From Tour Buses to Canvas Heads: Joey Parish’s Journey in Worship Drumming

How one drummer’s need for portable gear led to a revolution in church drum design

When Joey Parish first started touring with Chris Tomlin in a cowboy hat across Texas, he never imagined that his frustration with airline baggage would lead him to revolutionize church drumming. Today, Parish Drums has become synonymous with innovative, worship-focused percussion solutions that solve real problems for churches worldwide.

The Birth of Parish Drums: Necessity Meets Innovation

Parish’s journey began not in a boardroom or design studio, but on the road with Shane & Shane. After years of living on tour buses with up to 24 people, the band made a crucial decision: ditch the buses and start flying to shows. This shift created an immediate problem for Parish.

“I realized that in order to play consistently the way that I play, for us to have a consistent sound and be the same band every night, I had to have drums that I could take with me,” Parish explains. The challenge was finding a kit that could travel as checked luggage while maintaining professional sound quality.

After researching existing portable options and finding them too heavy (some weighing 70+ pounds without cases), Parish took matters into his own hands. Starting with basic woodworking skills learned from home renovation projects, he began building drums specifically designed for travel and worship contexts.

The Philosophy: Less is More

Parish’s approach fundamentally challenges the drum industry’s focus on resonance and projection. While most manufacturers chase the “beautiful, resonant musical sounding drums” found in glossy advertisements, Parish noticed something different in the field.

“Every kit in every church is just covered in gaff tape and gels and big fat snare drum rings,” he observes. “The industry of how do we kill all the resonance in drums is endless.”

This insight led to Parish’s core philosophy: create drums that are inherently controlled and worship-appropriate straight out of the box. Using mahogany and poplar woods (softer, less dense materials), rounded bearing edges, and shorter shell depths, Parish drums are designed to be naturally “dead” and “thumpy” with minimal resonance.

Canvas Heads: The Next Frontier

In a industry first, Parish has developed patent-pending canvas drum heads made from tightly woven cotton canvas. These heads represent a dramatic departure from traditional Mylar constructions.

“They’re very quiet. All the high frequency stuff is gone from a distance,” Parish explains. “It sounds like you hear the attack, but you don’t hear a lot of the energy.” After extensive road testing during Shane & Shane’s Christmas tour, these canvas heads are set to revolutionize low-volume drumming.

The Brush Revolution

Parish’s commitment to volume control extends beyond drum construction to playing technique. He’s become a vocal advocate for nylon bristle brushes over traditional sticks, even developing his own brush design to address durability issues.

“A nylon bristle brush in combination with these canvas heads is just the biggest, fullest, and it’s just shocking because it’s so quiet,” he notes. This combination allows for intricate, musical parts while maintaining appropriate volume levels for worship settings.

Lessons for Worship Drummers

Throughout the interview, Parish shares invaluable insights for worship drummers transitioning from rock or cover band backgrounds:

1. Understand the Mission

“Why are we playing songs at church today? We want to sing together. We want to praise the Lord… We want to create an environment where that’s the most possible.”

2. Master Your Monitor Mix

Parish offers a counterintuitive tip: if your snare is too loud in the room, turn it UP in your in-ear mix. This forces you to play at the appropriate dynamic level naturally.

3. Embrace Simplification

Parish recounts playing a mountain worship gathering where he progressively removed drums from his setup until he was left with just kick and snare, playing high-hat parts on the snare rim. The result? A perfectly appropriate musical response to the intimate setting.

4. Dynamics Are Everything

Working with Shane Bernard, Parish learned to navigate extreme dynamics, setting his monitor mix for the loudest moments while developing the sensitivity to play parts so quiet “you can’t even tell if he’s playing.”

The Partnership with Worship Initiative

Parish’s collaboration with The Worship Initiative has provided the resources to scale production while maintaining quality. This partnership represents more than just business expansion—it’s about equipping churches with tools that serve the greater mission of worship.

Looking Forward

As Parish Drums prepares for their “big leap year,” the company stands at the intersection of innovation and tradition. They’re not just making drums; they’re solving problems that worship leaders and drummers face every Sunday morning.

Parish’s journey from frustrated touring drummer to innovative manufacturer illustrates a fundamental truth: the best solutions often come from those who deeply understand the problems. In a world of ever-louder, ever-bigger drum sounds, Parish Drums offers something different—instruments designed not to overpower, but to serve.

For worship teams struggling with volume control, stage aesthetics, or simply finding drums that work in smaller spaces, Parish’s story offers both inspiration and practical solutions. Sometimes the most revolutionary approach is simply asking: “What if we built drums specifically for worship?”

Learn more about Parish Drums at parishdrums.com and The Worship Initiative at theworshipinitiative.com