Rush News

Behind The Drum Kit - The Ro Sham Bo Story

While at the Winter 2009 Namm show, in celebration of their 100th Anniversary, Ludwig drums re-created iconic kits that defined certain eras of Ludwig manufacturing and artist input with the current output of Ludwig products. To represent the 80's/90's, Ludwig recreated Neil Peart's Presto tour kit; Ludwig's Kevin Packard has provided complete details on the "Ro Sham Bo" kit (aka "rock paper scissors"):
"The Ludwig Super Classic kit Neil played on the 1990 tour for the Presto album, to me, represented a brilliant bridge between the 'old' Rush...and the 'new'...It was the last of his live kits to feature the classic double-kick configuration that is instantly recognizable to the Peart aficionado (of which there is a small army.)...Since Neil left Ludwig in 1995, we couldn't call the kit The Peart Kit, so we called our recreation RO SHAM BO (so named because on this tour, his kick heads featured three illustrated hands doing 'Scissors-Paper-Stone' as described in the album track Hand Over Fist,) a very obscure reference that only a true fan would catch (Neil himself reportedly had to look up the phrase 'ro sham bo' on Wikipedia to catch the reference.)" - Behind The Drum Kit - The Ro Sham Bo Story, Kevin Packard, Director of Marketing, Ludwig Combo Percussion