Passion for percussion: Longtime local drummer opens retail store in Kalispell
<p>Patrick Cote/Daily Inter Lake Rob Spencer, owner of Drum Den, has been playing drums since he was 12 years old.</p>
Rob Spencer’s lifelong love of drumming has turned into a full-time business.
Spencer has just opened the Drum Den in the Syth Business Park in Kalispell, at 1358 Airport Road. The business specializes in drums, percussion instruments and accessories, and Spencer also is teaching drum lessons.
“I’ve been wanting to do this for the last 15 years,” he said.
Many Flathead Valley residents will recognize Spencer’s name from the professional photography business he operated here for 20 years until the mid-1990s. He then became a representative for commercial photo laboratories and still does some part-time work for Pacificolor.
“I like to be self-employed, and being a field rep is being your own boss,” Spencer said. “But drums are my No. 1 passion.”
An Eastern Montana native from the Plentywood area, Spencer, 60, got started in drumming when he was 12 and took a few lessons at the local school. His propensity for percussion was immediate.
He kept drumming as a hobby, though, while he focused on his photography career. Spencer moved to the Flathead Valley in 1988 when economic conditions in Eastern Montana were in a slump.
Through the years he’s played with numerous local bands, including the Don Lawrence Orchestra, Street Legal, Blue Onion, Full Moon Prophets and most recently the Smokehouse Blues Band. He currently still plays with the Montana Highlanders, a local band specializing in Scottish music.
Spencer honed his skills under the tutelage of several well-known drummers, including Kenny Aronoff, who drummed for John Mellencamp, John Fogerty and other successful performers; and Danny Seraphine, who’s best known for his tenure with the popular rock group Chicago.
Spencer has opened for some top performers, too, such as George Thorogood — known for his hit, “Bad to the Bone,” and folk-blues singer Maria Muldaur, who recorded the 1974 hit “Midnight at the Oasis.”
At his new store, Spencer prides himself on having some of the newest innovations in percussion equipment.
“I’m getting stuff that hasn’t been marketed yet,” he said, noting as an example the Aquarian Triple Threat drumheads with three layers of sturdy Mylar, a thin, strong polyester film.
“Anything new and upcoming, we’ll have it,” he said. “We have a selection of [drum] heads that otherwise people would have to go online to buy. And I’ll have competitive prices.”
Pearl, Yamaha, Gretsch, pdp and Tama are among the brand-name drums Spencer is carrying. He’ll also offer various other percussion instruments such as conga drums and bongos, and electric drums.
Spencer said he has a basement full of vintage percussion collected through the years, and some of those classic drums may end up for sale at his showroom from time to time.
Spencer has given drum lessons through the years and will continue to do so, with instruction on either a single snare or full trap set.
The Drum Den will be open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and by appointment on Saturdays. Spencer can be reached at 253-7922.
Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.