Not too far from St Louis City, in a restful mid-century cul de sac, lies a house equipped with a small two stall garage. To the driver whose sunset cruise inadvertently leads them into this well-kept, ’70s-showcase circle drive, this garage doesn’t seem particularly unique or interesting. Yet inside a craftsman can be found — quietly working to change the way people around the world experience music. His name is Jeff Schaefer, aka `The Reapercussionist` and his mission is to give dead drums new life.
Inside his garage, two loosly-draped classic cars — each whose naked parts have been coated by a thin film of sawdust — take up most of Jeff’s working area. All available voids and cabinets have become pregnant with the tubular skeletons of expired drums. In spite of the apparent lack of space, The Reapercussionist manages to perform his revival operations with surgical perfection — producing drum sounds so satisfying they make seasoned percussionists blush.
“If you can’t fix it, you shouldn’t have it”, Jeff claims, as he takes me through his workspaces and home. Works-in-progress litter his spaces with the sort of malaise organization reserved for obsessive geniuses. It’s this, his obsession with details, which makes The Reapercussionist a sought-after choice for tone junky drummers everywhere.
This year, drummers performing as part of An Undercover Weekend 11 will use a very special The Reapercussionist drumkit. Not only is this drumkit completely hand-crafted, this kit happens to be Jeff’s personal kit.
Now, I had a chance to play around with this kit, and, I had trouble not looking like an idiot as I grinned from ear to ear. These drums will seriously change your perspective on shit. If you’re interested in hearing them for yourself, get you tickets to An Under Cover Weekend 11 and hear them backing songs from the 80’s, 90’s and 00’s.
You can pick up An Under Cover Weekend 11 tickets here.