Who here plays a Premier?

As someone who played drums in the UK in school in the 90s it’s hard to forgive them for the Premier APK drums that lurked in every music room.

That was probably one of my favorite grooves you’ve done, not to mention how TIGHT that kit sounded

So back around 1998 I wanted a DW kit like every pro drummer in the world at the time. Went into the drum shop and had “settle” for a dark red Premier Genista kit. Holy cow, what a blessing in disguise! The thin, slightly undersized shells are the only drums I’ve played that “sing” regardless of head age. They still sound good with some 15+ year old Remo suedes…but I changed them out for some CS dots. They are just unbelievable, high quality pro level drums. The hardware is meant to last a lifetime on and off stage. I’ve used these drum from punk, blues, hard rock, to country stages and they have never let me down. Ok, not the greatest jazz kit but that’s me. I’ll never sell them. Get yourself a kit and hold on!

Greetings from the UK, David!

Let's take a moment and commend the flawless drumming here! Well done David!

Premier was also pretty big in the marching world in the 90's, specifically with Crossmen and Blue Knights. All those amazing Crossmen lines of the early 90s were Premier :)

Was clearing out an old cupboard at the studio I work at and found an old Premier kit sitting in the corner and I've slowly been fixing it up. Such an underrated sound!

I still play my premier kit, ive had for about 6 years now, still plays like a charm and i love it. Im in the US too!!

I’ve always been a Premier fan. As a British drummer, I’ve grown up with this brand and it has never failed me from a £95 starter kit from the 60’s to my current XPK from the 90’s, I’ve found these to be great quality and durability and never had any issues. I was also a user of their marching drums which again have always been amazing quality and sound. Nice to see this awesome video and your faultless playing as always!

One of my fav things about Premier is that you can order their kits with floating-mount floor toms and do away with the legs if you wanted.

Haven't hit play on the video yet but I just need to say: I grew up with Premier, my dad was a Premier player his entire life, and when he passed in 08, I inherited his beautiful 2000 series kit. 22, 14, 16, 18, all birch, chrome over brass snare with flow beam throw. Nothing else sounds like that kit, huge, punchy, warm. I use it in the studio all the time. Premier always have and will continue to make good drums. They've had a lot of ups and downs as a company, but if they keep the spirit alive that made them what they are, I'm sure anyone who buys a Premier kit will be more than happy.

Wow, I had no idea that Premier made undersized shells! I thought that was unique to Sonor. I wish everyone did that, it really helps focus the tone and makes tuning so much easier. In the 1990s I had a custom set of drums made for me by the Eames Drum Company of Saugus, MA. They are also 100% birch and made their shells 3mm undersized, and heads just drop right on. I love those drums to this day, they have a TON of tone and sustain and a really wide tuning range.

I haven’t been sleeping on them, just next to them! I’ve owned and loved my Premier Artist Maple kit for about 20 years now! I had originally bought a 5-piece, but added 8” and 16” toms to the setup so I could swap in different sizes when I wanted them. I love that kit!

My Premier Signia kit sounded so good when it was tuned up, that I ended up using the raw drum track recordings on two of my recordings back in the late 90's. Signia's to this day are one of the best sounding drums you can play.

Well built drums. When Premier closed the New Jersey warehouse ( pulling out of the USA), some friends dumpster dove and pulled out about 30 spare shells and additional parts. I still have a few in my shop.

It’s good to see that Premier kits haven’t dropped in quality. That’s apparently the main reason Nicko went from Premier, back to Sonor, before starting British Drum Co with ex-Premier Drum Builders.

I used to own a Premier Gen-X kit and it was easily one of the best kits I’ve ever played. Very easy to tune and sounded amazing. I learned about them from seeing Scott Phillips (Alter Bridge/Creed) play them back in the day.

A good friend of mine had one of these back in high school and I was always impressed with it. His older brother had a pearl kit and the premier always sounded brighter and cleaner.

I recently bought a vintage Premier Soundwave kit from circa 1980. Beautiful finish with a matching beast of a 14x8 snare drum. I absolutely love them. With clear CS heads on the toms they sound straight out of the 70's to me.

I'm 52 and in High School we had a Premier drum set that sounded great. It had a Ghost pedal. You ever seen one? I've never seen one since. Here's a name drop for ya. My High School Band Director was Denny Seiwell's Brother and a hell of a trumpet player and drummer. I was a good drummer and did very well at the state orchestra level for High Schoolers. I was given a lot of attention and many songs were selected to cast attention on the percussion section. Plus Denny's brother was a great guy. Probably was the best influence on me out of any adult outside my family. He handled his business and was a great leader. At that same time I was taking lessons from Jimmy DeGrasso BEFORE he moved out of Allentown, PA. It was through Jimmy I realized I probably wasn't going to a professional drummer. When you meet those types you realize they're just a little different. They're very good, technically proficient, and very creative. I became an Engineer - not the kind that drives trains :-( For District Band auditions you get a prepared solo usually a sheet full of junk you never seen before and you pick through it one measure at a time. This is no lie - once I looked at this thing and I'm thinking this is going to take a while. I hand it to Jimmy and he SIGHT READS it almost perfectly. It was then that I knew. Jimmy was a heck of a guy too. He'd chew your ass if you didn't practice. He would get pissed if you didn't have both oars in the water and put your back into it. It's crazy looking back at things how two music teachers left such a positive influence on an engineer. Both those guys more than any professor. Anyhow, I really enjoy your videos. Take care.

Love all your videos but it’s also so awesome to see how your drumming skills have progressed over the years!!

Was fortunate enough that our high school, (class of '84), used Premier drum sets exclusively for every music activity offered. They had 3 different kits for 2 choral groups and band. Always played well and held up to serious abuse! Love the kit you've featured here!

A Premier Soundwave 2 is a kit I would also love to own someday! Phil Collins' kit (Definitely an 80s Soundwave if you see the lugs, the early 60s and 70s had a sort of sharktooth-like lugs) in the Tarzan and George Martin sessions looks gorgeous!

I once worked with a drummer with a Premier kit and a Ludwig kit. From my bass guitar position, both kits sounded great. But the Premier seemed to have more "bite" to it; a sonic clarity to them that translated better into the overall mix. You've proven the "bite" in this demo.

As a UK drummer,it's great to see you reviewing the revived Premier brand (it's pronounced PREM - I - ER btw) Always the most popular British brand especially in the 60's and 70's,renowned for their superb diamond chrome,amazing shells,full range of kit sizes ,most British drummers owned or started on one of the UK produced kits - they are still highly rated and it was only really the competition from Far East produced drums from the 80's onwards that saw them decline (production costs etc) And as for well know users? Well,Ringo started with a Premier,Clem Burke,Phil Collins,Mitch Mitchell,Nick Mason,Nicko McBrain,Keith Moon,etc,etc,etc Great to see the quality continue and hope more USA drummers try them....Great video 👍👍

My best friend’s dad has an old Premier kit he still uses and it always sounds great, he lets me jam with his band when I’m there and they’re definitely one of my favorite sets I’ve played.

I bought brand new off the shelf from Dennis in Long Island Drum Center in 1994 A Premier Signia Maple 7 piece 10,12,14,16,18 Toms 22 x 20 Bass and 14 x 6.5 Snare. After 30 years, thousands of gigs tons of recordings its still my go to kit. I have had high end Yamaha ,Tama. Pearl, Gretsch kits and have played countless other kits in studios and venues. But i always get back to my pride and joy Signia Kit welcome to the Premier Club

Those have gotta be some of the sexiest sounding toms I've ever heard

My jaw literally dropped, good on you Dave!

Yep; been playing my old Cambria kit for years. Constantly getting compliments on how well they sound open and live with single ply heads and punchy with double ply heads for recording; especially the bottom end.

The family who started Premier (Della-Porta Family) produced parts for tanks and aircrafts in WWII , so they are extremely skilled in producing hardware with amazing chrome plating.

Fine review. I've never had a chance to play on a Premier but that kit looks great and has a tuned classic progressive rock character. Thank you, God bless your work

Ive used a premier xpk since 1998. It sounds amazing, looks great and has held up better than my dw collectors or pearl export.

Wow, the whole drum kit sounds awesome. The toms have so much character to them specially. Those toms sing.

✋ 1954 Premier Olympic pre-international sizes 1970s Premier Resonator In Ireland, UK, and mainland Europe, the availability of Premier and Sonor drums make it much more affordable, and most people even here still chase after vintage Ludwig’s, which are more rare here. On that I have this to say: vintage Ludwig's sometimes suck. Sometimes the sum of the inaccuracies don’t make a nice kit. Alas, I am yet to play a vintage Premier or Sonor that doesn’t sound amazing. If you can get your hands on a 1970s Sonor Champion (available here second hand for around €300-400) you will be blown away. I’m not sure if it’s just the one I played, but wow. Thanks for covering my beloved Premier, David. Glad you enjoyed them.

You need to try out a Premier Signia kit. Best drums of all time.

this has made me wanna get a premier kit! I live in the U.K. and they’re everywhere on the used market, they’ve always struck me as pretty meh and mainly for nostalgic prog rock fans and fans of the who. I need to do my research! If they’re about all over the used market, and sound this good, with such clear attention to detail, I’m gonna do my homework and try and snag a great deal!

Back in the 80’s and early 90’s, Rod Morgenstein was my favorite of the Premier artists. Had one on my Sunday church gig in the late 90’s / early 2000’s (until they replaced it with a custom Pork Pie kit), and it played & sounded fabulous!

The drummer in my old band used a Premier kit. Sounded great. Especially when he got a matching all wood with wood hoops 14"x6.5" snare. This kit here sounded incredible.

Glad to see they've improved. I have the Maple version of this the Signia from the 90s. Sounds great and is super warm while being the heaviest and bulkiest drums I've used. However the hardware does not hold up, and makes it frustrating to tune and use. And my coworker who worked at a music shop in the 90s said the same thing about the hardware back then. Definitely stay away from vintage premier unless you want to replace most of the hardware.

I've owned 3 Premier kits in the past. I still have a Premier 80's bop kit and a Yamaha birch kit. I've always liked Premier and will never get rid of the bop kit. It sounds amazing!

Kit sounds and looks insane. My buddy had a Premier in high school and I loved that kit.

I have a Premier Projector kit I had shipped over when I moved to the United States. It is my fourth Premier kit. My snare is a Premier 2000 I purchased around 1969 from a small store in Wales and it still looks great!

Premier is one of the finest European drum manufacturers since 1922. I`ve got my own Premier Drum kit, a 2001 Cabria rock sizes in Satin silver finish, mahogany shells and RIMS isolation mountings as well. Many top rock/pop drummers endorsed them, Phill Collins, Niegel Olssen, Ringo Starr in the Beatles early recording years, Nick Mason, Rod Morgenstein, Neal Smith with Alice Cooper, Carl Palmer, Philly Joe Jones in the Jazz World with Miles Davis, Kenny Clark with Rod Stewart`s Faces, Keith Moon with The Who, Mitch Mitchell with Jimi Hendrix Experience (Monterrey Pop Festival in 1967), Nicko Mc Brain, Thommy Price, many more to enlist here. Their crome plating hardware feature is the best one in the drums business, according to Geoff Nicholl`s 1997 "The Drum Book" publication. The brand deserves its own top place in the percussion industry. This kit tested here, killer and rounded sound, typical to a Premier high end line up.

I have been playing premier for over 40 years. Premier Soundwave bought in 1981. Still sound great,

70's African Mahogany Prems are one of the best kept secrets if you ever get the chance - 3 ply with round over edges... unbelievable. Philly Joe Jones, Phil Collins, Clem Burke, Phil Selway, Nick Mason etc. etc. the hardware kicks international butt too. Greetings from Wales, UK

Awesome Video Sir. I have been playing Premier for 40 years. Thank You For Sharing Your Thoughts and Review.

They sound amazing.

Keith Moons Pictures of Lilly drum kit is one of my favourite kits, from the black light wrap to the tom mounts connecting the bass drums, just beautiful

Holy shit. They had me at the brilliant design allowing one to remove the snare wires without the headache of trying to re-string them later. How is that not a default feature of every snare in the world??

I sought out and eventually found an old premier genista birch 14x7 snare. The reason was specific. I always loved the snare tones achieved by Gavin Harrison with his sonor protean snare. Particularly the insane tone that one can achieve with a very thin birch shell that is slightly undersized (as is Sonors signature). The genista line was also thin birch and slightly undersized so this old premier snare basically sounds like a top of the line sonor. It’s buttery in tone and sounds phenomenal at every possible tuning and only cost ~300 as opposed to 1200+. Such a sleeper. If you see one around anywhere you’d be dumb not to grab it. Prepare to fall in love. It’s an absolute dream in the studio. Can’t talk it up enough.

I’m stopping the video after your performance just to say damn… What a PERFECT performance to showcase the sound of this kit. Killer review man

I stumbled upon a late 60's Premier kit. Super thin warm shells, die-cast all over. The wrap was like new even after being stored in a canadian barn for years. It sounds better than my vintage Ludwig and my Rogers BigR. You can find vintage Premier kits quite easily in Canada.

Just saw this and I still have my first drum kit. A vintage late 60's early 70's Premier kit that I have partially restored and have since played a show with them. 14-16-20 is what I play out with. Love my Premier kit and still have my larger late 70's Tama Superstar kit for larger stages

I scored a Premier kit from the 80's when I lived in LA in the mid-2000's. It was dirt cheap and I only knew of Premier from 70's-80's English (punk rock) bands. It surprised me with how good it sounded, and I used to buy/sell vintage kits in the 90's when is was still a cheap and viable endeavor. The side-latching chain is also a cool thing to have. I had this amazing brass Slingerland snare that had the side-latch-thing. There was this trick you could do, where you start with the chain off and engage it with your knee (kick drum leg), mid-song.

First kit I bought in 11th grade was an entry line 8 piece XPK and I also own a big maple Signia kit as well. One day I’ll pick up a Genista as well. Great drums

I'm so glad you found the washer again

Haha the bottom right pic you used at 0:37 is my kit in my old living room! The vintage original tri-band finish kits are great drums too. They were only cheap ‘student’ kits but had nice British made 3-ply birch shells. Always loved the quirky finish too.

During the history of Premier Drums the company was owned by and made Yamaha kits including some 9000 series drums have "Made in England" on the badges (which are pretty rare).

Funny, my first drum kit was a Premier Black pearlescent (think mother of pearl),only grey, lime Ringos Ludwig. Turns out it was 1963 kit. This was 1984. We paid $400 for a 5 piece kit. Since then, I’ve owned many other brands. But have always kept that kit (customized in the late 80s with an Amron paint), and added a custom 10” Tom by Modern Drum Shop in NY, back in 86, as well. I still own that and another early 2000s Artist Birch kit, and it sounds fantastic, as well. The Genista you test drove sounds great to me, from your recording. I’m glad you got to experience it. They have always had nice stuff, and the chrome is usually top notch in their older stuff. Anyhow, I’m glad you like the Premier, and I’m very glad they’re back in the USA and are getting some play. Always been a fan. Keep putting out more cool drum content!

My sophomore year in high school I went to Jamestown high the first year it was open. All the new marching drums were Premier. We sounded great!!

nick barker (cradle of filth, dimmu borgir) used premiere in the past. I had a 13 x 5 hand hammered brass Premiere "modern classic" snare with tube lugs. it was a sweet snare, one of my favorites!

I love the 60’s and 70’s premier kits best. Just look and sound incredible!

Back in the mid-80s, my high school had an old Premier Resonator kit in the practice rooms. It had a 24" kick that you felt in your chest when you played it hard. It also had thin die-cast hoops with slotted tuning rods, similar to Sonors. The main drum kit in the band hall was an early 80 Tama Superstar birch kit in the natural wood finish. My kit at home was a 60s Mahogany/Poplar Ludwig Hollywood setup. I was spoiled with nice gear back then.

That was definitely smart of Premier to send you this kit....now I really want this kit!! I love stripped drums kits, I think they are really cool looking and I really like kits with beefy hardware!!

I bought a used Premier metal snare 30 years ago and I have loved Premier ever since. I wish I had a complete set.

I love Premier drums used to play their snares exclusively when I was younger

Brit here 🙋🏻‍♂️ My music department at high school had a premier drum set. (Like most British schools I’d be willing to bet) And that thing took an absolute beating daily but always stayed together and sounded good. We even recorded with it occasionally and honestly it was decent. A weekly tune up and bring your own cymbals and it was a great! This kit looks and sounds the business! 👌😎

Rod Morgenstein played Premier. Back in the mid 90's I used Premier marching drums when I taught high school percussion.

When I was 16 I got a set of used Premier drums here in the US. They are awesome. And the hardware is super nice. I had Premier royale, which were kind of entry-level but that’s super cool lugs. Eventually I upgraded to DW but kept the premieres. Eventually after I realized I was never going to be a rockstar. I finally sold the dw and kept the Premier. Fast forward a few more years, and for some reason I got rid of all the shells and kept all the premier hardware which I intend to build with maple shells one day if I ever wanna play drums again.

Back in the late 90s to early 2000s, Premier drums were quite popular. But for whatever reason, their popularity dwindled and most of the drum shops and other music equipment retailers stopped selling Premier drums. It's great to see they're slowly coming back state side. Premier drums are some of the best on the planet. Here are some other notable drummers who use Premier besides Keith Moon. Some of them don't use Premier anymore, but they did at one time. Virgil Donati (Session player) Rod Morgenstein (Session player) Tommy Igoe (Session player) Scott Phillips (Creed) Nicko McBrain (Iron Maiden) Ringo Starr (The Beatles) [Before he went to Ludwig for life, Ringo used Premier drums early on]

That picture of Keith Moon with the "Pictures of Lily" kit is no joke why I started playing drums

That snare strainer and butt plate are THE SAME PIECES as on my 1990 Premier Signia snare drum! I love this video, im freaking out, I want these new drums so bad!

I played Premier drums for years back in the early 90's, they were a good kit. You know, they were drums.

My very first snare drum 27 years ago was a 14x6 Premier, still have it today! Really wanted a Premier kit, but they pretty much stopped selling kits in the US in the late 90s so I ended up with my vintage Ludwigs. I'd love to get my hands on a modern Genista kit though, these sound incredible!

I love premier drums. I've gigged with 90s era kits and been buying up vintage premier snares (sleeper drums). I hope these are made in England. Asian made legacy brands don't do much for me.

I had a late 90's xpk english maple kit in red cherry laquer so great for a gig kit. The maple had great projection and tone. Only ever used 2 overhead mics and a kick mic. Every drummer in our area used them for recording. Now i dont play shows anymore so i have a ocdp birch kit. If you can find a orange county drum and percussion kit buy it. It sounds amazing and i dont believe you have ever had one on your channel rdavidr

I have had 4 Premier kits since 2003. A kit of Artist Birch, A mixed finish kit of Genistas from the 90's, a vintage pre-international size kit from the mid 60's, and the last kit I will ever need to own a 5 pc red lacquer kit of Signia Marquis. Ive loved them all. Mostly the signias and the genistas.

I remember when we got new premier free floating snares when I was in high school... We were so excited! This was 1996 and those were replacing some 1980s Yamahas.

I have a 90s Genista kit I bought about 3 years ago. I bought it because I couldn't afford the Sonor kit I wanted, and since no one really knew or cared, premier kits were cheap. Guess I bought at the right time.

My drum teacher from my first drum lesson that I took had two Premier drum sets in the lesson room in Coral Springs, FL. My drum teacher's name was Larry, who used to work at F-Sharp music also located in Coral Springs, FL then left and opened up his own teaching space/drum shop back in 1994-1995ish. Anyways, I was so blown away by the sound of both Premier kits and cannot remember the series name of either kit. After watching this video, I am definitely interested in picking up a Premier kit as the kit sounded so tight and brought me back to the first time I played on a Premier kit.

Premiere was my dream kit when I was a kid for no good reason other than they always just sounded great to me.

The original Premier Genista was the second of the kits I've bought in my life. I had a Terraverdi Green finished drum kit that I bought a couple of weeks after I went to see Jethro Tull with Doane Perry on drums, and he was using that same kit. Great sounding drums. After that I bought a Premier XPK double bass drum kit, beautiful sounding kit as well. Lot of great drummers were using Premier, Phil Collins, Mitch Mitchell, Virgil Donati, Mike Terrana, Rod Morgenstein, Nicko McBrain, Clem Burke (Blondie), Tommy Igoe and so on, I'm so sorry that Premier went down with production and I wish them the best.

Went to the Premier drum factory in New Jersey with Ray Marchica, drummer for The Rosie O'Donnell Show, back in the early 2000s. Got to see Ginger Fish's kit up on a shelf, ready for him to hit the road with Marilyn Manson, and got to test out a bunch of kits while Ray tested out some bass drums. Got to meet Tommy Igoe, who was with Premier at the time, too. Always loved the Genista series! Clem Burke from Blondie and Mitch Mitchell of Jimi Hendrix also used Premier drums

I have a 7 piece genista in damask lacquer. Did her up during lockdown although there are scratches and dings, no wrap means you have to be careful and I was young and foolish. Glad I kept the beast and the rack. Got mine in 96 so has the old/new bass drum logo.

In the late eighties, a local dude had a sweet piano black Premier kit. And it sounded amazing. That kit always stuck with me

I owned An APK kit made in England for several years. It is still 1 of my all time favorite. Tuned correctly it is a killer drum set. 1 of my students is still gigging with it

I've got a 90s premier artist Birch club kit in sparkle and it is awesome. The build quality is fantastic. Still looks newer

Weirdly I’ve just bought some 1977 premier shells. I intend to fix em up, re wrap and put updated hardware on em. Love a project!

You know what's even better? BRITISH Drum Comp.! I feel like I've been missing out on a hidden secret, they're all custom, many hybrids, 20 plies, 10, hybrids, cold pressed, leather washers, the best bearing edges I've even seen, light, sensitive, and HUGE sounding. British is the new Premiere, and they're some of my favorite custom snares I've ever played or owned. Basically, a Rolls Royce with the finest details made into a drum. They took my home studio pics of their drums with my kits and posted them on their main site to promote their drums! Love them! The British Merlin 20 ply hybrid birch/maple is quite literally magical! Great demo and playing, brother! Happy drumming, everyone! 👊🥁

I'm a big Premier fan. They sound great and you can usually get a good deal on a used kit. I have owned Powerhouse, APK, XPK, Genista, and Signa kits. Even the entry level kits sound wonderful.

Back in high school in the late 80s a friend of mine bought a Premier kit - as soon as I played it I loved the sound and when I finally saved up some money I bought one too. Great drums!

One of the best drummers in Brasil, Kiko Freitas, used Premier drums for a while and I always wanted one cause of that.

I owned a Premier kit back in 2001. Very underrated drum kit. But I don’t see them anymore. I now own a DW Design series clear acrylic.

I bought an old, battered APK kit from my school and am still playing it 7 years later!

premier has hands down the best logo and badge of any drum company

yes, yes they do

Premier was sending all sorts of kits to the states thru the 90s and early 2000’s and then dropped off. I remember seeing Martin Lopez play a Premier kit with Opeth in 2003-or-4 (I think) and I was blown away with the sound he achieved in a club with kind of a crap PA. Cool to see this company getting attention again.

Nothing like the old Heavy Rock Nine snare. I had one from about 88 to 91. Brass shell with a birch inner liner, parallel action strainer, big heavy diecast hoops. Premier makes good stuff!!