Faces
By Selina Setrakian
SOUL DRUMS : 25 Years of Community Love & Inspiration
Soul Drums is celebrating its 25th anniversary in the way that it knows best – by giving back and enriching the community . But how did this store come to be so wellloved that customers tattoo the logo on their body ? Well , it didn ’ t happen by accident .
Noticing a growing interest in the world music genre , Doug Sole and Paul Bailie co-founded Soul Drums in 1996 . “ We wanted to address an education-based and community-based world percussion store that focused on education being number one , but also featured instruments from around the world . Nobody else was really doing that thing ,” explains Sole .
Prior to running the store , Bailie had been teaching drum lessons and spent 22 years working in music retail where he met with many pros in the industry and inevitably connected with Sole . The two of them worked alongside one another at an MI retailer for over eight years before bringing their plans for a store to fruition . In this time , Sole also managed to write the successful book , The Soul of Hand Drumming , which was distributed worldwide by Mel Bay .
Still , even with all this experience and passion , the journey to maintaining Soul Drums was far from simple . As the saying goes - things change . Though interest for world music and particularly djembes was flourishing when Soul Drums began , the trend had waned by 2005 . “ Drums were kind of like what ukuleles are now . Djembes in particular became the instrument of choice . At that point , in the pecking order of instrument categories , drums were at the top rivaling guitars . Now , sadly , they ’ re probably along the bottom ,” recalls Bailie .
Luckily , Soul Drums was in the hands of two co-founders with a knack for pivoting when obstacles came their way - something they are still well aware and proud of . “ We ’ re a boutique store – a specialty , professional store with service , lessons , and outreach programs . But the one thing we ’ ve been able to do is navigate through the changes and adapt very quickly ,” Bailie explains .
A huge part of their success from early on was further accomplished by listening to and valuing their customers — not just in regards to what products they liked , but also about supporting their journey in spiritual wellness and education . “ It ’ s integral . It ’ s the number one thing ,” explains Sole . “ You can ’ t just fill your store with products . You have to have the stars connected and the stars are the customers .”
Of course , being a small business meant cutting costs , and in 2017 , Soul Drums packed its bags to move from Toronto ' s Yonge Street to a 2,000-sq . ft . warehouse in the North York area . With the move came the inevitable loss of memories and imprints left in the prior store — or so one would think . Clever as always , the duo planned to integrate everything vital about the old location into the new one . “ We wanted to be able to bring the spirit and the energy of that initial location , and a lot of that spirit and integrity of the store was established through the connections that we made with the artists and the mentors that we had connected with ,” explains Sole .
One of the many ways this was done was by reinventing the “ pole of fame .” For those unfamiliar with it , situated in the middle of Soul Drums ’ older location ’ s ensemble room was an autographed pole . Every notable artist the location welcomed had the privilege to sign the pole during their visit . Wanting to preserve all those memories , Sole and Bailie hired a professional photographer to digitally scan and print an image of the pole , which is now displayed in the current store as a sign .
“ So , when people come in , they can still see the autographs and customers come in
DOUG SOLE ( LEFT ) & PAUL BAILIE
and they look at the autographs and go , ‘ Oh , I remember that clinic with Raul Rekow ! That was an amazing day !’ So , the spirit is still contained in the new shop ,” says Sole .
Fortuitously , the choice to start somewhere new would prove even more beneficial as the arrival of COVID-19 in Canada began affecting the way stores approached business . “ It was totally the right thing to do to cut our costs , get down to a space that we could build and manage , and thankfully through the pandemic , it ’ s affordable and it ’ s allowed us just to keep going ,” explains Bailie .
As a smaller company with a huge customer focus , the duo running Soul Drums had to think and act quickly in the face of the pandemic . Taking full advantage of their massive space , they transformed it into a warehouse . “ We decided to build a complete shipping centre to house many different
18 CANADIAN MUSIC TRADE