Lou came to our attention when he won the Grand Prize in our Drum Your Way to Hollywood contents. Lou's great performance style helped him stand out to the judges with his exaggerated hi hat stomping leg kick, head flailing, jumping off the throne, amost-falling-down while crash-cymbal-muting style. He won a Dixon Outlaw in Tobacco Burst Finish. With this renwed interest in drumming and new drum set he has gone on to do some great things. Lou record drums and appear in the music video for Warner Brothers Recording Artist Sharon MaRee on her track "The Way You Love Me." The track was nominated for a Grammy in 2010. For his next feat Lou attempt to break the Guinness Book of Worlds Records for Marathon Drumming. Dixon Drums provided Lou with a Dixon Demon in Urban Camo finish to play during his attempt. Lou raffled off the kit to a lucky winner and gave the proceeds to Little Kids Rock, an organization that raises money to get musical instruments for kids. Lou's body gave out after 108.5 hours, just 12 hours short of what was needed to break the record. The training and the ordeal of the event caused Lou to rething his lifestyle. He started eating more healthy foods, exerciced regularly, and quit drinking. He is currently producing a documentary about this experience. Lou is a great freind to the entire Dixon Drums team.

Sean Blaney, a Music Industry major at State University of New York, also caught our attention during our Drum Your Way to Hollywood contest. As the owner of a Dixon Demon in Satin Black finish, Sean made a demonstration video on the kit, entered the contest, and shares on the forums. Sean enjoys playing for friends at SUNY and has proudly served in our military in Afghanistan and Kyrgystan. Sean owns the 6 peice Demon kit in Satin Black finish that was purchased from Big Apple Music in New Hartford, NY.

Joe Mazza not only sells drums, he lives and plays them. In fact, he's been drumming for 25 years. He currently plays drums in The Kenny Mehler Band, an acoustic driven rock band with a lot of funk, jam-band and reggae influences. Joe and Kenny also play duo gigs together. He also plays drums in The Psychedlic 60's- a power trio playing ALL the great Rock-n-Roll from the 60's: Cream, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Jimi Hendrix etc. Mazza does all of this while juggling his wife, child and Dixon Drums. His core inspiration comes from his family. He says they have a huge impact in what he's doing. Joe first played the Dixon Outlaw at On the Rocks in Hartford, Ct. It was their house kit and he was blown away; since at the time, he was rockin' on a set of 61 Ludwig's. He said the sound was exactly what he had been looking for. As the gig went on, he said "I could tell the other guys in the band were picking up on it too. My playing sounded more musical and the drums were very agile" At the end of the gig, he says he got a ton of compliments and owed it all to the Dixon kit. Check out Joes Mazza’s Myspace, Joe’s Twitter and the Kenny Mehler band website for more show dates. Joe owns an Outlaw in Obsidian Black finish, but he is pictured here with an Outlaw in Black Burst.

Darren Gauthier has been playing drums on and off off since the early 90's. Throughout the years he has played on Remo & Gretsch kit, but recently, purchased a Dixon Demon and was immediately impressed. Darren says "the quality & sound blew my mind. This was supposed to be a practice kit, but that changed the minute I played it. I can't say enough about how awesome it sounds." Darren recommends this kit to anyone who wants a reasonably priced, quality kit. "For the price, Dixon is second to none!" Darren purchased his Satin Black 6 piece Demon from Music123.com

Starting in middle school, Andrew Sepe has been playing drums for just over 10 years. After playing on kits like Tama, Pearl, Mapex and Gretch, Andrew found that nothing comes close to the awesome sound of his Dixon Demon kit. For just over a year he has been touring with the kit in his band Endstage, a hard rock band from Lowell, Mass. Fellow drummers have approached Andrew at shows inquiring about the kit, and where they might find one. This lead to longer conversation about the kit. Andrew says "the Demon kit sounds great as is, but once you mic it up as I do at a show, the sound is outta this world. I will continue to recommend Dixon drums and hardware where ever I go." Check out Endstage on Facebook. Andrew owns a Satin Black Demon drum set purchased at Pepperell Music Center, Pepperell, MA.

Mars Castro is a percussionist and photographer from Lincoln Heights, Ca. The Dixon team and Mars met when he won a rare "Tangerine Flake" finish Demon drum kit in a raffel at one of the LA Drummer Meetups in Culver City, Ca. Mars could hardly believe his luck when he won. Mars started drumming at an early age, playing along to Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and Deep Purple records on the family console record player. From there he started playing in a number of punk, gindcore, heavy metal, and death metal bands with strong followings. His heavy metal band Demolition is in the studio and will be recording and touring soon, around Summer of 2010. He will also be touring soon with his other band Dreams Of Damnation. Mars has a thing for the kit's sound. "The well rounded tones made it ideal for recordings. The more I play it, the more eager I am to record it."

Matt Shank has been playing drums since the age of 4. He studied under Jim Love, the well known drummer and drum instructor for the South Eastern Pennsylvania area. Matt has recorded with Country Gospel singer guitarist, J.R. Fisher on his “Send the Light” album. Matt teaches drum lessons as well as playing for his church. "It’s an amazing feeling when you start to lay the beat down and watch people praise the Lord like there’s no tomorrow" says Matt of his performing at his church in Lancaster, PA. "Over the years, I have owned Remo, Tama, and Mapex kits, but when I saw an awesome deal online for the Dixon Demons, I had to get them. I was presently surprised with the sound of the Demons, sounded better than some of my previous kits. I’m excited to see as Dixon becomes more well known with drummers; there will be more Dixon owners. The quality of the Demons is beyond belief. Dixon really takes pride into what they make." Matt bought his Dixon Demon 6 piece set from Musicians Friend. Here is a video of Matt playing the kit on YouTube.

Zdenek Jansik was born to drum. He had been tapping out rhythms with his hands, a sign to his father Alex that he might be a natural at the drums. Zdenek is planning to start his very first band with his cousins who play guitar, bass, keyboards, and vocals. Alex, Zdenek's father says "Dixon Demon is perfect, the sound is very nice, deep low kick, wide rage of sound thru the 4 toms, and the snare, we love that sound that size is perfect for all kinds of music. An instrument like Dixon Demon Drums is a great investment to help and support new young and pro musicians to achive their goals." The Dixon Demon kit will be used on Alex's recordings. Alex purchased this kit from Musicians Friend.

Mikey Banuelos has been playing drums for over five years and in six different bands. While playing shows with his current band, a Metal/ Hardcore band Sever The Memory, people comment on his his Satin Black Dixon Demon kit. "I always get compliments on the finish, the sound of the snare, or the massive drum kick sound." Along with the Dixon Demon, Mikey owns Pearl, Mapex, and Tama kits. Lately he has been inclined to choose his Dixon kit over his other drum sets. "When ever people ask me what brand my drum set is, I tell them about Dixon and suggest they check them out. Thanks and keep making wicked drums ... Imma buy another one pretty soon." Mikey purchased his kit from Musicians Friend.

Erik Strail of Utica, New York has been playing drums for over 31 years. He is the owner E-Diddy's Drum Shack, (a Dixon Drums dealer) where he is also a teacher. He play drums in the rock cover band Remedy, which as played hundreds of shows all over central New York. Erik has played all kinds of music from hard rock, heavy metal, and classic rock to country and jazz. "I have played all the major brands of drums and cymbals. I'm really enjoying my new experience of playing my first set of Dixon Demon drums. I just love to be behind the kit, and spend hours playing and talking drums. They sound great with the music we are doing, and have been promoting them in my store." His full time career is a nuclear medicine technologist, but drums are his hobby and love.

Yianni started playing drums at the age of 12. His first kit was a Starion drum set. Under a Berklee Graduate teacher, playing only on practice pads for 2 years, Yianni moved on to learn by himself to play on a full kit. His next kit was a Pearl Forum Series given to him by a friend who had upgraded to a new kit. Yianni studied on this kit for around 5 years, receiving advice from the friend who had given him the kit. He has played one show at his high school in one band, Intimate Sensual, then quit that band after a few months. Today he still jam with friends and ex-bandmates while looking for a serious music project with his new kit. "When I got a job, I was starting to look at kits that were good and inexpensive, however I wanted my money's worth. I looked on craigslist alot, and found a guy selling a Dixon Demon in Red Sparkle finish, and I never knew anything about it. He posted up that video that Sean made, and I was instantly hooked. I worked for months saving up the money, and got it at Guitar Center online, and for a great price!" Yianni has the Satin Black Demon kit.

Okay. So I've been involved in music for 5 years (Since I was 8 years old) and started playing drum set 3 years ago. Having had experience with music before, I quickly progressed in learning how to play the drums. Anyway, in those three years I've been through 3 drum sets. My first one was a Ludwig junior kit, which we sold shortly after we purchased it since it was way to small for me. Second was a used Pearl Vision kit which was okay but I never seemed to like it, which we also sold. Third came an electronic Simmons kit, but was then recalled. And then one day while I was looking at drum sets on musiciansfriend.com, I came across a company called "Dixon". The drum set looked very appealing to me, and was well within my budget. I did about 2 months of research on it because I hadn't heard of it before. Then, confident that the Demon was the right drum set, I told my dad I had found the perfect choice, and we bought it with money I had saved up. When it arrived it I set it up, tuned it and was immediately impressed. I couldn't believe that for the money I had gotten a great sounding and looking kit which was within my small budget. Recently I played it at a karaoke party and it sounded great with the band playing. My father is planning to have me play in a couple of concerts with his friend who happens to be a singer. I am also planning to record the drum set and compose a few songs. I will also be posting covers/etc. on YouTube.

Thanks, Dixon, for making an awesome kit, I'm planning to keep this one for a long while!