Part of the National Rock and Pop festival, which also incorporated the Guitarfestand Drumfest trade shows, the Stick It To MS world record attempt was hosted by comedian and actor John 'Jazz Club' Thomson - himself a drummer - and saw a total of 582 drummers in Birmingham's National Indoor Arena attempt to achieve a new world record of tub-thumpers playing in the same place at the same time.
The record required that all the drummers played together for at least five minutes, producing an average sound level of 105dB, peaking at 130db. "It was quite an experience," says front of house engineer Chris Starklam, who manned a Yamaha M7CL-48, together with monitor engineer Rupert Jones.
"We had eight drummers onstage - including Jason Bittner from Shadow's Fall, Slade's Don Powell, Karl Brazil of Feeder, Luke Doucet and John Thomson - four of whose kits were miked up. They set the rhythm and were joined in groups by the rest who were located on the arena floor."
YouTube footage proves that the record breaking event was both a sight and sound to behold, raising over £34,500 for the Multiple Sclerosis Society.
"I did approach it with a certain amount of trepidation," Straklam admits. "We had to communicate by sign language, because that amount of sound bouncing around in an arena made even communication by shouting impossible. But it was a really good event to be a part of and we're really glad that so much money was raised."
(Jim Evans)
