It has come to my attention that 2010 is drawing to a close, which must mean that 2011 is just round the corner. Those of you old enough may well remember 2009, which was a year ago. At the end of 2009 I wrote a piece entitled Customskins Review 2009. Shaquille O’Neal once said, “excellence is not a singular act but a habit”, and for this sole reason here is the Customskins Review 2010:

Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation, for ’tis better to be alone than in bad company.
- George Washington

2010 was the year that the competition came to town. For decades Customskins was the music industry’s best kept secret, but then, out of nowhere, every man and his dog are offering bass drum graphics.

First up, Remo launched a range of printed drum heads to make your kit look like Jordan’s lower back. We politely passed. Next up came Inked by Evans, who offer a great service providing you remember to order your drum head 3 months in advance of needing it:

Undeterred by the big boys turning up in town, we just got on and did what we did best - ensuring superstardom using only a Remo Ambassador, some ink, years of know how, and a whole lotta love for the game. Here’s just some of the bands who put their future in our hands in 2010 and didn’t regret it for a second:

Duran Duran, Imelda May, Peter Andre, Pixie Lott, Two Door Cinema Club, Motorhead, Tony Christie, Crystal Fighters, Nadine Coyle, One Night Only, Chapel Club, The Buggles, Manic Street Preachers, Grinderman, Villagers, Scouting for Girls, The Original Wailers, Julian Casablancas, Klaxons, Goldfrapp, Kooks, Foals, Ellie Goulding, Cheryl Cole, Fun Lovin Criminals, The Futureheads, Rihanna, The Courteeners, Noah and the Whale, Craig David, Mystery Jets…

Our drum heads have been all over the TV. Here’s one on X-Factor:

Here’s some more on Jools:

“The saying that beauty is but skin deep is but a skin deep saying”
- John Ruskin

2010 was the year that the Custom Skin became a sex symbol, much like the people who work there. Here’s some pictorial evidence:

Here’s a bonus for those of you not at work. Note the man smelling Lily’s Lilys.

Procrastination is one of the most common and deadliest of diseases and its toll on success and happiness is heavy.
- Wayne Gretzky

Here’s some things we meant to do this year but didn’t:

• Overhaul the Customskins website. We got quite a long way with this. If you are a skilled Wordpress developer and would like to help finish the job please email us at tim [at] customskins dot co dot uk.
• Launch removeable drum heads. Yes, we have the technology. No, we haven’t told anybody.
• Get more involved in interwebs. Yes, we have a facebook and a twitter. No, we hardly ever update it. But in 2011 we will so sign up now.

“I feel we made too many mistakes, especially down the stretch. We gave too many of their shooters open looks.”
- Shaquille O’Neal

Here’s some things we did this year but didn’t mean to:

• Got hacked. Yes, customskins was removed from the internet by malicious webgeeks. Don’t worry, we simply put it back.
• Set fire to our drumskin printing machine. And then again. And then again. And then we decided to fix it rather than film it.
• Become like Generation Game for drummers. Yes, we gave away a lot of stuff this year. And will do again next year.

“From my past performances. From my past success. I know all days cannot be rosy and what keeps me going is the support from my team.”
- Sourav Ganguly

We’re looking forward to 2011 at Customskins. Everything will be bigger and better and we’ll reply to your messages on twitter. Send one now and I’ll prove it.

Hope you had a great 2010 and all the best for 2011.

Unless you’ve been trapped down a mine, you’ll know that last month we gave away a truly awesome Kickport as part of the Great Customskins Giveaway. The competition was so popular that we briefly considered giving away all our products rather than selling them. Our accountant, however, suggested this was likely to cause issues with our revenue stream, and ultimately cause homelessness, drug addiction, and death. He recommended we instead give away things occasionally, rather than relying on it as our core business. So that’s what we’re going to do.

Let me introduce you to this handsome candidate:

It’s a DW 2000 bass drum pedal. The origin of the name remains unclear, but I suspect that DW stands for David Wright, who played a defensive role for Ipswich Town from 2006 to 2009. The 2000 presumably correlates to the amount of goals that were conceded during this period.

Disclosure time: Whilst we’re extremely generous people here at customskins HQ, our generosity wouldn’t be possible without the generosity of others. In this case the generosity is on the part of Drumshack. Drumshack is an amazing drum shop in Battersea, South London, who specialise in new and used drum gear. I particularly like their range of vintage drum kits and shiny Bosphorus cymbals, but that’s just me. You might prefer their charming staff and winning prices.

When I first moved down to London from David Wright country I visited Drumshack, which back then was literally just a shack on the muddy bank of the Thames with a couple of congas in. They treated me like a real person, even though I wasn’t, and we’ve been comrades ever since.

But anyway, you’re probably more interested in the DavidWright2000, and how you can get your neanderthal mitts on it:

• The DW2000 is for drummers.
• It fits onto the drum kit somewhere.
• It’s engineered in the USA, which probably means it’s actually manufactured somewhere with nice food.
• It’s suitable for a range of musical applications. I just played it like a cello.
• It’s got single post casting. I don’t know what this means, but it’s probably not as good as double or triple post casting.

So, in an antiques roadshow stylee, you probably wanna know how much this behemoth of bass bashing is worth. CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT.

Not bad huh?!

The Competition

In order to win this amazing piece of hardware engineered in the good ‘ol USA and made out of solid METAL just answer the following trivia question in the comments. We will pick a winner on Wednesday 17th November, and send them the DW2000.

If the name DW2000 is nothing to do with football, what do you think it might stand for?

Best of luck! If you don’t win it why not swap some money for one instead?

This is a blog post about something specific. The specific topic of this post is custom printed clear bass drum heads. Before you click onto something more interesting like Careygate or Eastwoodgate STOP! You owe it to your children’s childen to read on.

Not a lot of people know this, but at customskins HQ we have loads of amazing electronic and analogue equipment which allows us to produce custom printed drum heads in a range of finishes that not even Professor Stephen Hawking could comprehend. Fortunately, we don’t burden you with these baffling choices, and keep the exciting stuff for our own gratification.

One finish which frankly doesn’t get enough recognition, though, is CLEAR. Yep, much like water, air, ice, and air, customskins are also available in clear. But there’s more to it than meets the eye, and that’s exactly what this informative blog post focuses on.

So, Tim @ customskins, how did you get the idea of the bumper clear drum skin blog edition? Well, Reader @ desk, we recently received a rather nice drum head order from a happening band called The First. Here it is:

Not much to see here, I hear you exclaim, other than massive shark! WRONG. Check this:

You see, it’s like Transformers, except this was a drumskin all along! Similarly to Transformers, this drum head is also like the Sistine Chapel. Light flows through the translucent colours like a stained glass window. If you had a light in your bass drum you’d probably be visited by Jesus!

But here’s the rub. You don’t have to have translucent colour on a clear head. They can be solid as well! Like on this one:

You can even have a combination of translucent and solid colours! Wow!

I know this is quite difficult to comprehend, much like the West Midlands, so I’ve put together a more concise overview for your consumption:

Concise Overview

As you may have heard, it has been revealed that Kim Jong-un will be the next leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea when current leader Kim Jong-il explodes or melts or something. Jong-un is a keen drummer, and uses Custom Skins from Customskins on his kit. Here’s some drum heads for his new band pictured against the Diamond Mountains in North Korea, in order to demonstrate the different finishes. This was a dangerous and expensive photoshoot - I’m sure you’ll agree it was worth it:

So that should all be clear right? RIGHT!

If you’d like to buy a clear custom bass drum head for your band or communist regime please email sales [at] customskins [dot] co [dot] uk.

This blog post is a sequel to The Great Customskins Giveaway. Unlike most sequels though, this one is almost as good!

By the way, sorry for the lack of posts in, like, forever. We’ve been extremely busy here and I didn’t want to alienate our loyal readership with substandard blog posts. But fear not, this post oozes quality from the first word to the very last.

As you can imagine, my finger is very much on the pulse when it comes to advancements in the drum mic hole reinforcement sector. I even attended HoleSafe2009, the annual industry trade fair. So it was with some excitement that I came across KickPort, a whole new way of strengthening your hole. Quivering, I called my dealer and explained to them my predicament:

Me: I have a predicament!
My dealer: What’s your predicament?
Me: I don’t have enough low-end! I don’t have enough tone! I need more punch! I require a better feel!
My dealer: I may have just the thing to solve your low-end tonal punchy feeling problem!
Me: I know! The KickPort! Manufactured by KickPort International LLC in Petaluma, CA!
My dealer: Precisely! I’ve heard that Doane Perry of Jethro Tull has one, and his low-end has gone through the floor!
Me: Get me one immediately!

Several days later I received my brand new KickPort, the 5″ model with the white rim. It was like Christmas, but with less kittens to drown.

But there was a problem. I hadn’t bargained on the epic proportions of the item; clearly a result of the American design and construction. Damn, I thought, this will never fly. Here’s why:

Clearly this will never fly, let alone travel in a courier van without total decimation.

So it is with great sadness that we’ve decided to give away our KickPort. Here’s a photo of it:

Isn’t it beautiful? Here’s a photo of the KickPort next to a plunger to give you an idea of size:

In case that doesn’t give you an idea of the size, here’s a photo of the KickPort next to a yellow plastic cow:

Now you have an idea of size, let me remind you of the facts:

- The KickPort stops your mic hole from tearing
- The KickPort makes you sound amazing
- The KickPort retails at £36.99
- This KickPort is 5″ and white

To win this amazing KickPort, reinforce your hole and become a real man simply answer the following trivia question. Please post your answer in the blog comments, and we’ll pick the winner, contact you, and send you the KickPort!

If you had to kick a celebrity into a port, which port would it be?

Best of luck! The competition ends on Friday 13th August.

Sorry, no posts for ages - it’s all been very busy at the HQ. This isn’t a real blog post either, I just thought I’d share with you a rather amusing spam email we received today:

“This had to come in a hurry and it has left me in a devastating state.I’m in some terrible situation and I’m really going to need your urgent help. Some days ago,unannounced,I came to visit a resort center in South Glamorgan England, UK..Unfortunately I got mugged by some limey hoodlums on my way to the hotel where i lodged.All my money and all other vital documents including my credit cards and my cell phone have been stolen by the muggers, I’m financially stranded right now and my return flight leaves in few hours time but I need some money to clear some bills, I didn’t bring my cell phone along since I didn’t get to roam them before coming over. So all I can do now is pay cash and get out of here quickly this is embarrassing enough.I was wondering if you can loan me some cash, I’ll refund it to you as soon as I arrive home just need to clear my Hotel bills and get the next plane home, As soon as I  get home I’ll refund it immediately.  Write me so I can let you know how to send it.

Awaiting your response asap.
Thanks..”

The good news is that thanks to the Great Customskins Price Rise we’re now in a position to help!

Proper blog soon.

You may have noticed that Custom Skins Blog posts have been a little on the sparse side since Christmas. There’s a reason for this though; we’ve been working hard behind the scenes putting together perhaps the most explosive and exciting event in the history of customskins.co.uk…

the Great Customskins 2010 Price Rise!

Stop rejoicing for one moment though, so I can give you some background. A story without background is like a picture without a background - photoshopped. Trust me though, this story ain’t photoshopped -  there’s LITERALLY no way you can Photoshop a story. Try it!

Anyway, we haven’t raised our prices in about 4 years. In that time EVERYTHING has got more expensive - printers, blank drum heads, postage, inks, beer, accomodation, petrol, linguine. Literally everything. Except customskins from customskins. A couple of years ago we VAT registered, but instead of adding VAT to our prices we absorbed it, like a big happy generous sponge. Thank you customskins! Said everyone, whilst we ate baked beans and slept in the clothes recycling bin.

But enough is enough, and after careful analysis we’ve modified our pricing structure, to MORE. For those of you who prefer numbers to words, here’s the equation:

OLD PRICES < NEW PRICES

What will the customskins price rise mean for you?

The good news is that the increase in prices will have no detrimental affect on our service - this will remain identical. You will simply pay us more money.

If you have any questions regarding the information above please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Last night I had a dream that Eminem mentioned Customskins in his new single. I woke up and thought “Customskins needs a twitter, so I can relate this story”. So here it is.

You’ll notice that the Eminem story is syndicated on the Customskins Twitter. But remember, this was the whole point.

I know some of you are on twitter so please please add us so we look popular. We’re http://www.twitter.com/customskinshq . In the spirit of common decency we’ll add you too. But not U2 cos…well, y’know.

Oh, by the way, hope y’all had a nice xmas and new year!

Well, another year is as good as over, so it seems good and proper to take a look back at 2009. Here we reclimb the highest peaks, replunge the lowest depths, make sense of it all, and post it up on the customskins blog in a conveniently truncated form.

F**K you, we won’t do what you tell us. Unless it’s printing drumskins.

Yes, surprisingly we’ve spent much of 2009 printing bands names on their drumskins; regular readers will recognise this as our specialist subject. Customskins has been almost as popular as Derek Obama this year; we’ve printed 900+ heads for 700+ clued up drummers, which is almost certainly more than Derek has managed. When it comes to band names, it’s been popular to combine an adjective with a first name - this year we’ve had Turbulent Eddie, Terrifying Joey, Hard Way Harry, and James Blunt. Other band names that have raised a chuckle in CSHQ this year include the Fragrant Vagrants and Blazing Grumpy Penguins.

Customskins HQ is the New Hollywood

Aside from printing drum heads, we’ve been terribly busy making a nuisance of ourselves on movie sets. Most of Hollywood has descended on CSHQ this year - we’ve had Clint Eastwood’s new feature, Colin Firth’s new movie, and most episodes of Spooks are filmed in our toilet.

Speaking of which, I never got round to posting pics of the Colin Firth movie on the blog. Here’s one:

We didn’t actually get to meet… sorry, I mean, Colin Firth didn’t actually get to meet us, but I’m sure he’d have found us to be thoroughly decent blokes.

This year we went to see some bands

The advantage of living and working in London is that you have a choice of 100 bands playing every night of the week (accept Sundays, which is when acoustic singer songwriters broadcast their relationship problems at open mic nights). The disadvantage is that 90% of these bands are terrible. The best bands we went to see this year were Frontier Ruckus, who are a quite brilliant alt-country band from Michigan, and The So So Glos, who are a quite brilliant punk rock band from New York City. Both these evenings involved tequila, which is guaranteed to enhance any form of live entertainment, but not necessarily work the next day.

In 2009 we coined some phrases:

Box-furious
Definition: Ultimate anger. Preferably for a slightly irrational reason.
Usage example: “I went all the way to Scunthorpe for the Ipswich Town away game, and then it was postponed. Box-furious, I was!”

Craft Fair
Definition: Something that doesn’t exist.
Usage example: “I went looking for the lost city of Atlantis, but it was all a bit craft fair”

Gaybot
Definition: Girl who accompanies me and Clive on social occasions so we don’t look gay .
Usage example: “How many gaybots does it take to change a lightbulb? Two - one to change the lightbulb, and the other to make the lightbulb not look gay.”

Other significant happenings of 2009

- We were embarrassed in front of the chef
- I ended up in hospital after being stabbed in the stomach at work
- We started a support group with free hugs for thousands of angry people.

If you want to hear the full story behind any of those tantalising items please let me know.

So anyway, that should do it. Thanks to everyone who got in touch with us this year, especially if you bought something. Hope you have a great Christmas, and see you in 2010!