History of DRUMANDSTAGE interviews - Since 2008

[Jules]

The DRUMANDSTAGE Interview Series (Now called "Sonor Talk") was originally slated to begin in 2005 with an Interview with Todd Sucherman, while Drum And Stage was still an authorized Sonor dealer. The first interview didn't actually happen until 2008, several years after Drum And Stage was no longer an authorized Sonor dealer.

Interviews originally consisted of a list of questions emailed to the artist. The artist would reply with answers and photos and the interviews were posted on drumandstage.net (drumandstage.com was the original site, but was abandoned on Jan 1, 2006). Eventually, the interviews were added to the Sonormuseum site @ https://www.sonormuseum.com/interviews/index.html where they remain with their original branding. Some were branded for Sonor Resource Center (drumandstage.net) which was the moniker of the site, which was more focused on Sonor information regarding parts and drum models. Later text interviews were created for and branded Sonormuseum.com

Audio videos began in February of 2016 and the first one had no branding (crude recording and editing and illegible graphics). The second interview of February 2016 was originally recorded with mentions of Sonormuseum, but such reference was edited out in post-production and it was branded as Sonor Resource Center. By this point, Sonormuseum was no longer being maintained, and the message board which was once the center of the online universe for Sonor had gone or would soon go offline due to technical issues. Thus, the Sonor Resource Center moniker was revived in an effort to establish its own long term momentum, without relying on the waning strength of the Sonormuseum brand.

In May of 2016, after getting less than enthusiastic responses from Sonor artists not familiar with the "Sonor Resource Center", an agreement was reached to again conduct and brand the interviews as Sonormuseum productions. The height of the production quality of these audio interviews occurred in October 2016, when Ron Wikso completed post production, adding audio files of several of his live performances over the years. This would be the last audio interview, and interviews would not resume again until December 2024.

Steve Smith was among artists slated for the interview series, but momentum fizzled out in time and no date was ever set. Also, in 2014, what would have been the first in-person interview was proposed. It would have occurred at Phil's Place restaurant in Tauranga NZ and featured Phil Rudd. Karl-Heinz Menzel facilitated communication to Mr. Rudd, but things never materialized due to Mr. Rudd's personal issues and he was subsequently absent from AC/DC's next tour.

After a hiatus of 6 or 7 years, a relaunch of the Interview series was planned after Phil Rudd had rejoined AC/DC in the studio for Power Up, in 2018. AC/DC was slated to play in October, 2023 in California. Ultimately, Rudd would again be absent from touring, and thus the interview series stayed on the back burner.

In November of 2024, Atlanta Drum Shop was hosting Todd Sucherman for a set of Masterclasses, and it became known (quietly) that Todd had signed back on with Sonor. While Todd was in Atlanta for the masterclasses, an arrangement was made for DRUMANDSTAGE to launch a podcast chronicling Todds departure from Sonor 25 years prior as well as his return to Sonor.

The new interview series (now called Sonor Talk) began in December 2024 with a pair of conversations with Scott Logsdon with the Sonormusuem. Initially, the series was going to carry the Sonormuseum brand, yet again, with a revival of the Sonormuseum site and message board projected. By the recording and release of the Todd Sucherman podcast, it had been decided to resurrect the original brand (now styled DRUMANDSTAGE, and with a logo mimicking scratched road case lettering) and build momentum from what was anticipated to be a strong relaunch.

Sonor made public Todd's coming "home" to Sonor on January 6, 2025. At 4AM the next morning, the DRUMANDSTAGE YouTube channel, (with only 25 subscribers) launched the "Whole Story" video and enjoyed over 15,000 views in the first 20 hours. The Sonor Talk series continues and has produced Podcasts with Gavin Harrison, Tal Bergman and others with plenty more in the planning stages.

In April 2025, the revival of DRUMANDSTAGE widened with the relaunch of drumandstage.com and a new message board, fittingly located at the URL of the original one from 20 years ago. index.php

While no longer an authorized Sonor dealer, DRUMANDSTAGE continues to buy, sell and trade Sonor parts, drums and hardware, still working with many of the same people from nearly 25 years ago.

To be continued...