These are Tala Wands. The top one is the smaller and more sticklike bamboo version and the bottom one is the bigger birch model and feels more like a rod in the traditional sense of the word. These things came into being when Steve Smith started getting into indian rhythms. He started playing with giants in indian music like his current favorite drummer Zakir Hussain.He noticed that the drum-set, when played with sticks, was overpowering the other instruments. So he switched to rods. Problem with rods were that they lacked rebound. So he says “I need a rod with bounce” and no later than he uttered those words he was presented with not one but two models of rods that fit the bill. Read the rest of this entry →