilling to do and making every customer feel like they belong, we‚Äôve flourished while others folded.

We‚Äôre all drummers here. We treat our customers like friends because they ARE our friends. This was not part of a business plan. It‚Äôs just comes naturally. Customers regularly tell me that they want to make sure I stay in business because they appreciate what I do for them. On the day after 9/11 customers congregated at our store. They came here to feel comfortable while the whole world fell into turmoil. This was perhaps my proudest moment.

Touring pros routinely stop by when they‚Äôre in town. It‚Äôs not uncommon to see a world famous drummer hanging out with the young drum students. Beatle drummer Ringo Starr and Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts are some of our best customers. Our walls are plastered with autographed drum skins and memorabilia signed by visiting drummers. This atmosphere makes people feel they‚Äôre somewhere very special. New customers walk through our door and say “WOW!!”.

Our biggest community building event has now become an international multi-city event. In 2003 we invited all the drummers we knew to a remote airplane hangar to attempt a new world record for the most drummers playing drumsets at the same time. We called the event Woodstick. 274 drummers showed and we set a world record. We had our biggest event in 2006 with 533 drummers participating. We‚Äôve raised over $76,000.00 for local charities. The event now occurs simultaneously in 13 cities across North America. All of the drummers play under the direction of one director via live internet hook up. Drummers in Birmingham England just broke our record set in 2006. The good natured competition has our local drummers chomping at the bit for the opportunity to bring the record home. The sense of unity that happens when this many drummers all play the same beat together is indescribable. Coordinating this event every year is a monumental job but the reaction from the participants makes it all worth it. This event has established our shop as the heart of our local and international drumming community.