Notes
W.F.D. is an acronym for the trademarked and official “World’s Fastest Drummer” Organization.
A device called the “Drumometer” is used to register hits in a designated amount of time. You’ll see this in the videos.
At one time or another, Mike has held the top speed record in five categories: Bare Hands, Matched Grip, Traditional Grip, 5 Minutes Feet, 15 Minutes Feet.
See him in a Harris Teeter TV Commercial playing laundry detergent containers.
Below tells the story of how Mike got involved with the W.F.D., which record is important to him and what the “World’s Fastest Drummer” thing means to him - with the good, the bad and the ugly so to speak. This page also includes scientific data from Mike being tested in Japan for not just speed, but velocity.
This is a largely unknown fact and it is more evidence that supports why Mike participated in the W.F.D. events in the first place not withstanding that Mike hits 20 notes per second withe the SAME velocity at 8 hits per second.
This journey was about “influence” to him. He needed to be a record holder in order to validate his thoeries that would prove to help drummers all over the world SAFELY attain more speed by working to develop wrist and whole arem system usage. Another very important fact is that Mike had his run of 1,247 removed from the official records claiming it was “messy, simply not valid and no way I hit that number.” You’ll read below about his “true” fastest run, as well as that this page is about his journey, friendships, integrity and truth.
Firstly, Mike’s introduction to the Drumometer was forced in a way by his dear friend, the legendary drummer, Dennis Chambers. During a N.A.M.M. show in Anaheim, CA, Dennis literally pulled Mike over to the W.F.D. booth and told him to, “sit down and do this thing.” Anyone that knows Dennis Chambers knows to listen to him. He is big man and means business. But mostly, he is the biggest sweetheart of a guy with incredible integrity and loyalty. He is a huge supporter of fellow drummers, especially young ones.
Mike sat and played as fast as he could for 10 seconds. It was not near what he would accomplish, but in his words, “I knew what I had to with this opportunity. Having the fastest run with sticks is NOT it. Playing all out for 1-minute can be really dangerous for working drummers.” Mike realized he could take the top spot with his bare hands to set an example of playing drums fast, but with power.
First out of the gat, is that he proved his point by attaining a “run” of 1146 barehanded, single stroke hits in one minute.
He can be seen here demonstrating the technique and showing that his use of the Drumometer goes way beyond tallying as many notes as possible in 1-minute.
He then tried using Traditional Grip at an event an got 1126 single stroke hits in one minute.
He then tried using Matched Grip, except this “era” led to a close friendship with his competetion, Jotan Afanador. Jotan and Mike traded the top spot for quite a while. In the video, you can see the support they had for each other. Mike came out on top this time with a run of 1180. At the next N.A.M.M. show however, Jotan hit an astounding 1199 and topped Mike’s best run for that event.
Mike then topped Jotan with a run of 1203. This was a controverisal moment for both Jotan and Mike because the rules of the W.F.D. changed and they no longer accepted runs via video. This was a truly unfortunate thing as more people sending videos were not following the rules, but both Jotan and Mike were and they both knew it and trusted each other.. They both broke 1200 with higher runs than Mike’s 1203 and none of them were accepted. Firstly, see the video below to understand their friendship and respect not only for one another, but for fair play.
One of Mike’s runs that was not accepted is below. It is a run of 1,205. This was Mike’s 3rd run that day at home. His first was 1,180 and his 2nd was 1,223. Neither were filmed, but they were witnessed by Mike’s drum tech and a student of his who filmed the 1,205 run. Jotan hit 1,218 on a TV show and higher in private during these months. Mike competed only one more time and ultimately removed the run of 1,247 for messiness. He also did that out of respect for Jotan and fair play and they both walked away for good and left things as they stood.
Mike set out on this journey to prove a point about using all wrists for this competition and that’s exactly how he left it as the bare handed record still stands today. Here’s a video that demonstrates Mike’s intentions clearly and matter of factly. The many criticisms of “speed drumming” contests are totally void of merit and good will. People can be extremely selfish and ignorant while acting like a self-appointed “holier than thou” drummer judgement commitee, especially when they do not possess the skills, effort or understanding to place judgement on those that had not only improved their drumming skills because of the Drumometer, but made incredibly friendships and learn valuable life lessons that the critics may never comprehend.
Here is the reason Mike took this journey in the first place after that moment with his Dennis.