DW launches On the Drums with Luke Holland as first feature

Drum Workshop Inc. has launched On the Drums with Luke Holland as its first-ever drummer digital feature, turning a brand interview into a broader statement about how it wants to present its artists. DW’s Stories hub describes On the Drums as a series built around DW players and their “handcrafted rhythms and instruments,” and Holland is the opening subject.

The feature leans hard into the kind of origin story drummers recognize immediately. Holland says he first picked up a basic groove from a neighbor when he was about 10, then spent roughly nine months mowing lawns and doing neighborhood work to buy his first drum kit. By the time he signed with DW in 2014, his first DW kit was a Collector’s Series Exotic Twisted Rainbow set with 24-karat gold hardware, a detail that gives the endorsement a clear full-circle feel.

The interview is just as interested in how Holland has kept changing his setup as it is in how he got started. DW notes that he later simplified his live rig, moving from a 5-piece kit to a 4-piece with fewer cymbals, and Holland says a call from Tony Royster Jr. in 2017 pushed him to add more sounds back into the setup. That kind of back-and-forth, between stripping a kit down and opening it back up, is exactly the sort of practical decision working drummers will recognize.

Holland’s work with RÜFÜS DU SOL gives the feature its biggest live-music lift. In a related video, Holland says he filled in for James Hunt for two tours and that those shows were the biggest headlining gigs he had played back to back at that point. He also frames the musical lesson plainly: the goal was groove, not note density. That line matters because it puts the emphasis on feel, placement and restraint, not just speed or flash.

The profile also widens out beyond one band or one endorsement. Holland talks about recording sessions, video game music and new collaborations, while public artist listings connect him to Falling In Reverse and The Word Alive. Other interview summaries have described him as a musician entrepreneur who has spoken publicly about living with epilepsy, adding another layer to a career built as much on durability as visibility.

DW’s launch choice says plenty about where modern drummer media is headed. Luke Holland is not just the name on the first installment. He is the proof-of-concept for a format that wants to show how a drummer builds audience, earns trust and stays relevant long after the viral clip is over.