DRUM! Magazine – Issue 13-9, Pg. 29

As the solid pulse of Fleetwood Mac for almost 40 years, Mick Fleetwood first learned how to keep a beat on a modest three-piece Gigster kit at the age of 11 after convincing his parents that he was very serious about playing the drums.

During boarding school, Fleetwood would spend his time sending away for drum catalogs. He dreamed of owning a set of drums, but the Gigster never played in his dreams. “I was dreaming of a Premier kit,” Fleetwood recalls. Still, he wouldn’t pass up a gift Gigster. “My parents realized I was hellbound bent for these wretched drum-kit things, then they went out and bought it in a little music store in Gloucestershire. They realized I was so serious about drumming. They were such great parents and they encouraged that.”

The kit came with a bass drum, a snare, a top-headed tom, hi-hats, and a cymbal mounted on the bass drum. It’s been many years since Fleetwood had that kit so he has a little trouble remembering the sizes. “The tom, I think, was 6″, the cymbal was probably 10″, the bass drum was probably 16″, and the snare was about 10″.” It was a perfect beginner set, except it didn’t come with a throne. “I sat on the side of a chair or the sofa, and that was my drum seat.” Armed with new drums, Fleetwood spent the next three years practicing and playing along to records in the attic.

As much as he loved that kit, Fleetwood outgrew it and traded it in for a Rogers. “I never saw it again,” he softly adds. Still, his disappointment was soon overshadowed by the excitement of getting a newer kit. “I was frothing at the mouth because I was getting a ‘real’ drum kit.”

The gold Gigster is long gone, but it has impacted Fleetwood all these years. “It really became the foundation of where I’m still sort of at: a hi-hat, snare, and kick. It grounded me into the player I am today because that’s what I’m all about – keeping time and not flashing around the drum kit because I didn’t have a drum kit to flash around on. I’m happy that I’m this type of drummer. It suits my opinion of what’s important musically – to support the frontline. And there you have it.”