Hey everyone, some pretty big stuff has been happening and I want to share it with all of you. I'm incredibly honored to announce that I am now officially a C.A. Seydel Söhne endorsed harmonica player! As you can imagine, I am incredibly excited and humbled by this. So many players I look up to are on this roster and I now share a place with them. Hummel, Aki, Lazy Lester, Cotton, Musselwhite, Sugar Ray...the list goes on!
As many of you may know, I have been playing harmonica and drums simultaneously with Doug Deming & The Jewel Tones starting with our live streaming efforts during the COVID-19 shutdowns. We had hoped to introduce this live pre-shutdown but of course this was not to be. It has been an incredible journey thus far reconnecting with the harmonica world. There was a time when I was playing drums sporadically and would have considered myself more of a harmonica player. Never in a million years would I have imagined playing both at the same time, but there's been crazier things done...right?
I'm incredibly excited to have a partnership with Seydel Harmonicas. Having to play harmonica using a rack means unlike most harmonica players I cannot use my hands. I found quickly that most racks were not stable, were not very adjustable, and not built well for constant gigging. As a drummer these issues are way more apparent, there's way more movement involved! If there was to be a Rolls-Royce of harmonica racks, the Seydel Gecko should get that designation. Finally, I am very happy to say I am now playing the 1847 line of harmonicas. They play incredibly well out of the box, and are the only harmonica I've ever encountered that I do not need to emboss or sand the draw plates. Simply gapping them to my playing style I can have them playing better than any harp I've owned in ten minutes time.
With all of this being said I would like to thank Rupert Oysler and Bertram Becher of Seydel Harmonicas for taking me on as an artist for the company. I would also like to personally thank Greg Heumann for helping set this up originally. I also use his amazing RackIt! microphone, which I also cannot say enough good things about. More thanks to Mark Hummel, Akarsha Kumar,and Chris O'Leary for their help and support in this also. I truly appreciate you guys and look up to you guys and your playing. Another thank you to Greg Jones of 16:23 Custom Harmonicas who took the time to discuss each model with me and help me decide which were best for my situation. Definitely go to him for your Seydel needs. Also a big thank you especially to Doug and Andrew because even if it sounds good now, it had to start somewhere. They're very tolerant guys to work with!
Thank you everyone for supporting the band and myself. It's really awesome getting to do what I do, and I can't wait to see all of you at shows in the future.
Last Edited by ZackPomerleau on Oct 14, 2020 3:43 AM
Congratulations Zack! You've come a long way from the old Bushman forum days. I'm not surprised!!!! ---------- Wisdom does not always come with old age. Sometimes old age arrives alone.
Wow Sarge, I was thinking about that board recently. That was a great place and I learned a lot there. So many cool people and I know some are sadly not with us anymore.
Bob, wow! The Tailgate. Me and my buddy Sam ran that jam for about a year many years ago now. Probably more than ten. I played some hilarious gigs at the Cage and Tommy is a great dude. Last time I was in Maine I did a couple shows with him. It’s crazy how fast time has flown by. Scary, really!!! Thanks for that so much
Chris OLeary is my cousin. I think he switched to Seydels initially because he is a hard player in the mold of James Cotton and felt like the steel reeds lasted longer. Congrats on the sponsorship.
Sonvolt, that’s awesome! I’ve heard great things about their lifespan. I do lots of work on my harps so I like the fact everything is so easily swapped out.
