In 1922 the picture was far different to the present day; Albert Della Porta was a young professional drummer in London. At a time when gigs seemed scarce Albert took a temporary job with the Boyle Drum Co whose drums he
used to play. Albert saw this involvement in a drum company as a golden opportunity to have some of his ideas for improving drums introduced. The Boyle's didn't seem very impressed, but Albert's ideas must have had considerable merit because the Production Manager, George Smith, was sufficiently impressed to want to start making drums independently with him.
World War II brought a lot of changes that ultimately led to the company expanding even further. Production of musical instruments ceased and Premier started making gun sights for anti tank guns, and plugs and sockets for radar equipment. Fred Della Porta says, "the war taught us accuracy". When making these other things they had to be absolutely accurate. There was no room for miscalculating.
Since Premier did important war work they were re-located by the ministry of supply to this small town in Leicester. This proved to be a happy location for the company-centre of the country that was convenient for transporting equipment to distributors and ports for exports.
Premier has supplied army, government forces, police and other official bands worldwide and also many world famous orchestras, theatres and conservatoires.
Back in private ownership once more, Premier continues to update, upgrade and develop products to meet the ever-changing market requirements.
The Artist Series was the first mid-range series to be made purely of birch and of maple, and once again set the benchmark for the competition. The Modern Classic Professional Snare Drum Series developed together with Steve White and the new top end series - The Premier Series - launched at NAMM 2003 create benchmarks as world-class professional products.
