The Story of Raddrum

In 2004 Scott was playing at a church in Ashland, Oregon. His daughter, who was 12 at the time, came up to Scott as he was packing up his stick bag and said, “Look  what I got.” It was a pink, little, spongy cross with a hole in the bottom of it for your car antenna. She said, “Hey, it will look good on your hi-hat.” It fit perfectly on the rod of my hi-hat!

As time passed, so many people commented, “Hey that cross looks awesome on your drum set.” Well, one day the idea hits Scott upside the head: That would look awesome on all the cymbal stands. (Minus the pink spongy part.)

Scott took his idea to a machinist who made a mold and poured the first one. It came out looking ok, but lacking in quality. He sent that prototype to another foundry to try to bring the quality up, but their work wasn’t up to Scott’s expectations either.

2007 found Scott working in Wyoming’s booming oil fields until the massive lay-offs of 2009. So, with a little cash in the bank, Scott decided to pursue Raddrum fulltime. Scott’s first priority was to find a foundry which could produce the high quality product Scott had in mind. He felt that overseas foundries used cheap metals and created works of poor quality. Scott’s search ended when he came across a company that was just two miles from his house in Wyoming.

After meeting the owner of the local foundry, Scott knew he had found someone who had the same high standards for quality craftsmanship as himself. The next step was researching the process of metal casting and deciding on what media to use based on the metal’s strength, durability and the quality of the finished product. As the bronze prototypes were produced, Scott was happily reassured that these were the work of a true craftsman and were authentic works of art that any drummer would be proud to have on the drumset.

Scott Spence, Founder of Raddrum

Born in 1960, Scott Spence was raised in Southern California in the San Fernando Valley and started playing drums at the age of 14. At 16, he started playing in Top Forty rock bands on the backyard circuit and some high school events. A few years later, he started recording with bands and played clubs in the valley and Hollywood, but the big time rock star status never came.

Needing to work for a living, Scott had an opportunity to weld for a company in Oregon. While in Oregon, Scott continued to play the drums with a Reggae band on the weekends. Later on he played at a local church and recorded a CD with a Christian hard rock group. That CD placed in the top 25 in Atlantic Records’ new artist contest.

Following work opportunities in the oil and gas industry, Scott moved to Wyoming, which is where he now calls home.