Derl Maxwell is a lifelong drummer who has earned the reputation around the Southeast as the “hat drummer.” While he has a love/hate relationship with his reputation of entertaining people with drum tricks, faces, antics, and unique hats while he’s playing, he loves the fact that people are entertained by his drumming. But he is proudest of his drumming and musical skills, his timekeeping, and a specific Peavey drum set that he owns and treasures. Derl comes from a musical family, and began playing in a family band, and his father was a Peavey fanatic. The family band’s gear was entirely Peavey made; from the PA and the guitars down to the mic’s, picks, and the cables, all they used was Peavey. Therefore, when his father first saw Peavey drums in 1995, he became insistent that Derl check out the drums and play them with the band. Derl checked out […]

June 2024 Issue