EP 163 - The History of Orange County Drum with Michael Kelley and Jarrod Fallon

[@foskco87]

God I needed this closure in my life so badly. I could never wrap my head around wtf happened to OCDP and how they just went from elite level drum company to imploding into dust. This answered so many questions. I was OBSESSED with OCDP as a young teenager who was just getting into drumming. I would play along to Enema of the State over and over. I would spend hours online looking at the OCDP site looking at photos of kits and pretending to pick my dream kit out and then being stunned at the total price.

[@DrumHistoryPodcast]

I appreciate you listening! I am right there with you on the fun of building and shock of the price. The DW kit builder was great too

[@slickrickthemagik]

meee tooooo

[@clayfoster8234]

This episode has more humanity than any other in so far that as much as it was a discussion of the history of OCDP, it was also a couple guys talking about and remembering that amazing time when they were in their 20’s and everything was happening so fast and it was all so exciting. The 50yr old in me really appreciated and related to that.

[@DrumHistoryPodcast]

I appreciate that great feedback. Very good to know

[@AquariumDesignGroup]

Just found this.. VERY fond memories of being a very early customer of the original retail store. I knew Mike (and Daniel and John, of course) very well. I became friends with Taylor by also hanging out there all the time and vividly remember him taking me into one of the practice rooms to play along to a tape of a new gig he’d just landed… it was Alanis Morissette. It was an epic era and Daniel and the guys were truly fantastic human beings and I was thrilled to see them all reach such great heights in the industry. Amazing podcast as always! -Jeff Senske

[@kennethahl175]

I'm trying to find people familiar with my brothers professional drumming career. My brother was Mike Ahl. He never shared any of his stories with me. I remember him mentioning some of these people and the drum store. He recently passed away. I remember him telling friends of ours some of his drumming is on KZbin. I haven't been able to find these clips. He used to tell people stories about his touring professionally. Mike left orange county in 2000. He suffered a terrible battle with pneumonia. After a year of recovery he moved to Corning California and decided to remain on our Dad's ranch. If you can help me reconstruct his drumming years I would greatly appreciate your effort. Thank You!

[@rory__morrison]

Incredible. Huge appreciation to the show for putting this together, 2 amazing guests. Big thanks to Michael for taking the time to share his insights and help paint a picture of what it was like in the early days. Jarrod is the absolute man, a stellar dude who represents the brand with passion and is always genuine. Waited years for this and hope there are more to come 🙏

[@DrumHistoryPodcast]

Thanks Rory!

[@ceacc1987]

Great episode! I’m glad you were able to get these two guys together to share their perspectives and love for the brand. Jarrod is one of my good friends and has worked on a lot of my Ocdp drums. Loved this episode

[@DrumHistoryPodcast]

Thank you! Jarrod is a great guy and super genuine, so is Michael. Part 2 is in the works!

[@Alwaysbaggyjeans]

The host should be on mainstream radio- what a voice!

[@jaymeramirez7435]

Man!!!!! This is so cool. I’m absolutely a vintage nerd. But being 38 now… 28 years ago I found out about OCDP. tore apart a Ludwig Accent with royal blue wrap. Painted all the chrome hardware black with spray paint. 😂 I kind of forgot the love and passion I had for these custom drums back in early mid 2000’s

[@DrumHistoryPodcast]

Haha man thats hysterical. I wanted to make a "fake" OCDP kit too because I couldn't afford them. I'm sure that spray paint chipped off pretty much instantly when you started playing :) They really were the coolest of the cool at that time. I appreciate you listening and I am glad you like this episode Jayme!

[@jaymeramirez7435]

@@DrumHistoryPodcast Definitely did. Was my first time ever doing that. Now when I take lugs off a drum with intentions of working on it… ends up out of commission for years.

[@oreoandoz7723]

Always a fantastic and informative show - thank you!

[@CharlesTPrimm]

Great history, very informative. Thank you kindly.

[@DrumHistoryPodcast]

Thanks Charles!

[@JamieParksDrums]

Excellent video! Always love hearing about OCDP and the 90’s / 2000’s 🔥

[@DrumHistoryPodcast]

Thanks Jamie! This was a really fun one :)

[@DrummerAndyTaiwan]

Such a great episode and very informative, also clear some mysteries about the legendary brand, man I enjoy this a lot and I’m diving into the other episode and the new Q Drum one! Thanks for this, keep up the good work, love from Taiwan 🇹🇼 ❤

[@aroundthefur]

Finally got that OCDP episode I asked for years back😀 Cool to see Jarrod on here Reid, Custom Works

[@DrumHistoryPodcast]

Hey Reid, Yes indeed - this one was super requested so sorry for not giving you a shout on it. Just know you were a part of making it happening :)

[@jaymeramirez7435]

I’ve commented 3 times now. Man. I love this episode and vibe of this podcast. Definitely signing up for Patreon

[@R3TR0R4V3]

This was great! Chad from 311 is always one of my favorite drummers ever and I've always lusted after his OCDP kits were the bee's knees BITD, incredible looking & sounding drums. Gotta love that vented snare! 😎

[@abeasom]

Lucky enough to have two original OCDP kits. One built in1998 and one in 2000.

[@DrumHistoryPodcast]

Wow thats awesome - those are the real-deal kits

[@johanlindblom1]

Been drooling for these snares since 1998, impossible to come by here in Sweden. Now I’m 37 and just got my second american made Ocdp snare. One is bronze glitter 6x14 15ply with four 3,5”vents. And my latest is a 6,5x13 20-ply with four 1” vents = pops like firecracker 😍. Definetly an era on its own 97-2009 ish!

[@amcuz98]

Man this is such a breath of fresh air. Currently obsessed with OCPD… I wonder if Joey’s type 4 blood red acrylic kit is laying around somewhere 🥲

[@herrelladventures]

I had the pleasure of playing an awesome OCPD kit wayyyy back in 2003. I wanted to buy one so bad after. Many years later once I knew Guitar Center was involved, it was over. What a bummer, OCDP was such an incredible company with quite the history. Anyone who was a drummer, wanted to own one of their kits back in the day. ICONIC.

[@DrumHistoryPodcast]

Totally agree

[@BSpecUSA]

OMG.. I just found this video. I actually have a 30 PLY Vented snare that was hand made by OCDP that I bought from YETI back in Rancho Santa Margarita at the OCDP house back in the late 90's. It is black stained shell, no laminate. It is a story in its self. I have been playing on this drum since then. Played a lot back in the OC days in a super popular local band. Contact me if you want any photos of the drum. It still kicks ass and every studio loves the sound.

[@Bungletronics]

I've bee na huge OCDP fan for over 20 years so it is great to find out what happened. Sadly my only OCDP purchase is a chinese made snare from GC but I've been lucky to play on some friends uber custom OCDP gear over the years. I used to sit on the early internet and use the kit configurator to build by dream kit.

[@WardenOnDrums]

Epic history here ☝🏼

[@DrumHistoryPodcast]

Totally! Thanks for watching

[@pistolCrockett]

Were they using a preformed Keller Shells or cutting their plys?

[@ZoranRadovanovDrums]

Big John Otto fan. I hope I will have 4x14 40 ply vented snare drum...

[@DrumHistoryPodcast]

He is a great drummer and seems like a cool guy. 40 ply - holy moly!

[@jaymeramirez7435]

I used to have a red 7x13 maple red sparkle die cast hoop OCDP china made snare from GC. $199 retail. I paid $100 with a friends GC discount. Man. That snare sounded so fkn sick with clear black dot Remo head. Or even vintage ambassador. I knew it wasn’t the real deal. But was what I could afford. I miss it

[@lordtang44]

I have a OCDP Newport in black gloss. It has a black coating on the inside of the shells I was told these where made for the guitar Center drum off a long time ago. Anyone have any input on these.

[@dye182]

Ok so love this episode growing up of course obsessed with Travis and ocdp met trav and Daniel. Now as far as refinishing a ocdp at the end of the day they’re just Keller shells. They will never fetch the price a round badge or vintage Ludwig will fetch.

[@drumdiscussion7776]

Credit must be given to the innovators and pioneers of OCDP manufacturing. Without them life would be typical of status quo and boring. Creativity is a wonderful outcome! We all need them to push the envelope, open doors and free musicians in their creativity.

[@DrumHistoryPodcast]

Absolutely - very well said!

[@JoeyVilleneuve]

I ordered my OCDP kit in 2005 and it took 6-8 months to get it. Shells alone were over 9K. With hardware, cyybals and pedals (Gibraltar and Tama Iron Cobras, Paiste Rude), it came to close to 15K. Sad to see the company go the way it did. Kinda sad how the company had to close up because of a simple thing like lack of business acumen. I love my OCDP and still play it to this day. I wish Mike the best of luck with his drum company.

[@DrumHistoryPodcast]

Wow that sounds like a hell of a drum set! That would be a dream of most people in the early 2000's, Im glad you are still rocking it. Mike is killing it with his new company, really cool drums

[@coreymanske]

Bart!! Anytime you want to fill in any of the gaps on this story, I'm down to chat. I was one of the original dozen. Ask Nick, Mike or Jarrod...they'll vouch.

[@rory__morrison]

We need this episode!

[@Bass-n-Boom]

I wanna hear more!

[@DrumHistoryPodcast]

Looking forward to it man

[@softlk8810]

Interesting little side note: I believe they have the same website design currently that they had back in the early 2000’s.

[@aaronliebelt4347]

Pretty sure Bill of Pork Pie should mentioned if you’re gonna talk about the beginning of the new wave of custom drum builders

[@tonygriffith2164]

Travis was playing a jellybean DW kit at Coachella last month. Probably a back line kit?

[@DrumHistoryPodcast]

Thanks for watching Tony! Travis is a full on DW player these days. It is sad that it isn't OCDP but DW is a great drum brand too

[@tonygriffith2164]

@@DrumHistoryPodcast Have you done a piece on Spaun Drums, another custom drum manufacturer from so cal? Thanks!

[@springer90]

Chad Sexton is the most underrated drummer ever.

[@vandavis000]

Looks like the top asked for custom drum episode so many ppl freaked out after ocdp usa was nolonger there.😢😮

[@matthewpaluch777]

🤔Another company that was bought out & ran into the ground.

[@powbobs]

I always thought they were ugly and sounded crap, but it’s an interesting story.

[@chazzeiler9753]

As a former employee of guitar center, I had the displeasure of having to set up one of those Venice kits. I remember tuning up the floor Tom and when I finally locked the legs down it came out of tune. They are effectively high-end sound percussion kits. Yea… I said it…

[@DrumHistoryPodcast]

I am also a former GC employee 👋