Dave Eyre – Hardcase Interview
Since 1992, Hardcase International Limited has been answering the question asked by drummers and percussionists all around the world. How can I protect and transport my kit for a reasonable cost, with something that will store easily, and virtually never wear out? With over one-hundred-and-fifty individual case designs which protect and store virtually every permutation of drums for kit players, marching bands, orchestras, ethnic musicians, and orchestral players, Hardcase is the brand leader in percussion protection and transportation. MIN’s Andy Hughes sat down with Dave Eyre.
What’s the origin of the Hardcase company?
The company is just thirty-two years old; it started in 1992. It began in its present form when one of the directors of the original ownership company decided to look at utilising a particular manufacturing process called Rotational Moulding. The system was trialled at a number of trade shows, including NAMM, and it was highly successful, even though there was a limited number of options available at that time. There were cases for basic drum kits, for snares and toms, and a couple of cymbal cases, some conga and bongo cases, and that was about it. That was launched in 1992, and it was a big success. In 1999, based on a large amount of customer feedback in the intervening time, we decided on a complete re-design of the products we were marketing. We shortened the straps, and made the case shape more of a ‘D’ that an absolute cylinder, and the re-designed products were rolled out in 2000 and 2001, and are what you see today.
When did you come on board?
In my career, I have always been a semi-pro drummer, and I was working in the shipping office for a steel company during the day, I did that for fourteen years. For two of those years, I was working in dance bands, and touring in rock and roll, and jazz bands. In addition, I had played in marching bands and drum and bugle bands since my teens. I was looking for a job because I was made redundant. I spent some time working in a furniture store, and teaching drums as well. I was in my local music store buying some sticks and drum heads, and the guy told me there was an ideal job for me as a Sales Rep at Hardcase. I knew of the company of course, but I had no idea they were based in Chesterfield, not far from where I lived. I went in, and the guy there said he was expecting me, because the chap in the music shop had told him about me. I applied, and got the job, but it was only for maternity cover, as you know, new mothers have their jobs kept open. I did want the job, but I explained that I had two children, and a mortgage, and I didn’t want to be made redundant again in another twelve months, so I stayed where I was working. Twelve months later, I was in the same music store, and the same guy told me that the job at Hardcase was still available, the employee on maternity leave had decided not to return to work, so I asked if they would give me another interview, and they did, and I got the job. I stayed there until 2017, when the company owner retired, and my wife and I bought the company.
Did the company start looking to expand the customer base before you bought it?
It did, I attended the Musikmesse Show in Germany, Music Live in Birmingham, and the Namm Show in America. The then owner told them he was sending his Sales Manager, and told me that was me, I’d been promoted! He didn’t know anything about drums as such, he had just designed this new system for protection and transport, and of course I know the artists, and can talk to them in their own language, about drums.
What does the design process involve?
It uses Rotational Moulding, which is slightly different from injection moulding, where you press a flat sheet of plastic into a pre-designed shape, like a guitar case, or something like that. Our process uses Polyethylene, which is a cost-effective material, it’s very light and extremely durable, so it’s ideal for making drum cases. We realised that designing a system of cases that would stack together would save enormously on space for storage for travelling players, and we incorporated that aspect into the overall design. Our design is based entirely on end-user requirements, we listened to what our customers wanted, and made the necessary changes to what was needed. Something simple like people tripping over long straps was changed by making shorter straps. We can’t do everything, we have to be practical about things, making a cost-effective process that works for us.
Are you looking for more markets outside the UK?
Well, we have our own distribution set-up here in the UK covering studios, touring bands, retailers and so on, and outside the UK, we supply in around forty countries through around thirty distribution agents. We are currently focusing on manufacture, because that is our core business, and that’s what generates our income as a company.
What about expanding your design and manufacturing processes, is a potential for growth in areas outside the music industry?
We have considered adapting some of our deigns for other uses. There are a surprising number of uses that our adapted designs could cover. Currently, we have had users tell us that they use cases to store telescopes, and some others use them to store outboard motors. One company has asked us if we could deepen our bass drum case design to accommodate satellite dishes for the telecommunications industry. I am advised that one of our bass drum cases is protecting a satellite dish on Mount Everest! We are thinking about adapting some of our manufacturing processes to maybe manufacture cases that are for use outside the drum and percussion market. Now that we have emerged from the horror of the Pandemic, we may start examining these ideas in the next two or three years.
What’s your advertising reach for your products, or does the product more or less sell itself?
That’s a very good question. The brand name is so strong, and well-known around the world, it does sell itself largely. That said, you cannot sit still in this industry, and be complacent. We are developing a significant presence across social media at the moment. Our website is relatively new, and Facebook and Instagram are proving to be hugely successful for us. Now that we have secured the core business model after Covid, 2025 is going to be the year where we re-assess and redesign our advertising component, and maximise each and every opportunity to get our brand known through social media, because that is absolutely the way forward for businesses like ours.
What’s your administration set-up for the company?
We are quite a compact set-up on the admin side here at Hardcase. My wife is the Financial Director, on a part-time basis. My daughter is the Buyer and HR Manager, my son who is going to be driving our new social media advertising strategy, he’s currently the Sales Manager. He can then expand his role and allow me to assume an MD position and run the entire company set-up. I am approaching sixty now, so I can step back from the sales side of the business, and get it ready for the next generation to eventually stake it over.
Interviews with people involved in the manufacture and supply aspects of the music instrument industry are painting a picture that Brexit has opened up a number of issues for them. Have you experienced any problems?
Well, the first and most important impact which I think has affected everyone in the industry, including manufacturers as well as artists, is the way transportation costs have rocketed, and importation costs went through the roof as well. Whatever people’s views on Brexit are, it has happened and we have to deal with it. From a business point of view, you have to learn how to make it work for you as an individual company. Costs have risen, and a major problem is how to absorb and proportion those costs. No business ever wants to increase its prices too far, but sometimes, when manufacturing and transportation costs are affected, there is really nothing else you can do, and that applies to all businesses. It is extremely frustrating, but the rises in costs like fuel, transportation, salaries, everything, have to be absorbed where possible, and passed on where it’s not possible. The music industry in particularly has been particularly hard hit by the problems arising from Brexit. There has been very little that has been supportive out of it. But adapting and moving forward is the challenge for every business, we are absolutely no different. You simply have to get on with it.
Is there any major competitor for Hardcase, or have you got the market pretty much covered?
In terms of drum cases, there are really only two kinds, there are soft cover cases, and rigid cases, and soft cases are a niche market on their own. I would say that in the western world, apart from North America, we are the market leader for rigid case manufacture and supply. Inside the US there are some other manufacturers of rigid cases. What works in our favour is that our customers approve of the spec of our product, they know they get a superior product for the right price. It’s not for me to say if they are right or wrong, healthy competition is a good thing. The essential point is to ensure that your product does what it says it does, and with Hardcase, that is what we do.
What’s the biggest problem you face as a manufacture and supply business?
I think the worse thing comes back to what I said about Brexit, it’s transport costs, getting our product from our little disdains out to the rest of the world. The problem is, our product is volumetric, there is no weight in it per se, but the physical volumes involved are considerable. So, if we ship to Australia, in a forty-foot container, the combined weight makes only be two tons, which is negligible, so the shipping company then recalculates its costs based on volume, not on weight, and that makes things really expensive. We find that using distribution companies in individual territories is far more effective. They know their customers, and their import and export regulations, far better than we ever could. Our small admin set up could never cope with the logistics of so many different sets of government regulations, so we let our distribution partners look after all of that for us. They recommend our product because it works, and that’s what counts.
I am sure you have a high-level list of client names who use the Hardcase brand?
Indeed, we do, we are very fortunate. The brand is so reliable, it’s been around the world umpteen times with various major touring bands, and it’s never let them down. As they say, the product does what it says, so it would be stupid not to use it. We have users like Nicko McBrain from Iron Maiden, Gavin Harrison from Porcupine Tree, Gary Husband who was with Level 42, the list is long, and they all say that Hardcase got them safely to the gig and back again! That’s what we do.
