The weekend of Oct 6 &7 saw the ‘The Drum Expo' show (www.thedrumexpo.com) in New Hampshire (US) take place. The show hailed the release of the new RCI ‘Atomic Bomb’ and the ‘Ocheltree Starlite’ line of custom snare drums.

Two snares (one of each) had been donated by RCI for the shows raffle and It turns out that the ‘Ocheltree’ would make even more of a presence at the show than expected!…

Legendary drummer Steve Smith (Vital Information/ Buddy's Buddies) was to perform at the show at 9pm that night. Steve was about to start, but as soon as he hit his snare drum, the head broke!

Steve, who was well aware of the ‘Ocheltree’ as he was one of the first customers to purchase a 5.5x14, publicly asked for the ‘Ocheltree’ that was on display for the show.

Steve never plays a 6 inch depth or more and the snare that was on display was a 7x14...big difference. So he pitched it up with only a little tuning and carried on to wow the audience as usual! Steve commented that it was“the best sounding snare” over his official endorsement.

Flattery will get you everywhere Steve!