#traps a400

[drumordieguy-blog]

I'm always looking for new and interesting drum products, and while I applaud this latest introduction into the drum market from new percussion manufacturer Whole Foods, I'm afraid that I cannot wholeheartedly recommend the Watermelon Drum Kit. I've spent significant time playing these drums and quite frankly, I can say with confidence that they have a decent sound at best. Here is my evaluation of the entire drum kit, piece by piece.

Muddy kick drum

There is no argument that this kick drum is beautiful and delicious. However, rather than the deep boom combined with a nice punchy attack that I am accustomed to hearing with my other kick drums, this drum produces a somewhat muddy and watermelon-like sound at best. If you are looking for a kick drum that sounds as though it's made of some kind of summery, water-based fruit, this is the kick drum for you.

Fruit-like overtone in the snare

I'll admit that I'm a bit finicky when it comes to my snare and rather fanatic about achieving a great snare sound, so please take this comment with a grain of salt: This snare has a bit of a thick, fruit-like overtone. One of the problems could be in the overall snare design: It appears to be made from a slice of watermelon. Also worth noting, there is no throw-off switch and the underside of the snare has no snare wires, which seems a bit unconventional.

Toms not structurally sound

The toms are a beautiful watermelon color and have lovely green rhine-colored rims. But while the toothpick tension rods are admittedly adorable, unfortunately they snapped and collapsed after playing Van Halen's "Hot for Teacher" just three times. Just three times! Any attempt at tuning the toms proved somewhat fruitless ... no pun intended (OK, actually, the pun indeed wasintended). I ultimately broke down and ate the floor tom, but not before adding just a touch of salt, because that's how my Grandma taught me watermelon was meant to be eaten, dammit.

The cymbals: Sound like hitting a hunk of watermelon

Ask anyone who knows me and they will tell you that I am the first person to appreciate lopping the top off a watermelon and piercing it with a wooden dowel for the purpose of using it as a nice dark-dry ride cymbal, or perhaps a bright and personable splash cymbal. However, I cannot in good faith recommend these particular cymbals. While they produce an interesting, melon-like thumping sound that is both resonant and pleasing (especially for jazz and country), they can't compete with even the mid-level series of cymbals from Zildjian, Paiste and Sabian. Worth noting: I will say that when you hit these melon-cymbals with a drumstick, it produces a sound reminiscent of the sound of a drumstick striking against the skin of a hunk of watermelon, although I suppose this probably is to be expected.

Summary

You can't say that the watermelon drums are not beautiful and colorful, and nobody is arguing that surrounding the drum kit with a cornucopia of berries and grapes doesn't provide a refreshing and tasty snack. While I applaud this entry into the world of percussion products by Whole Foods, the mushy, melon-like sound of this drum kit cannot compete with even some of the student-level drum kits that are available today. If you are looking for an interesting and low-cost set of drums, you probably are better off going with one of the flat and portable drum kits such as the Traps A400 kit. Or, consider making your own drum kit out of a variety of gourds and seasonal tubers.

[drumordieguy-blog]

Since the early 1930s, Savador Dali’s iconic painting of melting clocks, called The Persistence of Memory, has been viewed by millions of visitors to the New York Museum of Modern Art. So for museum tour guide Brian Marin, it was somewhat surprising on a recent museum tour when a 9-year-old boy from Lincoln, Neb., innocently asked, “What’s the deal with the drum kit in there?”

Said Marin, “Yeah, that kind of blew me away. I’ve given thousands of tours and told people all about the symbolism of the melting clocks, the artist’s theories of space and time, and all that crap, and then this little kid suddenly yells out, ‘I see drums … why did he paint those drums?’ My jaw just dropped because, you know, how the hell did we ever miss that? I mean, it’s not like you have to stare at it in a weird way or catch it in just the right light. It’s not even like a freaking Where’s Waldo drawing, because you actually do have to look pretty hard to find Waldo. Those drums are just right in your face.”

The painting is said to epitomize Dalí’s theory of “softness” and “hardness,” which was central to his thinking during the time of this painting. Some art historians suggest that the soft watches are an unconscious symbol of the relativity of space and time, a Surrealist meditation on the collapse of our notions of a fixed cosmic order, and some just say that Dali was doing a buttload of opium.

“He might have just been high,” said Marin. “I mean, those melty clocks are pretty freaky and they do look like something you would paint if you were listening to the Sgt. Pepper album and dropping acid.”

The question remains, however, as to why Dali painted what appears to be the Traps A400 flat, portable drum kit into his iconic painting. Marin has a theory. “We do know that Dali loved music, and in his other works we have seen him frequently include gourds and other percussion-oriented pieces. So the drums here appear to be a clear nod to his no-so-subtle proclamation that he wanted to kick out the jams and blast a phat beat on the drums.”

But what remains a mystery in the art world is the implied symbolism of the orange clock swarming with ants. Said Marin, “Yeah, supposedly Dali used ants in his paintings as a symbol for death, as well as a symbol of female genitalia, which is weird, I know. I mean, if I’m a woman, I’d be a little pissed because that’s just rude. In what world does a vagina mean death? But then again, drummers can be pretty weird dudes.”

[drumordieguy-blog]

We at DrumOrDie.com didn’t know until recently that the subject of the painting, Whistler’s Mother, was indeed a drummer of high regard. The artist, American-born James McNeill Whistler, painted his otherwise seemingly tepid mother, Anna McNeill Whistler, in 1871 while she numbly clutched a pair of drumsticks and sat rather curtly in a chair next to a painting of what apparently was her very own beloved Traps A400 flat, portable drum kit.

Yea, did she but prefer portable drums?

According to Sir Philip Kensington, the curator for the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, where the painting resides,”Mrs. Whistler had a strong preference for the Traps flat and portable drums. Being a member of the fairer sex, who even then was somewhat slight of frame and, dare I say, indeed even a trifle frail, it was much more accommodating for the lady to use the Traps A400 drum kit, being that it was so light and amenable to transport. She was known to be seen conveying her Traps drums in and out of her carriage as she traveled to perform at the various taverns of the local townships, and even to the larger concerto venues. To be certain, M’Lady was, even by today’s standards, indisputably somewhat of a bad-ass on the drums.”

Wherefore, then, is her throne?

Art historians have pondered and puzzled the obvious question for years: If Anna McNeill Whistler was indeed such a force on the drums, why, perchance, is she seated in a simple wooden chair instead of kick-ass throne, like a Pork Pie Big Boy or a Rock-N-Soc hydraulic throne? According to Kensington, “She was somewhat of a traditionalist in that she didn’t go for the fancier seating arrangements, preferring instead a simple, handmade maple high-back chair from which she would kick out her respective jams.”

About the painting

One of the more famous works by an American artist, the 57-by-64-inch painting is an oil-on-canvas displayed in a frame designed by Whistler. The Traps A400 drums are shell-less drums that are light and portable and tend to kick ass.

[drumordieguy-blog]

Um, yes, these drums fold completely flat. They are called the Traps A400, and they sound pretty darn good. Pro drummers and drum magazines love them and consistently vote them the "Best Portable Drum Kit." Give them a listen. You can pick up a kit at a really nice price if you contact DrumOrDie.com directly.