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Tim Waterson
Worlds Fastest Drummer Competition World Finals
Jan 22, 2002 at Musicians Institute, Hollywood California
On Tueday Jan 22 the stage was set for the WFD world finals complete with WFD competition ring, WFD Girls, smoke and lights and even a WFD soundtrack .
Xtreme Sports TV was there to film for FOX and all the contestants were interviewed after their performance by XSTV.
Special thanks to Michelle Russo, Jody Feingold and the XSTV camera crew.
DOM FAMULARO once said that Drummers are like no other animal on the planet and being backstage at the WFD World finals was once again proof of that.
The back stage was full of excitement and anticipation.
ART VERDI was graciously demonstrating his finger control technique to the other drummers and TIM WATERSON was offering advice on playing relaxed and tips on how to get the pedals to work for you instead of the other way around.
MIKE MANGINI demonstated his bare hand technique and ran 192 in 10 seconds in warmups.
The atmosphere was not competitive as you might think it would be.
Each drummer shared tips and tricks as if they were best friends and did not seem to be in competion with each other.
JOTAN AFANADOR was wearing gloves in warmups and some of the drummers thought for next year this might be a good idea to have one size fits all gloves for the contestants to warm up backstage.
The Drummer bond is unlike any other and the support we receive is very inspiring.
Virgil Donati and Thomas Lang stopped by to wish everyone good luck.
Special thanks to Zoro, Ritchie Garcia, Johnny Rabb and his band, Mike Mangini, Art Verdi, Tim Waterson, Doanne Perry, Mark Craney, Mark Schulman, Myron Grombacher, John Blackwell, Bermuda Schwartz,
Virgil Donati, Thomas Lang, Gregg Bisssonette, and his dad Budd, and to all the drummers and drum enthusiasts who took time from their schedules to help make the WFD World finals a great success.
The show stated with Johnny Rabb and his band entertaining the crowd of drummers and drum enthusiasts with innovative, energetic original music.
Mike Mangini, Art Verdi, and Tim Waterson did not compete but were given 3 attempts to set new Guinness World Records.
Johnny Rabb was originally given 3 attempts by Guinness on his Worlds Fastest Drummer record.
Drumometer inventor Boo Mcaffee took the stage to inform the crowd the story of the infamous Drumometer and demonstrated how the meter counts the number of strokes played in a given amount of time 1-99 seconds.
He then explained the rules of the competition and made sure the cameras were focused on the Drumometer so everyone could see the scores clearly.
Mike Mangini was first up and was given 3 chances to break his previous bare hands record of 1079 singles strokes in 60 seconds on a practice pad.
Mike gave his best but was unable to surpass his amazing previous record of 1079.
The fact that Mike was able to do 3 runs over 1000 is amazing cosidering the original bare bands record was under 900.
Mikes wrists must be as strong as STEEL!
Next was the Fastest Feet competition.
As the contestants took the stage Tim Waterson kept reminding the drummers to try and remain relaxed and not to tense up.
The WFD Girls escorted each contestant out to the ring as Johnny Rabb’s band played wicked grooves.
Each drummer tried to push their limits with their feet as they tried to go the faster and faster.
Congratulations to (DOUG PELLERIN) who took 1st place in the feet competion with 868 single strokes in 60 seconds.
Last years feet winner Dean Cuadra took 2nd place with a score of 805.
A special acknowledgement to Axis Percussion as their pedals have outlasted every WFD competition without a problem.
One of the contestants insisted he use his own special pedal which fell apart before the 60 seconds was up.
He tried again later and the Axis pedal withstood the pounding.
A lot of the contestants were nervous with XSTV filming for FOX and having The Cameras up so close in their faces just made some of made some drummers even more nervous.
(A note to would be competitors), if you are in a WFD finals competition you must be prepared for PRESSURE.
This is WFD Extreme Sport Drumming and Xtreme sports TV wants to see Speed , Sweat, Adrenalin, Stamina, and Determination.
There were a lot of prizes up for up for grabs and the ever gracious Johnny Rabb even threw in his complete set of Meinl Generation X cymbals as an added bonus.
Up next was Tim Waterson.
Tim Was attempting to break his Previous WFD Fastest feet world record.
Tim had 3 tries to break his previous world record of 1289 in double strokes set at the Montreal Drum Festival in November 2001.
Tim pushed Xtreme Drumming to a new level and played an amazing 1407 beats in 60 seconds in double strokes with the feet.
The enthusiastic crowd jumped to it’s feet and cheered in support of this brand new world record.
Special thanks to John Blackwell and Johnny Rabb who steadied a drained Tim and as he neared the edge of the stage.
For the Half time Show GROOVE master Zoro laid down his brand of funkified rhythms combined with Ritchie (Gajate) Garcia’s wonderful Latin flavored percussion to entertain the crowd as the stage was being prepared for the hands contestants.
Art Verdi was up next and demonstrated his virtuoso finger control technique as the crowd looked on in awe.
On the afternoon of the finals Art ran 4 consecutive runs of 1050, 1068, 1071 and 1088 and he was totally relaxed.
Art took the time to explain how practicing both hands in unison will cut down on your practice time.
He was then given 3 attempts to break his previous record of 1116 single strokes in 60 seconds.
Art Verdi ran 1060 on his highest run but could not surpass his previous record.
The final competition was the Fastest Hands competition.
The contestants demonstrated their speed and endurance using a variety of hand and finger techniques.
Brian Hitt (REO Speedwagon) dissected a double stroke roll into clean fast single strokes but unfortunately tired out after about 30 seconds.
ALL the contestants agreed that 60 seconds feels like a LONG time!
Congratulations to (JOTAN AFANADOR) who won the fastest hands competition by blistering 1081 single srtokes and broke Johnny Rabb’s previous record of 1071.
Art Verdi’s record of 1116 still stands but Jotan is definately a contender.
Last years winner in the hands competition Glen Sobel (Beautiful Creatures) placed 2nd with 1026.
Extra special thanks to all the people who helped make the WFD World Finals a success.
Boo Mcafee, Craig Alan, and Steve Fisher for Inventing, Designing, and Manufacturing the Drumometer and creating the Worlds Fastest Drummer competitions.
Glenn Noyes and the staff at West LA Music for all the Extra effort, support, time and commitment to these events All the staff at Musicians Institute in Hollywood.
These WFD events could not take place without the help from the following sponsors.
Axis Percussion, Drumometer, Drum Workshop, Mapex, Nike, Roland, Remo, Promark, Redbull, and Warner Brothers.
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