Jalapeno Custom Drums

24/03/2026

A couple of weeks ago I completed a 16" bass drum for a customer, who had bought a 6-piece pack-away kit from me a couple of years ago. The original kit was a 10x4" timbale and a 10x8" tom, that fitted into a 13x13" floor tom, that fitted into a 16x14" floor tom, that fitted into a 20x15" bass drum. This new bass drum is a 16x14", which means the customer can take the 13" floor, 10" tom and timbale in one case to do smaller gigs. In my memory the inlay had been dark brown Kingswood. This is no longer stocked, so I bought Tulip wood for the inlay, and laboriously died the inlay darker with a tiny artist's paintbrush. It was only after I finished the drum and checked the original pics that I discovered that the original kit had Tulip wood (it was the kit I made to replace it that had a Kingswood inlay.)
So today I cleverly masked off the drum either side of the inlay, sanded the wood dye off the inlay, and oiled and waxed it. Now the drum matches the rest of the kit and is ready to go to the customer! :D
If you want to hear what it sounds like, I will stick a link in the comments.

20/03/2026

Here at Jalapeno Drums we are saddened to hear the news that "Sir" Alan Buckley has passed away. The second ever drum show we displayed at was the Vintage and Custom Drum Show at The Red Barn, Nuneaton, back in 1999: organised by Alan Buckey.
Here's the words of one of Alan's long term friends, fellow jazz drummer, and Jalapeno Drums player, Graham Smith...
"I have just received news that Sir" Alan Buckley is a renowned British jazz drummer, collector, and festival organizer based in Walsall, England passed away yeaterday.
Best known for his immense collection of vintage drums—widely considered one of the best in the world—and for organizing numerous jazz festivals.
He began playing at age eight in 1944 and had a long career, playing with jazz bands and touring across Britain and Europe. He was often referred to as 'Sir' Alan by German colleagues in the 1980s, a nickname that stuck.
He accrued an extensive collection known as the "Classic Drum Museum." It consists of over 110 full drum kits and more than 300 snare drums, dating from the 1920s to the 1970s, featuring brands played by famous drummers like Gene Krupa. His collection has been exhibited across Britain, Europe, and America.
Festival Organizer: He has organized over 40 jazz festivals across England over three decades, including 28 events at Upton-upon-Severn in Worcestershire.
He is a recognized authority on vintage drums, contributing to Classic Drummer magazine and holding educational talks and demonstrations on maintaining and repairing vintage kits.
R.I.P. Alan. Condolences to his wife Kenya and family. 🥁"

From us here at Jalapeno: Rest in Peace Sir Alan, and thanks for the leg up all those years ago

26/01/2026

This is LeeO jr (Libor Orel Junior), trying out new mics on his Jalapeno Custom Drums VL series kit.
This kit defied all the Brexit issues to be completed. I made the shells, and added the lugs and mounting systems here in the UK, shipped them to Czechia, where Libor Senior sourced the gold die cast hoops, heads, etc, and finished assembling the kit. Both Libors (father and son) endorse Jalapeno, and we're proud to have them on board! 😊❣️😁
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1225381303069931/?s=single_unit&__cft__[0]=AZYm9MVJTgXaSnSpJroXOx7Vx2mxPGBT75EntM4QVorjxsUDE8bvVUnuQ9rmvjPLjXnAOnHhTDrryCAvIatHmI55dB9zjvEXK_SyqoY1rFfTcNnQqjqSyFugXbErh4Mj6lTVkAaYeOshxy1aZ56hdZfpNIaJDHrX0vS0SuyMRbCV9g&__tn__=H-R

17/10/2025

All set up and ready to go for this weekend's UK Drum Show at ACC Liverpool. Should be a great event. As well as showing a selection of 13, 14 and 15" snares, we are also showing a 22/12/16 and snare 25th anniversary kit it Maple and Cherry veneers, plus a fantastic new pack-away kit - only finished on Friday morning - which is a 16" bass, 13" floor tom, 10" tom,v8" timbale plus snare. It is a vintage dark oak colour, with a mixture of black and gold hardware.

21/09/2025

So, Jalapeno Drums is 27 years old today. On this day all those years ago I glued together my very first 14x5" snare drum shell (12 ply 6mm)
Today was spent playing a gig at Sounds of the Suburbs in Ruislip, on the official release of my Band Vicious Bishop's first album "Raining Guillotines".
The gig today was mainly doing Radio Stars songs with Andy Ellison on lead vocals. And joining us on bass guitar is life long Radio Stars fan Tony Dolan (of Atomkraft, Venom and Venom Inc fame).

28/06/2025

Fresh off the assembly table today, and definitely taking no prisoners, is this 15x7¼" V-L series snare. Construction is of 6-ply, 3mm natural Finnish Birch with 15mm wide, 1" deep reinforcement rings. Top head is a limited edition Aquarian black Triple Threat 21MIL coated head.
This is a surprisingly versatile snare, perfect for a big rock sound and for reggae, and is the perfect jazz snare (though just try telling a jazz drummer that 14x5" is not actually the perfect snare drum size!😂🤣)

02/06/2025

We need to fight to make sure music still gets taught in our UK schools!

02/06/2025

23 years ago I made a drum kit that was terracotta in colour, with full length lugs and all gold coloured metal work, and shipped it to its owner in the Isle Of Man. Fast forward to 2025, and the kit now finds itself a new home in Cleveland, UK. But the new owner wanted an extra tom making. And last week I had the pleasure of delivering the colour-matched extra 10" tom.

17/04/2025

Great to see Chip Bailey/ Chip Bailey out and about last weekend for 5 dates in 5 cities playing in Duke Special. Chip's somewhat quirky set up features a 24" bass drum, 16" floor tom, 15x7" snare and a 28" bass drum mounted up beside him, plus a whole plethora of percussion paraphernalia mounted and hung all around him: more stuff than you can shake a stick at... and he has one of those too: a wonderful instrument known as a Stumph Fiddle, and his one is known as the Chip Stick! :D

18/02/2025

Here at Jalapeno Drums we are saddened to earn of two great drummer's deaths recently. Today we heard that Rick Buckler - formerly of The Jam and latterly of From The Jam - has passed away after a short illness. He was a powerful drummer, and a successful one too: 18 top 40 hits and 4 UK number 1 hits! And his playing influenced the whole genre in the Mod Revival of the 80s. May he rest in peace, and his family and friends find comfort.
Closer to home was the loss a week or so ago of a friend and customer: the legendary jazz drummer Tony Kinsey. Tony never bought or played Jalapeno Drums, but for the last 25 years he sat on a custom made barrel thrown we made for him! He played with many legends from the jazz world, such as Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan and Oscar Peterson. But my favourite thing about Tony was that he wrote and performed the theme tune for the 1980's teatime cartoon Willow The Wisp! Rest in Peace Tony, and thanks for 80+ years of entertainment.

Very sad news to report: the death a couple of days ago of the great drummer and bandleader Tony Kinsey at the age of 97. John Bungey wrote a preview for UKJN of the celebratory evening which Way Out West organized for him in January 2024. The opening of the piece describes what a significant

01/01/2025

Happy New Year! Thought I would just share pics of the heavyweight snare drum I made before it went out to its new owner alongside the rest of the kit in time for Christmas.
It's a Jalapeno Custom Drums Prestige series snare. 13x7", 45-ply, 1" thick Finnish birch shell, with die cast hoops.