Its been 14 months since I started moving Drumattic from Radstock to Frome, and it has felt like a long, strenuous, expensive and gruelling task to get every aspect of the new premises complete and ready.
As well as the physicality of moving a huge amount of drums, stock, backline and workshop equipment, there was also a LOT of work to be done on the new place first.
This involved putting up/taking down walls, roof work, ceiling work, a lot of electrical work, insultation carpeting and other flooring, a new kitchen, a new toilet, CCTV and alarm, lighting, storage/display racking and shelving, building the workshop and all shop displays, storage and much more. This was all just to get the shop/workshop area of the business up and running as soon as possible. I was very lucky to have help with this from my amazing family and partner.
Most will be aware that the workshop has been operational for quite some time, as has the backline and hire. Online orders have continued to ship as normal through out most of this period. The physical shop has also been completed, but has been open via appointment only for the past several months. This has been to allow me enough time to work on other areas and getting everything together. The shop will soon be opening with specific opening days/times.
As the workshop, shop and other parts were complete and back to normal, you would assume it would all be done no?
Well not quite….
The final, and possibly most exciting (yet also most costly and labour/time intensive) has been the building of a live room at the back of Drumattic. A dedicated creative space for drummers, percussionists and sound enthusiasts.
This has taken over 10 months to build and is a classic room within a room, fully sound insulated with acoustic glass windows for natural light. I’ve been very lucky to have the help of my amazing brother throughout the whole building process.
The Drumattic Live Room is now mostly completed. – The room is fully built and decorated, all the drums and gear is where it is supposed to be, and is it now open and available for-
-Lessons and teaching
-Masterclasses
-Solo Practice
I am currently assembling more microphones and studio gear to also start using the space for recordings of drums and percussion etc.
This room will see its first public use on July 31st, in which Drumattic will be hosting a masterclass with the great A J Rousell
It has been a heck of a lot of work since moving premises, but is all now starting to feel like it is nearly complete and all up and running. As per usual, I would like to thank all my customers who buy online/in store, give me stuff in to be repaired/restored and hire gear from me, especially over the last year when it has all been a bit more disorganised than usual. I would also like to specifically thank my family, brother and partner for support and help through this, both mentally and physically.