They were made in Brisbane in Queensland, they used a variety of local Australian hardwood and (unfortunately for us who tried to buy foreign drums at the time) were the sole reason for the outrageous tariffs the Australian Government put on on drum imports back then. I understand the company still may actually exist in Brisbane.

The only big Australian acts of the time I can ever remember using Drouyn were The Easybeats (of Friday On My Mind fame) in the sixties and a glam rock outfit called Skyhooks in the seventies who were massive there - should be lots of stuff online including pix on any fan site.

I occasionally see a stand or similar turn up on Ebay Australia (.com.au).

Drouyn also had a brand called Dandy which may or may not have been a budget line but that is going way back into the mists of time. I think they were also responsible for shells for the experimental Schleishman drums back in the early 80s.

Bottom-line is they weren't particularly popular with Australian drummers of the time, I seriously doubt they ever exported and, given the size of the country, I wouldn't imagine there are too many around even at their peak.

Heard from a couple of people in the seventies that they sounded pretty good though.

DR

I'm actually hoping to start a website up about drouyn drums in the near future. As a kid my dad used to hang around the factory, sweep floors etc. He was taught by the guy who was the foreman for the factory. I think my grandfather also new Doug Drouyn personally.

The Dandy drums were what they were originally called. Dandy stood for D.and D. (Drouyn and Drouyn), which obviously sounds like 'dandy'. But I think they felt the name didn't sound right for the incoming rock market and changed it to Drouyn.

I just 'loaned' one from a mate who had 2. I see them pop up in south east queensland from time to time. Their shells were reputed to be of very high quality. I've only heard them with thick double ply heads before; I'm dying to get some G1's on the kit I've got.

If it's ok, I'll post when I get the website/blogsite up and going.

My father had a wealth of information about them. But by fluke he called me tonight and has somehow gotten in touch with the daughter of Doug Drouyn. So I may be able to find out pretty much everything about the company and the drums.

Will be interested to hear and know more. My slight bitterness (in my youth) about them hiking up the prices of imports has been tempered with age now and I'd kind of like to know more. I can remember thinking it was kind of cool to visit the factory though god knows I didn't have the money (then) to buy any. Would be fun to see any photos of (relatively) well-known drummers on Drouyn - Snowy for example.

My dad even couldn't think of anyone other than snowy and the guy from the skyhooks using them. He said they were used a bit around brisbane which is why I'd be seeing them every now and then around south east qld.

He watched the foreman (Murray Hinz: spelling?) build a kit for himself once. He spent something like 18months on it. It was a marine white pearl and a marine red pearl checkerboard design. He created the checkerboard by cutting exact sized pieces out of each colour and individually glueing them onto the shells.

I can't wait to find out all the info, about the factory and the music store they ran as well.

Murray - no relation to Russ, I hope.

The Drouyn company is still open. I've tried to call them a couple of times, and only gotten an answering machine, but I've been told if I leave a message they will get back to you.

Drouyn Drum Factory382 Logan Rd Stones Corner 4120(07) 3397 8711

There's a couple of kits for sale in the Trading Post at the moment, and good value I think.

http://www.tradingpost.com.au and search for Drouyn. (Drum Palace down in Vic is selling them).

As for famous Drouyn drummers, I can't add more than the Skyhooks and Easybeats references. But for Dandy drums, I have a soft copy of one of their early catalogues (I think someone here sent it to me???) and it has some photo's of some of their illustrious users (Like "Max Sweeny currently playing at the Golden Dragon Restaurant in Hobart".. I kid you not!

That Golden Dragon Restaurant - prime gig (and the duck was not bad either).

I was lucky enough to get a secondhand Drouyn kit when I was about 14. This was in 1973 in Townsville, North Queensland. I had started on an ancient Pearl kit - so old it was not regular sizes. I spotted the Drouyns in the paper I think. The owner had been drafted so they had only been played a few times. They cost $100. The soldier who owned them was away somewhere after his service, had crashed his car and needed the money. I bought them from his mother. The kit was 22, 13, 16 and a 14" metal snare. They were grey sort of striped. The kit came with a 15" pair of pre-serial Paiste 602 hats and an 18" 602 crash that to this day, I have never seen the likes of. It had a tiny raised lip all around the edge. The whole kit sounded excellent. (Especially after the Pearls) It was fitted with Everplay heads I think and it was obvious to me at the time (I was a total drum junkie even then - I played professionally from the age of 15) that the kit was made in the Premier/Olympic/John Grey style - it had quite a crisp, ringy Premier type sound. The toms had re-inforcing rings similar to Premiers at the time and was made of a dark wood which had a cedar type look. I knew a lot about Drouyn at one stage because I moved to Brisbane to play and Stones Corner was a Mecca to me. I thought the kit was Queensland Cedar or something - my father knew from the look of the grain but I have forgotten what he said. The weakest part of the kit was the chrome - it just peeled off but this was Townsville and the climate kills everything. I traded them in for a Premier kit in fire engine red. I loved those Drouyns. They were special drums and I wish I still owned them - not to mention the 15" 602 hats! At the time, there were heaps of kits around Queensland but you hardly ever see them now.

Nice story. Were those 15" hats the sound edge (scolloped bottom edge). I have a set of pre-serial 15" and they have the most amazing hi hat sound. And man are they loud! I think I read several years ago that Chad Wackerman has a set of those hi hats and never lets anyone else use them. Period!