Premier Drums Factory
Rosalie Checca
Premier Music International Limited is an English musical instruments manufacturing company based in Kibworth. The company, founded in 1922, currently produces drum kits, sticks and accessories.[1]
Premier was established in 1922 when a drummer, Albert Della Porta, partnered with George Smith to establish a company. They set up on Berwick Street in London, and were soon joined by Albert's brother Fred, who eventually became the first sales manager of the recently created company.
In the beginning, they manufactured drums for other companies like John E. Dallas (with the "Jedson" trademark), then starting with "Premier" instruments. Early drum kits consisted of a bass drum, a snare, a stand, a cymbal, and sometimes a small tom-tom. The company grew to two factories, ending up in West London's Park Royal. By 1938 they were also producing brass instruments, as well as supplying drums to the armed forces. The company even built a guitar called "Premier Vox", in the early 1930s.[2]
During World War II, the Government forced Premier to manufacture gun sights and electrical plugs and sockets for radar equipment. After the West London factory was bombed in 1940, the company moved to the Leicestershire town of South Wigston, where they occupied three small factories.[3]
By 1986, Premier was one of the biggest factories in South Wigston, with 100,000 square feet covered and 180 employees. The company also exported its products to 120 countries.[4] However, in 2005 after 65 years of activity, Premier finally closed the factory and the entire site was eventually demolished in 2017.[5] Once established in its new home in Kibworth Harcourt, Leicestershire, the brand was purchased by the online retailer Gear4music on 21 June 2021.[6]
Premier drums has a long and proud history dating back to 1922, when drummer Albert Della Porta joined forces with renowned English drum builder George Smith. The company was formed, and they opened their first factory on Berwick Street in London.
The impact of the bombing meant Premier had to relocate to three small factories in Wigston, just south of Leicester in the English midlands. And despite producing drums and other instruments for the British Army, the government ordered the new factories to be used for the production of gun sights and electrical plugs and sockets for radar equipment, effectively halting the production of musical equipment until the end of the war.
Products such as the 250 bass drum pedal and Zyn cymbals, along with kit developments like chrome hardware and tilting hi-hat cups, were extremely innovative at the time and helped now-legendary players like Ray Ellington, Eric Delaney, Tony Crombie, and Norman Burns to become household names in Britain.
Around 1958, Premier became one of the very first companies to produce its own plastic drumheads. Premier Everplay heads were made from Melanex, and were mechanically clamped into the self-hoop around a square bar, rather than glued. Since then, they continued to produce heads to keep up with musical developments, including the Premier Powerplay (which had a central doughnut) and Premier TwinSkin (with a larger but narrower doughnut between two plies, for a much thicker sound).
But it was the emergence of a new genre that had a considerable impact on the image and branding of Premier in this decade. Punk rock was exploding onto the UK music scene, and it brought with it a lot of nationalistic pride. The musicians in the movement typically chose to play instruments manufactured in their home country, and as a result, Premier became strongly associated with it.
The 1980s saw Premier truly capitalize on its wide and diverse reach into the various popular genres of the time. Carl Palmer (Asia), Charlie Morgan (Elton John), and John Keeble (Spandau Ballet) were some of the new ambassadors the company brought on board.
The decade also brought electronic music to prominence across many different genres. The use of electronic drum kits and sample pads became quite common, and the creation of the Premier PowerPack electronic kit reflected this.
Despite being a decade for renowned innovation, Premier also encountered financial difficulties. After entering receivership in 1984, the company was bailed out by a consortium headed up by The Royal Bank of Scotland. In 1987 they actually merged with Yamaha for a period of five years, before buying themselves out of it at the end of 1992.
The 1990s brought about the birth of two exceptionally popular new drum kit ranges: The Premier Signia and Genista. The Signia kits are famous for their low-end, warm sound due in part to their thin maple shells with rings. Premier Genista drum kits produce a brighter and punchy tone from birch shells with no rings. These kits have proven to be timeless and are still in demand even to this day.
The Premier Olympic range is created from handpicked 6 ply basswood and various durable wrap finishes are available. Sturdy double-braced hardware comes in either black or chrome, and 1.5mm triple-flanged steel hoops give the drums a strong and consistent sound. There is also a junior model for younger players.
The Premier Powerhouse range is made from poplar wood and offers classier wooden bass drum hoops (as opposed to the metal hoops on the Premier Olympic). The Premier Powerhouse drum set also features triple-flanged steel hoops on the toms, along with a selection of retro wrap finishes, delivering more in quality, looks, and feel than the price point suggests.
Other than this, the main difference between the Premier APK vs. XPK is the available finishes. By paying a little more for the Premier XPK, you can choose from 4 available lacquer finishes. In comparison, the APK offers similar wrap finishes to those available on the Premier Olympic range. If looks are even more important, the higher-level Premier XPK Exclusive range features a satin finish option.
Premier offers a choice of maple and birch internally lacquered shells, in sparkle and high gloss or classic wraps. These choices ensure owners are getting both the wood and look that they are aiming for.
The Premier Elite series is the modern flagship drum kit on offer from Premier. It has been designed using the highest quality materials available, and with the intention of giving the owner the most flexibility in terms of configuration and personalization.
The Elite range also offers a seemingly endless list of potential finishes including woodgrain lacquers and sunning sparkles in even-coat, fade or burst applications. If you can picture your ideal drum kit, the Premier Elite has a finish that will get you there.
Since its conception in the 1920s, Premier has been one of the most respected drum manufacturers in the industry. It has its roots placed firmly and proudly on British soil, and has evolved in sync with popular music for over a century.
Drummers at the forefront of jazz, be-bop, big band, rock, punk, glam, brit-pop, and more have all endorsed and worked with Premier drums to create some of the most iconic and innovative products in the history of the industry.
Premier can also claim to be one of the main developers of the modern hi-hat stand. All other companies ended up copying the side-pull hi-hat with tilting bottom cymbal cup, and the double-locking nuts on the underside of the clutch.
Despite a history dotted with some difficult periods financially, it seems certain that this priceless combination of tradition and progress will continue to serve the drum industry well for many years to come.
By the time Albert Della Porta died in 1965, his three sons Gerald, Raymond, and Clifford were running the company, which originally had occupied three rather small factories in Wigston, but by 1976 had moved lock, stock and barrel into a newly-constructed facility on Blaby Road.
Long high-tension lugs were a Premier first too, and for many years fitted to all drums except, for some strange reason, to the floor toms. They were brought in out of necessity to apply an even amount of stress to the shell and give added strength to the drums, which at that time were exclusively equipped with animal skins.
Around this time Premier fitted new floor-tom leg holders of a type that were initially seen on WFL, and that held them in a pressed-steel bracket with a sprung lever on the side to adjust their height. Tom mounts way back then were a series of cast ratchet pieces shell-mounted with extensions to get the drum to more or less the right position, although there was eventually a telescopic version along with a telescopic cymbal stand.
Trilok came around 1976, with tripod bases, U-shaped hand-threatening legs, and nylon wear-resisting inserts. The new hi-hat had external expansion springs and a 252-type plate, while the cymbal stands incorporated booms for the first time. Tristar stands had double-braced tripod legs while Tridents were single-braced.
But eventually these numbers gave way to somewhat more evocative names like Projector, Resonator, Elite, Soundwave, Club, Crown, Royale, Black Shadow, APK, XPK, and so on, culminating in their latest, Signia. However for the States they had to have different names for the sets: Baron, Superstar, Gig-Maker, Powerhouse, Driver, and Kicker to name but a few.
This was an abbreviation for Advance Power Kit, which started out with single lugs, but by 1989 was fitted with the more fashionable long type. It was closely followed by XPK, which was ostensibly the same set but with an outer veneer of birch added that was stained and polished.
This both created a resonant cavity and covered up all the bolts that secured the fittings (even the air hole), therefore allowing the unobstructed inner shell to resonate independently and give a very powerful sound.
However, by 1977 there was one in their American catalog, and they produced something similar with their Project One snare seven years later. Resonator begat Black Shadow, which was the same, but with single-lug power toms and bass, black-stained and lacquered inside and out.
64591212e2