ALTAMONT—Jim Feck has sold drumheads to some big-name bands—like The Dead and Better Than Ezra—but it’s the garage bands that give him the most satisfaction.
"You don’t get the same reaction with the big names," Feck said. "Those guys are more accustomed to getting exactly what they want."
When a garage-band member or a weekend musician receives his drumhead from Feck’s company, DrumART.com, "Bar none, they’re always blown away," Feck said. "They can barely believe it."

Feck runs DrumART.com out of his home on the outskirts of Altamont. It’s one of the few companies in America that manufactures and sells custom bass drum heads, printed with full-color graphics.

Image is everything in rock ’n’ roll, and Feck has perfected the art of putting the highest-quality image possible on a bass drum.
"People don’t quite grasp how capable printing is now," he said. "We can do some really amazing stuff."

Feck is himself a garage-band drummer. Currently, he plays for two local bands: Greatdayforup and Whisper to Apocalypse. He’s been a drummer since he was a student at Voorheesville.
"I remember when I made the school band," said Feck, who is 34. "I remember the day."

His first drum, a snare his parents gave him, sits in the corner of his home office, drumsticks crossed over the top. Feck still practices on the instrument.

In the basement, Feck stores his newer drums, kits colored in fiery red and orange. And, on the bass drums, graphics custom-made to match the colors. Feck acts as his own advertisement when out on a gig.
Graphics and names on bass drums are nothing new. During the swing era, Feck said, drummers Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich had their initials and a shield logo on their drums. Seven years ago, Feck said, he "just got the idea" for making his own logo after years of looking at bland drum kits, sporting only the logo of the manufacturer. At the time, Feck was a member of a band called The Houseguests.
"It always seemed like, looking at a drum set, the bass drum head is just this big space of nothing," Feck said. "So, why not use it""
He customized his first drumhead with the help of a local sign shop. Though no match for the drumheads he makes now, "It was kind of cool," Feck said.

High-tech evolution

The process is relatively simple. A thin piece of adhesive vinyl is cut to match the drum’s circular shape, and then carefully applied so as not to create bubbles.

The vinyl is so thin, Feck said, it doesn’t noticeably affect the sound of the drum. Just in case, though, DrumART.com posts a disclaimer that the company is not responsible for any change in tone.
"Drummers are nuts. They’re very particular," Feck said.

At first, the bulk of the task was cutting vinyl, but as Feck and a partner developed the idea into a business, it became more high-tech. Blurry, pixelated images have become ultra-sharp as digital technology has improved exponentially in the past few years.

In his office, Feck has a huge inkjet printer, five or six feet long, that prints the logos. The special ink embeds itself in the vinyl.
"It’s really been an evolution," Feck said.

Besides running his own business, playing in bands, and raising two children with his wife, Melissa, Feck works full-time designing the Union College website. He’s put his computer skills to use on the drumheads. Every image printed on the drums is digital, and the business is run wholly over the Internet.
"That’s the reason I can run it out of my home," Feck said. "It’s completely on the web. I don’t need a storefront. The web is my storefront."

At the beginning, Feck and his partner got between two and four orders a month. The business has grown. Now, Feck owns the business on his own and gets between 40 and 60 orders a month, from as far away as Australia.
"It keeps me busy," he said. "It keeps all of us busy." Feck’s wife and father help out with the business.

Generally, drummers provide their own image. Sometimes, Feck said, the image, taken from a website, isn’t high-resolution enough for printing large. In those cases, he has a couple of local artists help out.

Once the image is set on the computer, it’s printed out, cut, and applied to the drumhead.
"The process is like, 50, percent virtual and 50 percent physical," Feck said.

Once on the drumhead, the basic logos are permanent. But, for drummers like Feck, with more bands than bass drums, DrumART makes a removable logo, patent pending.

The removable logos use water as an adhesive, a concept Feck remembered from high school.
"My chemistry teacher would be proud," Feck said of his invention.

As for his famous customers, Feck said he rarely deals with the drummers themselves. Mostly, he works with roadies and band managers.

Friends through music

However, through his contacts in the music business, he was able to organize an inventive fund-raiser for those affected by Hurricane Katrina. He’s auctioning off, over eBay, drumheads used by his celebrity customers. Some of them are autographed, like ones from The Dead, Better Than Ezra, and the popular metal band, Seether.

The Dead’s drumhead was passed around at a Greatful Dead tribute concert in California. It’s autographed by most of the surviving members of the band, along with other famous Deadheads, like Phish’s Trey Anastasio and basketball star Bill Walton.

The proceeds from the auction are going to the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation, which will buy instruments for schools that lost theirs in the hurricane or that need instruments for new children who were displaced by the hurricane. Music, Feck said, will help these children fit in at their new schools.
"Given what a collective things music is," Feck said, "it’s the one thing that can help people meet and get to know each other."

The collective nature of music is one of the things Feck loves about it. He’ll be playing in bands for the rest of his life, no matter how busy he is, he said.
"You’re getting together with guys that you like," Feck said. "It’s such a great creative outlet to make and keep friendships...The thing that I find I really appreciate about this business is it allows us to really give something back in a lot of ways."

For that reason, he charges only $90 for his drumheads, $30 below his cheapest competitor. It makes his products affordable for the garage bands, Feck said.
"I felt that that was a particular thing we could do for people," he said. "It really does add something—a really cool drumhead."