Graham Hopkins

Drum Workshop has announced three new endorsees to their roster - Graham Hopkins, Gilson Lavis and Ian Matthews.

Graham Hopkins has most recently stepped in to help out fellow DW endorsee John Quinn of Snow Patrol, who had broken his arm and personally asked Graham to fill in on the band’s seven-week international tour. He accepted the position and used John’s DW Collector Series kit throughout the tour. Graham will now be playing his own DW kit with ex-Cranberries singer Dolores O’Riordan who will soon be releasing her first solo album “ Are You Listening”, due Spring 2007. An extensive tour will follow.

Graham is one of Ireland’s most respected drummers; having joined the popular Northern Irish band Therapy? in 1996 and recording three albums that sold in excess of 2 million copies. He has also played with Irish singer/songwriter and Mercury Prize nominee, Gemma Hayes, as well as his own band Halite, which opened the famous Slane Castle festival.

DW has custom built a DW collectors series kit for Graham finished in Champagne Glass which includes a 26” bass drum, 13” rack tom, 16” and 18” floor toms, 14”x5” wood snare, 14”x6.5” brass snare with matching DW 9000 series hardware.

Gilson Lavis

Gilson Lavis'' many high-profile credits include luminaries such as Chuck Berry, Eric Clapton, Jerry Lee Lewis, Jeff Beck, George Harrison, BB King and many others but is probably best known for his work with Jools Holland.

Gilson plays a DW Classics Series Drum kit that features a retro-style poplar/mahogany shell with an over-sized maple reinforcement hoop.  The set also utilizes a more rounded “butter” bearing edge to provide the dark, yet punchy tone that many vintage drumset players covet.

Gilson’s DW Classics kit in Classic Marine Finish Ply with chrome hardware includes a 14x24” bass drum, 9x13” rack tom, (2) 16x16” floor toms and a matching maple Solid Shell 5.5 x 14” snare drum.  Gilson is also playing a 9000 single pedal, 9500 hi-hat and 6000 Series Flush-base cymbal stands.

Ian Matthews

In recent years, Ian Matthews has been the driving force behind the band’s much talked about live performances and most recently, Kasabian has been nominated for “ Best Live Band” at both the Brit awards and NME awards.  DW Artist Relations Manager Garrison comments, “Ian is a great drummer and the band has been making a lot of noise in Europe lately.  He’s a perfect addition to our international artist family and we’re really proud to have him on board” Ian is currently touring the band’s number 1 album and latest release “Empire”. Selling out shows in the UK, Japan and Australia, where they performed at the “Big Day out” festival, Kasabian continues to cement their reputation as on e of the most exciting live bands in rock.

Ian’s live set up is a DW Collector’s Series Maple VLT kit in Broken Glass Finish Ply with chrome hardware. The sizes are as follows: 24" bass drum, 13" rack tom, 16" &18" floor toms and 7x14” and 5 x14” snare drums.  He also plays DW  9000 Series pedals and hardware exclusively.

More info from www.dwdrums.com