Woodstick brings 262 drummers to JHS

By Lindsay Larin • November 2, 2009 8:00 pm
The Juanita High School field house was packed full of 262 drummers for this year’s Woodstick.
The Juanita High School field house was packed full of 262 drummers for this year’s Woodstick.

It has been declared an international battle of the bands as hundreds of Northwest drummers joined together on Sunday, Nov. 1, for the 7th annual Woodstick Big Beat Drum Event. Northwest drummers joined drummers in 11 cities across the U.S., for the largest gathering of drummers ever assembled.

Drumsticks in hand, hundreds gathered at the Juanita Field House in Kirkland to make sweet (and extremely loud) music.

Those who participated in this year’s Woodstick Big Beat Drum Event hoped to set two new world records, one for the most drummers playing simultaneously in one location and another for the most drummers playing simultaneously under one director via internet connection. Results had not been posted as of the Reporter’s deadline.

Drummers out of Birmingham, England hold the current world record for most drummers playing simultaneously in one location. Last year, 588 drummers gathered in Birmingham, beating the record of 533 drummers set in Seattle in 2006.

“England beat us last year, but we are determined to take our title back,” said Donn Bennett, founder of the Woodstick Big Beat Drum Event and owner of Bellevue-based Donn Bennett Drum Studio. To qualify for the world record, Bennett will submit a sign-in sheet documenting the names of all the drummers and video feed from the event.

The Woodstick Big Beat Drum Event began seven years ago when Bennett and a friend came up with the idea for an event that would bring local drummers together. The word spread and each year the event grew in size, stretching to other states and eventually spurring a competition overseas.

The drum event has caused such a stir in the music community that several famous musicians participated in this year’s Big Beat including Jason McGerr of Death Cab For Cutie, Ray Luzier of Korn, Jeff Kathan of Paul Rogers, and Chris Slade of AC/DC.

This year’s event will also raise support in funding for two community charities. Participants are asked to raise pledges for Camp Korey, a camp for children with serious and life threatening diseases, and for Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation, an organization which supplies musical instruments to local under-served schools.

To date, the Woodstick Big Beat Drum Event has raised more than $75,000 for local charity.