World's Fastest Drummer Competition Held At Winter NAMM

WFD (short for World's Fastest Drummer) is a highly charged, interactive phenomenon and has been a feature at NAMM for the past 4 years. The contest consisted of two categories, Battle of the Hands™ and Battle of the Feet™. The Preliminary Heats were held January 19th. through the 21st. The top ten Fastest Hands and top ten Fastest Feet then competed in a 'Finals Battle' of both categories commonly referred to as WFD World Finals, on Sunday, January 22nd.

This year's Finals event featured an incredible performance by WFD World Champion and Musical Director, Johnny Rabb, as well as technical demonstrations, insight sessions and appearances by WFD Champions Art Verdi, Seth Davis, Jotan Afanador, Sam LeCompte, Randy Briggs and Tim Waterson. Additionally, WFD Champ, Glen Caruba set a new WFD Bare Hand Percussion Record. Glen played an astounding 1,140 Single Strokes in 60 seconds, establishing a new bare hand record category. The WFD family welcomed newcomer, sixteen-year old Matt Smith of Flint, Michigan who set two new WFD World Records. "Matt set the WFD 'Sixteen and Younger' World Record by turning in an unbelievable 1,061 single strokes in 60 seconds. Matt also became the youngest drummer in history to enter the 1,000 club," says Boo McAfee, co-founder of WFD Extreme Sport Drumming. "He's definitely one of the sport's brightest stars," added Craig Alan, co-founder of WFD Extreme Sport Drumming.

The Battle of the Hands winner was Rees Bridges (Dirty Vegas) from London, England with a score of 1,007 Singles. Matt Smith placed second (1,002) while Lupe Valdiviez placed third (970). The Battle of the Feet winner was Tim 'The Missile' Yeung (Nile, Hate Eternal, Vital Remains) with a score of 872 Singles followed by Ramon Ochoa (820) and Troy Fullerton (817).

The World's Fastest Drummer Competition is sponsored by THE MUSIC EDGE.COM, NAMM's teen promotional initiative. Grand-Prizes for this year's contest included: two Pearl Drum Sets, A year supply of Pro•Mark Drum Sticks (with Winner's name), two sets of Meinl Cymbals, Axis Long-Board Double Pedal, two Trophy Stick Boxes from Tim Byrd of Timbyrwwod and Laser, and 50 Remo Drum Heads.

The next WFD World Finals is scheduled for NAMM Summer Session in Austin, TX in July 2006.