Our Story

My name is Bill Brill and I’m the owner and founder of Pan American Drum Company. I’m also a guitar player, piano player and all around music fanatic. We spend more time listening to music (either actively or passively) than almost any other activity but we don’t often think about the blood, sweat and tears that went into making that music. The life of most musicians is one where passion and dedication usually outweigh the money. We live in a society where music is prolific but vastly undervalued. It’s tough just to get gigs let alone a recording contract. Musicians need something to help them stand out and get noticed.

A few years ago, my friend Garrett introduced me to the music of Shakey Graves and I was blown away. Not only is he a phenomenal guitar player and singer but he uses a suitcase kick drum to create a powerful sound that can fill a large arena. This inspired me to see if I could recreate this powerful sound.

Fast forward to now (and many, many design iterations later) and Pan American Drum Company has become one of the highest quality and best known brands in the portable percussion instrument market. We’ve grown from a one man operation to a team that is starting to make some waves in the business. In 2019 we launched our center mount drum line, streamlined production methods, and perfected the design of our electric kick drums. We’ve sponsored music festivals, made kits for well-known musicians, and the list of studio albums featuring our drums continues to grow.

In 2020 we’re proud to launch our Rochester line of factory engineered kick drums. These kick drums are made for touring and offer a full suite of options to customize it just for you.

We run an honest company that strives to have a fundamentally positive impact on our customers. We don’t sell anything that we wouldn’t be proud to use ourselves and we don’t play games with our pricing. When you buy from Pan American you get uncommonly good customer service. We’ll be there for you if you need us. Whether you buy a suitcase drum or a professional grade touring drum, you can be confident that you’re getting a quality instrument that represents great value.

We started this business to give musicians the ability to change the whole vibe of their solo or small group gigs. We wanted to give musicians a powerful but affordable instrument that would help them book more live gigs and get noticed. I encourage you to spend some time on our site and get a sense of how our drums can be a game changer for you. So grab a beer or cup of coffee and enjoy. We have some great music here done by musicians from all walks of life. This is an experience worth your time.

So what are you waiting for? Let us show you how to BRING THE HOUSE DOWN.

- Bill Brill, Pan American Drum Company LLC