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This was back when I was 14 years old. Shad and I were well on our way to being some pretty fair musicians at this point. My parents were always behind us even though I know that they probably wouldve liked a break from the music once in awhile.
Well, it was getting to be Christmas season and our minds always began wondering what it was we were about to be surprised with? We know that giving is better than receiving,but hey,we were kids and didn't really pay much attention to that side of things..
The only stuff we ever got my Dad for Christmas was stuff like cases of oil and new hammers and stuff. It was what he wanted anyway but it wouldve been cool if we bought him like a new suit or something…..(ive never seen my dad in a suit).
Ok so heres another little tidbit that I think I already told my parents(if I didn't,well,I just did).
During Christmas season my parents would usually put the big gifts on the business check books and one year Shad and I caught on to this. So, when Christmas came around we looked in papas cheque book and found out what the big stuff was gonne be. The hard part was trying to be surprised when we opened it…Well,actually that was pretty easy. So Im not sure what year it was bit I was about 14 years old and once again we decided to see what we got for Christmas. My eyes almost popped out of my head when I saw that a check had been written for $4,800,oo to the most kick ass drum store on the planet"DRUMS ONLY" which is still located in vancouver b.c. The are the makers of ayotte drums and are doing very well and have had much success also. Well after I caught my breath I was speechles. Shad and I were literally freaking out over this. I don't know how on earth we ever hid that we did not know from them but we managed to do it somehow.
Ok,,,,,,,,,,,,Now for the funny part.
Its Christmas day im sure it was like around 6 am or so. I couldn't imagine what a drum set that cost that much would look like or where it could be hiding? I looked all over the house before my parents woke up. I looked in closets, I looked in the room closets, I looked upstairs, I looked in the attick, I literally looked everywhere possible. No drum set anywhere. So I say to myself, "I know", Its in the garage. I open the door and to my shocking horror……I did not see anything that resembled a drum. Just a bunch of greasy tool lying around and wood chips of sawdust all over, workbenches, you know,typical garage fixtures.
I had to sit down for a moment and think if I had done something really bad that my parents had found out about. I was usually up to no good anyway, but around Christmas time I usually made it a point to not get caught doin anything bad(LOL)…
Well I couldn't think of what they uncovered in shanes micheivious life but new what ever it was it was the reason that this drum set had probably been sent back to Drums only…..
I believe I cried. Nothing was gonna make it better for me that day…. Under the Christmas tree there were lots of presents for all of us and on top of the tree were 2 cards in an envelope.
At this point what else did I have to lose except to think that what ever was in my envelope was what was going to be the answer to where the drum set could be.
I hoped that anyway. I really really hoped that was what it was going to be.
This whole thing at this point was feeling like an april fools joke at this point. Ok, I was told I couldn't open the envelope till last so things were starting to look a little better and better…..I still prayed and prayed I was gonne get that drum set whatever it was. Finally the time was here, I only had one thing left to open(the card).
I ripped that sucker open as fast as I could. I cant remember what it was word for word, butI will look for that card and print it on the web site for you to read if I can get my mums and pops to find it.
It was a svavenger hunt. It had something to do with if you like apples-Then youll like candy apples, yada yada yada.
They wrote out how many steps to take left. How many steps to take right. How many steps to walk forward. Back up 20 steps. Turn left and walk 30 paces. All this was just getting my hopes up so high..It was like a half an hour later that we were all standing in front of our family's friends house like a block and a half away from where we started(my house)
My Parents tell me to go inside the house and I almost lost it when I walked in. There it was. There it was all over the place. Im talkin drums on the fire place mantel. Drums in the closets. Drums on the window sill. Drums all over the floor. Chrome hardware for days scattered all over the place. New cymbals…..This kit was so big that I almost fainted….It was Candy apple red and it had like 2 bass drums-4 tom toms-2 floor toms all the hardware and a big drum rack to support this monster of a drum set.
Shad and I were so in heaven with this that words could not describe how we felt…Our band just jumped up like 200% and we didn't even have this thing pieced together yet. Sometimes its just how you feel and not what your really doin that matters……
Geez, we got that drum set home and I just didn't know where to begin.
We put it all together and I had so many drums it was scaring me…I didn't know where to begin……That drum set has been with me from then on right up until this present day.
The drum set is a PEARL top of the line(in the day)EXPORT SERIES. It is all maple shell and with age it just keeps sounding better and better to me. As we speak we tried using a few different bass drums in the studio the other day for The Shad Hills band Record and guess which one just blew all the others out of the water?
That's right, The Pearl.
So 12 years later its still 'KICKIN'. Get it-'kickin' The point I guess to this story is to share your really neat experiences with people and never look in your parents cheque book during the holiday season(you may end up crying like I did).LOL…………….
Thanx again for takin the time out to enjoy a real life SHANE HILLS 'story of the past
Lotsa love,
SHANE HILLS