Grandma's Basement

As a pre-teen, my brother Scott started refurbishing drums in our Grandmother's basement in Dudley, Massachusetts. We both played in punk bands throughout high school (Scott in The Danger Strangers and me in No Trigger) and we had a love for putting on shows at VFW Halls in New England. From networking with other local bands to play, to  spending many late nights at Kinko's creating flyers to promote the shows, to playing the shows and selling merch and meeting other musicians, our love of music and community brought us together with so many likeminded people in the scene and taught us a lot about grassroots marketing and hustle.

We both continued to hone in our on passion for drums and music.. Scott crafted away in the basement and I learned how to design and code websites and began to create them for local bands out of my bedroom "office." We were living in a "pre social media world" and had to get creative to get our name out there and I loved every minute of it. 

This eventually led me to design the first SJC oval logo as well as a website for a local band out of Pittsburgh, PA called "After Curfew" led by drummer Pat Dee (our first legit customer!). As their conversations went on, Mike mentioned the concept of "SJC Drums" to Pat, and he had Scott build him a snare drum. The fact that Scott built this radical glitter snare drum out of our Grandma's basement to Pat's desired specs and we shipped it to his house and saw him make music on it, blew my mind. It still does..

As a pre-teen, my brother Scott started refurbishing drums in our Grandmother's basement in Dudley, Massachusetts. We both played in punk bands throughout high school (Scott in The Danger Strangers and me in No Trigger) and we had a love for putting on shows at VFW Halls in New England. From networking with other local bands to play, to spending many late nights at Kinko's creating flyers to promote the shows, to playing the shows and selling merch and meeting other musicians, our love of music and community brought us together with so many likeminded people in the scene and taught us a lot about grassroots marketing and hustle.

We both continued to hone in our on passion for drums and music.. Scott crafted away in the basement and I learned how to design and code websites and began to create them for local bands out of my bedroom "office." We were living in a "pre social media world" and had to get creative to get our name out there and I loved every minute of it.

This eventually led me to design the first SJC oval logo as well as a website for a local band out of Allentown, PA called "After Curfew" led by drummer Pat Dee (our first legit customer!). As their conversations went on, Mike mentioned the concept of "SJC Drums" to Pat, and he had Scott build him a snare drum. The fact that Scott built this radical glitter snare drum out of our Grandma's basement to Pat's desired specs and we shipped it to his house and saw him make music on it, blew my mind. It still does..

Drums 24/7

We eventually graduated high school and went off to college. Scott attended the University of Southern Maine in Portland, ME to achieve a degree in Music Education while I went off to UMass Dartmouth for marketing. We continued to play and build drums, and my band ended up getting signed to The Offspring's Dexter Holland own "Nitro Records" and I spent an entire summer building drums and writing what became "Canyoneer", which we recorded at the Blasting Room with legendary drummer Bill Stevenson. We hit the road pretty quickly after that and I was on tour playing my 1 of 3 custom SJC Drums, living the dream.

Demand for our drums grew and we found ourselves driving home every weekend from college to meet at Grandma's basement to make drums.

We built drums for our friends and Grandma Judy's house was constantly full of musicians stopping by to check out our work: Zippi from Grover Dill, Tony Roberto from Duckhunt, Nick Angelini from A Wilhelm Scream, Justin Muir from Monty's Fan Club, Ratboy from Every Time I Die, Eric Kane from Strike Anywhere, Ricky Falomir from The Aquabats!, Andrew Cook from The Receiving End of Sirens, Ben Koller and Kurt Ballou from Converge, Chris Thatcher from Streetlight Manifesto, Luke Abbey from Gorilla Biscuits, Zippi from Grover Dill, Joe Mullen from Underminded, Mike Grilli from The Cadence, Rob Hitt from Midtown, Matt McGinley from Gym Class Heroes, Kyle Adams, Mike Bacon, The Butcher and The Academy Is... crew, to name a few of the "original SJC family" who believed in us from day one. (I'm still blown away and eternally grateful..)

I was going to shows 7 nights a week and driving all over New England to deliver and promote SJC. We hustled.. When Ricky's bass drum got cracked when we shipped it out for the Aquabats! tour, we rebuilt it in a day and hopped in the van to drive to Cleveland, Ohio to deliver the replacement. They are Scott's favorite band, and we ended up following the tour back to Boston where we had the band sleep over our parents house and have an actual pool party with the kings of the pool parties.. Seriously, we were living the dream!

We eventually graduated high school and went off to college. Scott attended the University of Southern Maine in Portland, ME to achieve a degree in Music Education while I went off to UMass Dartmouth for marketing. We continued to play and build drums, and my band ended up getting signed to The Offspring's Dexter Holland own "Nitro Records" and I spent an entire summer building drums and writing what became "Canyoneer", which we recorded at the Blasting Room with legendary drummer Bill Stevenson. We hit the road pretty quickly after that and I was on tour playing my 1 of 3 custom SJC Drums, living the dream.

Demand for our drums grew and we found ourselves driving home every weekend from college to meet at Grandma's basement to make drums.

We built drums for our friends and Grandma Judy's house was constantly full of musicians stopping by to check out our work: Tony Roberto from Duckhunt, Nick Angelini from A Wilhelm Scream, Justin Muir from Monty's Fan Club, Ratboy from Every Time I Die, Eric Kane from Strike Anywhere, Ricky Falomir from The Aquabats!, Andrew Cook from The Receiving End of Sirens, Ben Koller and Kurt Ballou from Converge, Chris Thatcher from Streetlight Manifesto, Luke Abbey from Gorilla Biscuits, Zippi from Grover Dill, Joe Mullen from Underminded, Mike Grilli from The Cadence, Rob Hitt from Midtown, Matt McGinley from Gym Class Heroes, Kyle Adams, Mike Bacon, The Butcher and The Academy Is... crew, to name a few of the "original SJC family" who believed in us from day one. (I'm still blown away and eternally grateful..)

I was going to shows 7 nights a week and driving all over New England to deliver and promote SJC. We hustled.. When Ricky's bass drum got cracked when we shipped it out for the Aquabats! tour, we rebuilt it in a day and hopped in the van to drive to Cleveland, Ohio to deliver the replacement. They are Scott's favorite band, and we ended up following the tour back to Boston where we had the band sleep over our parents house and have an actual pool party with the kings of the pool parties.. Seriously, we were living the dream!

Going to the Vans Warped Tour in 2002 opened my eyes to a music scene I never knew existed. Seeing that many bands, drummers, fans, and booths where companies sold their product next to the band tents was overwhelmingly amazing and inspired me to want to be a part of that scene even more.

Heads up, do not try this at home.. but after going to a few shows and getting the opportunity to play the Kevin Says stage with my band, it seemed pretty easy to drive backstage with a van and trailer and get into the show, so we thought we'd test our luck at getting in and setting up a little 10x10 booth next to all the other vendors. So we built a few rad snare drums, a little display case, printed up our first banner with a few sheets of computer paper and "laminated" it with packing tape, and we were off. Guess what.. It worked! We ended up setting up shop all over New England until we got caught somewhere between Pennsylvania and Virginia. We've since had the amazing opportunity to officially sponsor the Vans Warped Tour for many years creating one of a kind snare drums to auction off for the many incredible charities the Warped Tour worked with. I even had the opportunity to speak to Kevin Lyman's class @ USC about our history and experiences, and tell (and apologize to) Steve Van Doren and the entire North American Vans sales team about that experience.

Those somewhat naive years of testing the waters and learning how to succeed and fail not only taught us a lot about hustle and made us more passionate than ever about chasing our dreams, but it also connected us to a community of likeminded musicians and we made some incredible lifelong friends and mentors during that time.

Going to the Vans Warped Tour in 2002 opened my eyes to a music scene I never knew existed. Seeing that many bands, drummers, fans, and booths where companies sold their product next to the band tents was overwhelmingly amazing and inspired me to want to be a part of that scene even more.

Heads up, do not try this at home.. but after going to a few shows and getting the opportunity to play the Kevin Says stage with my band, it seemed pretty easy to drive backstage with a van and trailer and get into the show, so we thought we'd test our luck at getting in and setting up a little 10x10 booth next to all the other vendors. So we built a few rad snare drums, a little display case, printed up our first banner with a few sheets of computer paper and "laminated" it with packing tape, and we were off. Guess what.. It worked! We ended up setting up shop all over New England until we got caught somewhere between Pennsylvania and Virginia. We've since had the amazing opportunity to officially sponsor the Vans Warped Tour for many years creating one of a kind snare drums to auction off for the many incredible charities the Warped Tour worked with. I even had the opportunity to speak to Kevin Lyman's class @ USC about our history and experiences, and tell (and apologize to) Steve Van Doren and the entire North American Vans sales team about that experience.

Those somewhat naive years of testing the waters and learning how to succeed and fail not only taught us a lot about hustle and made us more passionate than ever about chasing our dreams, but it also connected us to a community of likeminded musicians and we made some incredible lifelong friends and mentors during that time.

Panic! At The Disco on the MTV VMA's

I'll never forget driving home from one of my many daily trips to the hardware store, I got a call from a NYC number that turned out to be Panic! At The Disco manager Scott Nagelberg. The band was about to record "A Fever You Can't Sweat Out" with Matt Squire in 2005 and wanted a new kit for the session. We turned it around quickly and got it off to the band, not knowing what was to come.

The record came out, and the band was on the road nonstop. They had an incredibly unique performance and setup on stage and drummer Spencer Smith had some amazingly elaborate ideas for his drums that had never been done before. Him and I would collaborate on insane drum ideas and draw them on napkins to give to Scott to see if he could build, and he always delivered. So when the band performed on the MTV VMA's in 2006, Spencer's custom light up maple drum kit with Butcher hoops featuring hand cut victorian scrolls took the stage front and center. My cell phone started blowing up with calls and emails, and we reached a new level of "running a business."

It felt surreal for us to sit in our parents house watching the MTV VMA's as we did so many times over the years, and see the drums that we designed and hand crafted right next door in our Grandma's basement on TV for millions to see.

I'll never forget driving home from one of my many daily trips to the hardware store, I got a call from a NYC number that turned out to be Panic! At The Disco manager Scott Nagelberg. The band was about to record "A Fever You Can't Sweat Out" with Matt Squire in 2005 and wanted a new kit for the session. We turned it around quickly and got it off to the band, not knowing what was to come.

The record came out, and the band was on the road nonstop. They had an incredibly unique performance and setup on stage and drummer Spencer Smith had some amazingly elaborate ideas for his drums that had never been done before. Him and I would collaborate on insane drum ideas and draw them on napkins to give to Scott to see if he could build, and he always delivered. So when the band performed on the MTV VMA's in 2006, Spencer's custom light up maple drum kit with Butcher hoops featuring hand cut victorian scrolls took the stage front and center. My cell phone started blowing up with calls and emails, and we reached a new level of "running a business."

It felt surreal for us to sit in our parents house watching the MTV VMA's as we did so many times over the years, and see the drums that we designed and hand crafted right next door in our Grandma's basement on TV for millions to see.

Driving across the country

As we continue to turn our hobby and passion into a business, we learned more and more about, well, everything! We became NAMM members and were lucky enough to have the awesome team at Vater drum sticks let us take a 10' spot of their blueprint at the show. So we set off to design and build some of the craziest drums we could think of (did anyone say bass drum inside a bass drum? Or a snare drum inside a snare drum?), and   I bought an old airport shuttle bus so we could build bunk beds and drive all our drums and homemade display across the country to Anaheim, CA to get to the show.

We're proud of the creativity and hustle that we exhibited during those times, and I cherish the memories we created as a team on those teams, and for all the incredible relationships we made during the NAMM shows.

From there, we continued to hustle, network, and come up with new ideas where SJC could go.

As we continue to turn our hobby and passion into a business, we learned more and more about, well, everything! We became NAMM members and were lucky enough to have the awesome team at Vater drum sticks let us take a 10' spot of their blueprint at the show. So we set off to design and build some of the craziest drums we could think of (did anyone say bass drum inside a bass drum? Or a snare drum inside a snare drum?), and I bought an old airport shuttle bus so we could build bunk beds and drive all our drums and homemade display across the country to Anaheim, CA to get to the show.

We're proud of the creativity and hustle that we exhibited during those times, and I cherish the memories we created as a team on those teams, and for all the incredible relationships we made during the NAMM shows.

From there, we continued to hustle, network, and come up with new ideas where SJC could go.

Drums and more drums

We had moved to a couple different factories in our home town by now, and had a full staff of passionate and creative craftspeople building drums. I was on the road playing with No Trigger and filling in for Polar Bear Club, drum teching for Branden Steineckert (Rancid) and Cyrus Bolooki (New Found Glory) and was always spreading the word about SJC anywhere I went. I was literally living my childhood dreams.

We had drums stationed all over the world for our touring drummers to use, and we were doing everything we could to meet the demand. I was going 100 MPH and had no intention of slowing down. Our hard work was paying off, and I was networking with drummers every day.

In 2010, our hometown hero Charles Haynes played on the Grammy's with Lady Gaga and Elton John - a moment that I will never forget. The drums that we crafted in our small hometown, on TV's biggest stage, literally over Sir Elton John's right shoulder! (I watched that with my Dad and Grandma and felt pretty dang cool if I do say so myself. I am thankful to have always had incredible support from our family).

We had moved to a couple different factories in our home town by now, and had a full staff of passionate and creative craftspeople building drums. I was on the road playing with No Trigger and filling in for Polar Bear Club, drum teching for Branden Steineckert (Rancid) and Cyrus Bolooki (New Found Glory) and was always spreading the word about SJC anywhere I went. I was literally living my childhood dreams.

We had drums stationed all over the world for our touring drummers to use, and we were doing everything we could to meet the demand. I was going 100 MPH and had no intention of slowing down. Our hard work was paying off, and I was networking with drummers every day.

In 2010, our hometown hero Charles Haynes played on the Grammy's with Lady Gaga and Elton John - a moment that I will never forget. The drums that we crafted in our small hometown, on TV's biggest stage, literally over Sir Elton John's right shoulder! (I watched that with my Dad and Grandma and felt pretty dang cool if I do say so myself. I am thankful to have always had incredible support from our family).

Collaborations

I have always been inspired by other brands, their products and stories. I'm grateful to have networked with some incredible people in the industry and create collaborations with them. We'd take their product or branding and turn it into a drum, and typically use it to promote a charity we supported.



















Some of our favorite collaborations so far are:

I have always been inspired by other brands, their products and stories. I'm grateful to have networked with some incredible people in the industry and create collaborations with them. We'd take their product or branding and turn it into a drum, and typically use it to promote a charity we supported.

Some of our favorite collaborations so far are:

• We've made lots of checkerboard drums in collaboration with VANS for our Loyal to the Craft events, the VANS headquarters in California, and some limited edition hand painted VANS snares by Jay Weinberg of Slipknot.
• Turning a Jack Daniels barrel into a snare drum in collaboration with the Zac Brown Band
• Working with the talented Nub painter to create an AriZona green tea drum kit
• Creating a studio kit for Red Bull in Los Angeles, California
• Creating an Autism Awareness snare drum with the Doug Floutie foundation
• Creating US Soccer, Ken Block and YETI snare drums with Branden Steineckert of Rancid
• Designing and collaborating with Shepard Fairey and OBEY Giant on a custom drum kit for Frank Zummo of Sum 41 that was showcased at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas, Nevada
• Crafting a snare drum for Tré Cool out of old Balvenie whiskey staves with Anthony Bourdain
• Working with Liquid Death on limited aluminum snare drums with their logo on them. We made them for some rad drummers and sold a bunch to the public as well!

• We've made lots of checkerboard drums in collaboration with VANS for our Loyal to the Craft events, the VANS headquarters in California, and some limited edition hand painted VANS snares by Jay Weinberg of Slipknot.
• Turning a Jack Daniels barrel into a snare drum in collaboration with the Zac Brown Band
• Working with the talented Nub painter to create an AriZona green tea drum kit
• Creating a studio kit for Red Bull in Los Angeles, California
• Creating an Autism Awareness snare drum with the Doug Floutie foundation
• Creating US Soccer, Ken Block and YETI snare drums with Branden Steineckert
• Designing and collaborating with Shepard Fairey and OBEY Giant on a custom drum kit for Frank Zummo of Sum 41 that was showcased at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas, Nevada
• Crafting a snare drum for Tré Cool out of old Balvenie whiskey staves with Anthony Bourdain

WORKING WITH MY HEROES

In 2014, we began to experience new heights. I collaborated with Mike Fasano, legendary drummer and drum tech, and we crafted up the idea to surprise Tré Cool with some snare drums in the studio. So when I flew out to Oakland, CA to tech for Branden Steineckert and Rancid, I checked a big box of custom snare drums for Tré to check out. He loved them, and we then surprised Tré with a set of custom drums inspired by a vintage kit (this later became the "Drunk Bunny kit"). I feel like Tré and I became instant friends and kindred drum souls, and he ended up coming to our factory and over dinner later we talked about our ideas and dreams for our partnership. We made amazing drum after amazing drum together, even creating a few limited edition runs of 20th Anniversary "DOOKIE" snare drums. Tré is one of my favorite drummers since I was a kid, so I was in awe that this was real life..

We had been working with Jay Weinberg for many years at this point, and in 2014 he joined Slipknot. I'll never forget when he told me he joined the band, I was so excited for him and we immediately began designing his monster kits. This opened up a whole new demographic for us, as Jay absolutely annihilated the drums night after night in front of thousands of people while he sat proudly behind his massive SJC Drums. I'll forever be one of Jay's biggest fans, and seeing him work as hard as he does fuels my fire even more.

That same year, I was introduced to Josh Dun of Twenty One Pilots by my good friend Rico who was on tour with Forever The Sickest Kids. We were hanging out at Gillette Stadium after FTSK played before a Patriots game, and we thought it'd be a good idea to call Josh at 2am. Luckily he picked up, we talked, and Josh joined the family shortly after. We've crafted some really cool and unique drums that actually seemed to come to life when he sat behind them and played. We've collaborated on many signature products that we're proud to be part of as we see his influence inspire and create the next generation of musicians.

In 2014, we began to experience new heights. I collaborated with Mike Fasano, legendary drummer and drum tech, and we crafted up the idea to surprise Tré Cool with some snare drums in the studio. So when I flew out to Oakland, CA to tech for Branden Steineckert and Rancid, I checked a big box of custom snare drums for Tré to check out. He loved them, and we then surprised Tré with a set of custom drums inspired by a vintage kit (this later became the "Drunk Bunny kit"). I feel like Tré and I became instant friends and kindred drum souls, and he ended up coming to our factory and over dinner later we talked about our ideas and dreams for our partnership. We made amazing drum after amazing drum together, even creating a few limited edition runs of 20th Anniversary "DOOKIE" snare drums. Tré is one of my favorite drummers since I was a kid, so I was in awe that this was real life..

We had been working with Jay Weinberg for many years at this point, and in 2014 he joined Slipknot. I'll never forget when he told me he joined the band, I was so excited for him and we immediately began designing his monster kits. This opened up a whole new demographic for us, as Jay absolutely annihilated the drums night after night in front of thousands of people while he sat proudly behind his massive SJC Drums. I'll forever be one of Jay's biggest fans, and seeing him work as hard as he does fuels my fire even more.

That same year, I was introduced to Josh Dun of Twenty One Pilots by my good friend Rico who was on tour with Forever The Sickest Kids. We were hanging out at Gillette Stadium after FTSK played before a Patriots game, and we thought it'd be a good idea to call Josh at 2am. Luckily he picked up, we talked, and Josh joined the family shortly after. We've crafted some really cool and unique drums that actually seemed to come to life when he sat behind them and played. We've collaborated on many signature products that we're proud to be part of as we see his influence inspire and create the next generation of musicians.

The shield logo

We had wanted to create our own lug for some time, so we spent some time with our good friend Lou Stuber to create a new version of the SJC logo. After months and months of revisions, late night texts and idea sessions, we landed on the shield shape as we know it today. We then used this shape to model what our lug would look like, and spent some time developing the lug to finally become what we proudly use on our drums today.

We had wanted to create our own lug for some time, so we spent some time with our good friend Lou Stuber to create a new version of the SJC logo. After months and months of revisions, late night texts and idea sessions, we landed on the shield shape as we know it today. We then used this shape to model what our lug would look like, and spent some time developing the lug to finally become what we proudly use on our drums today.

Music education has always been really important to me, and I always found myself wanting to do more for the next generation of musicians. As we grew, we try to give back as much as we can so kids can have the same access to music programming and inspiration that I did when I was growing up.

I was always so inspired by the Van Doren family's story starting and running Vans, and I was lucky enough to get connected to Steve Van Doren through Kevin Lyman. I met Steve for coffee, and he introduced me to many people on the Vans team. One thing lead to another, and Vans started to get involved to help make our pop up shops, workshops, and clinics we were hosting, and took them to a new level.

Soon enough, Loyal To The Craft was born out of a desire to amplify access to music programming for kids around the world. We hustled and brought drummers like Jay Weinberg, Frank Zummo, Josh Manuel, and Jared Easterling all over the world to put on motivational clinics for the next generation of musicians to meet, talk shop, and watch the drummer put on a drum clinic.. all for free and full of Vans and SJC goodies for the kids. We've donated instruments to schools around the USA, and seen smiles and the same passion in their eyes that we had when we were growing up, and it's something I am very proud of.

Music education has always been really important to me, and I always found myself wanting to do more for the next generation of musicians. As we grew, we try to give back as much as we can so kids can have the same access to music programming and inspiration that I did when I was growing up.

I was always so inspired by the Van Doren family's story starting and running Vans, and I was lucky enough to get connected to Steve Van Doren through Kevin Lyman. I met Steve for coffee, and he introduced me to many people on the Vans team. One thing lead to another, and Vans started to get involved to help make our pop up shops, workshops, and clinics we were hosting, and took them to a new level.

Soon enough, Loyal To The Craft was born out of a desire to amplify access to music programming for kids around the world. We hustled and brought drummers like Jay Weinberg, Frank Zummo, Josh Manuel, and Jared Easterling all over the world to put on motivational clinics for the next generation of musicians to meet, talk shop, and watch the drummer put on a drum clinic.. all for free and full of Vans and SJC goodies for the kids. We've donated instruments to schools around the USA, and seen smiles and the same passion in their eyes that we had when we were growing up, and it's something I am very proud of.

The beat CONTINUES

We have built some incredible drums and have been lucky to create a life's worth of amazing memories so far, and we couldn't do this without you, the SJC family. The support you all give us, from wearing an SJC t-shirt, engaging with us on social media, getting a quote on a drum, playing our drums proudly, all of it.. it's mind blowing for us to see SJC logo tattoos (Scott's initials are on your skin forever!), the places we ship our drums to, and the support you all give us while we chase our dreams building drums.

We are incredibly proud of the community we're part of together and look forward to the future. We're in the midst of a new era of SJC Drums and after 20 years, I still have the same passion and drive as I did unlocking the workshop door to Grandma Judy's basement to build some drums.

We're committed to nurturing this amazing community we call the SJC Family, and will forever be obsessed with creating the best sounding, most unique drums on the planet.

Thank you for checking out our story so far!

Sincerely, 
Mike Ciprari and the entire SJC Family

We have built some incredible drums and have been lucky to create a life's worth of amazing memories so far, and we couldn't do this without you, the SJC family. The support you all give us, from wearing an SJC t-shirt, engaging with us on social media, getting a quote on a drum, playing our drums proudly, all of it.. it's mind blowing for us to see SJC logo tattoos (Scott's initials are on your skin forever!), the places we ship our drums to, and the support you all give us while we chase our dreams building drums.

We are incredibly proud of the community we're part of together and look forward to the future. We're in the midst of a new era of SJC Drums and after 20 years, I still have the same passion and drive as I did unlocking the workshop door to Grandma Judy's basement to build some drums.

We're committed to nurturing this amazing community we call the SJC Family, and will forever be obsessed with creating the best sounding, most unique drums on the planet.

Thank you for checking out our story so far!

Sincerely,
Mike Ciprari and the entire SJC Family