We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Landon Hall a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Landon, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?
Hey, thanks for having me on the platform. Yeah, I am the Founder of Music City Drum Show (www.MusicCityDrumShow.com) and the Founder of Diemond Star (www.DiemondStar.com). I took a risk when I started both companies and funded both with my own money.
I started Diemond Star in 2013. I came up with unique designs of drumsticks for versatility. Diemond Star began with the love of drums and the desire of providing drummers the most durable and best feeling drumsticks. The drumsticks are made with Premium American Hickory, excellent in absorbing shock, which reduces hand and wrist fatigue. The shock “Dies” out – hence why the company name “Diemond Star” is spelled with an “e” instead of an “a”. Each pair of drumsticks are pitch paired and weight matched, offering unique specs for versatility. Diemond Star became a movement as word caught on and drummers shared their testimonies from using Diemond Star Drumsticks. Today, many drummers across the globe choose Diemond Star for their stick of choice.
In 2019, I launched Music City Drum Show. After attending & exhibiting several drum shows and music trade shows around the nation with Diemond Star, I had always thought Nashville would be a perfect place to have a drum show. But I knew there was another huge music trade show held in Nashville in the summer, and that had made me hesitate about doing it at first. After I went to that music trade show event in Nashville, I realized there were hardly any drum brands, and it was all mainly guitars, pedals, electronics, pianos, etc. So, I knew I had a chance to launch this and market it mainly for drummers, drum brands, and for the drumming/percussion world. I decided to call it “Music City Drum Show” because Nashville is known for being Music City. I designed the logo myself and launched the website just like I did when I started Diemond Star. In the Music City Drum Show logo, I designed the “M” in the logo to be a music note and the “o” to represent a drum. I was originally going to use the Nashville skyline in the logo as well, but I knew the Nashville skyline is always changing (since Nashville is a booming city and there are many cranes building more buildings), so I decided to only use the most iconic building in Nashville, the “batman building”. I’ve had lots of feedback from drummers and non-drummers saying they love the logo. After launching the website and reserving a space for the event to be held at, I reached out to drum brands nonstop. It was a risk, but I knew if I could get the word out about the event, it would be a great event and fun for everyone. I later started booking booths for all kinds of drum brands from all over the world. The first annual Music City Drum Show was originally scheduled to be in the summer of 2020. Of course, we all know what happened with the pandemic in 2020 and like every event, I had to postpone / reschedule. The 1st Annual Music City Drum Show was held on August 7th, 2021 (one-day event). It was an amazing turnout with thousands of people in attendance and it was also featured in Modern Drummer Magazine for having such a great turnout for the 1st inaugural show! I had over 75 vendors, 3 drum clinics, and lots of other well-known drummers also attended. It was held at the Fairgrounds Nashville in a building that has over 25,000 sq ft. I got lots of feedback from vendors and attendees suggesting on doing a 2-day event for next time. After hearing everyone’s feedback, I decided to do a 2-Day event in a bigger building for 2022. The 2nd Annual Music City Drum Show was held on July 9th & 10th, 2022 in Expo 3 Building at the Fairgrounds Nashville in a building that has over 34,000 sq ft! It was another great turnout with over 90 vendors and thousands of people in attendance. For 2023, I have already begun preparations for the 3rd Annual Music City Drum Show and it will be held on July 29th & 30th, 2023 in the same Expo 3 Building at the Fairgrounds Nashville.
More info at www.MusicCityDrumShow.com
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?
Yeah, my name is Landon Hall. I’m a musician, songwriter, actor, and entrepreneur based in Nashville, Tennessee. I am the Founder of Music City Drum Show (www.MusicCityDrumShow.com) and the Founder of Diemond Star (www.DiemondStar.com). Music brought me to Nashville and it later brought me to Los Angeles, California for a few years.
I am best known for working with songwriter-producer Desmond Child, creating/producing the Music City Drum Show (www.MusicCityDrumShow.com), and founding Diemond Star (www.DiemondStar.com). I was born and raised in Overland Park, Kansas. I received my first drum set on my ninth birthday and taught myself to play. When I was 11 years old, I began playing drums for a local megachurch and continued to play for the worship team throughout my high school years. When I was 18, I taught myself to play guitar, piano, & bass and penned my first songs. As a versatile drummer, I’ve been a part of bands in the Rock, Country, & Pop genres and have recorded drum tracks on songs that have been aired on radio stations all around the world. I’ve been blessed to play sold out arena shows and had the honor of sharing the stage with Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Chad Smith from Red Hot Chili Peppers, Katey Sagal, along with many others. On the acting side, I’ve been featured on networks such as Nickelodeon, CBS, Lifetime, ABC, Syfy, Spike, Netflix, HBO, and truTV.
More info about me at www.LandonHall.com
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
The first annual Music City Drum Show was originally scheduled to be in the summer of 2020. Of course, we all know what happened with the pandemic in 2020 and like every event, I had to postpone / reschedule. The 1st Annual Music City Drum Show was held on August 7th, 2021 (one-day event) and it was an amazing turnout with thousands of people in attendance and it was also featured in Modern Drummer Magazine for having such a great turnout for the 1st inaugural show!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.landonhall.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheLandonHall/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLandonHall/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/LandonHall
- Other: www.MusicCityDrumShow.com https://www.facebook.com/musiccitydrumshow https://www.instagram.com/musiccitydrumshow/ https://www.youtube.com/c/MusicCityDrumShow www.DiemondStar.com https://www.facebook.com/diemondstar/ https://twitter.com/DiemondStar https://www.instagram.com/diemondstar/ https://www.youtube.com/DiemondStar