Drum Cupboard Takeover Festival

Drum Cupboard Takeover Festival 

A drum festival brought to you by the Drum Cupboard. A celebration of drums, including DC student performances, giveaways and prizes, merchandise and gear for sale through festival vendors, including local drummers haven, BW Drumshop. This will all be followed by a drum clinic with performances from J A Blunden, Richard Hawking (Hacktivist) and AJ Rousell. 

The Drum Cupboard

"A creative space for drummers". Founded in 2018 by J A Blunden, the Drum Cupboard offers Drum & Percussion Tuition, Drum Recording, Workshops, Drum Hire and now Masterclasses and Clinics. Seeing a gap in the industry in the area, founder of the Drum Cupboard, J A Blunden re-introduced drum events into Milton Keynes, building the local drum community, piece by piece. So far he's had Richard Hawking (Hacktivist) and Dave Forster (Premier Drums Education Ambassador) perform masterclasses, with more planned for later in the year. 

Clinic Performances 

J A Blunden

Owner of the Drum Cupboard, Joel Andrew Blunden will be performing tracks from some of his favourite artists, a track from his band, "Blunden", plus a track he's composed for the event. 

Joel grew up playing drums on Sunday mornings in the church band at age 11, moving onto teaching and playing in both function and original bands from the age of 15. Joel has carved out a career for himself playing with artists who have been to Glastonbury and other mainstream festivals, supporting the likes of Rag n Bone man, The Beat, High Fade to name a few. He has also played at major function events for companies like Mitsubishi UK and even played for members of the royal family. As well as playing live, Joel has been teaching through the Drum Cupboard, specialising in teaching students with additional needs, working mostly privately and through local schools. He also works with music services around Bucks, Beds and Northamptonshire on song writing and inclusion projects.

Joel is a keen musician and regularly songwrites with his band "Blunden", composes for side projects and has worked with many local artists helping in their creative production process. Joel is a huge believer in having live drums on records, offering the Drum Cupboards healthy collection of drums, snares and cymbals to bands and artists who record with him or use him as a session player. "If the drums sound good going in, they'll sound good coming out". 

Richard Hawking - Hacktivist

Richard began working professionally as a musician in 2006 after completing his diploma in Popular Music Performance. He has been teaching drums since 2011 and a touring and recording artist since 2012.

With extensive experience in a variety of settings from studio to stage and the international touring circuit, along side tuition for music services and private music organisations, Richard is able to draw from a broad skill set to inform his work.

Richard is also the drummer for rap metal band "Hacktivist", who have had amazing success playing on main stages at festivals like Download, Reading, Rock, Sonisphere and Rock am Ring. They've had major coverage through BBC radio 1 and Metal Hammer Magazine with their music reaching multiple top three spots on various metal charts. 

Richard strives to pass on his own passion for creativity, self-development and constant progression to his pupils and other drummers. 

AJ Rousell