Marathon drummers Jason Odle and Joe Bothamley
Joe Bothamley, 25 and Jason Odle, 24 are undertaking a 24hr, non-stop ‘drumathon’ in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, on June 8th and 9th to raise funds for Mind.
They have each been musicians for over 15 years and played in bands together, will be drumming for the full 24hrs straight… with no breaks! Joe Bothamley, who is the drummer for popular rock band Kasiuss, explains the idea behind the stunt.
Jason Odle said:
When we first had the idea of doing a 24hr Drumathon it sounded fun and different and we hoped it would attract a fair amount of attention to help raise the target of £2500.
We have chosen the charity as the cause is something dear to us both. Mental Health problems are very hard to understand, and I think the work that Mind do to raise awareness about the importance of protecting and promoting good mental health is crucial. If we end up creating an awareness for Mind and what they do, it’ll have been a great achievement and the money would come as a bonus!
Jason Odle, who was also a member of Kasiuss but now plays drums for the Dan Burnett Band, was one of the 2 ‘human mannequins’ who raised over £15,000 for Saint Michaels Hospice back in October by living in a shop window for a week!
Joe Bothamley added:
We would love the challenge to create enough awareness to raise a decent amount for Mind. We don’t really know how well we are going to do, we just know that 24hrs of drumming will be a killer! It’ll be an important month leading up to the event just to make sure we can survive it.
The event itself will be taking place between Montey’s Rock Cafe and Harrogate Town Centre. Joe and Jason will be starting at 9pm on Friday 8th June playing along to Montey’s rock playlist until finish.
In the morning, after a night playing to a webcam, the guys will move to Knaresborough to perform in the street with various guests before returning to Montey’s for the final stint.
- 8pm tonight (8 June) – Montey’s start
- 10am Saturday – walk to knaresborough ‘worlds end’ pub
- 15:00 tomorrow- walk back Montey’s where they will play until 8pm
Being drummers, both Joe and Jason know how fit you have to be to play for long periods of time as normally a 2 hours gig can be tiring! Nathan Garnham from B-Physical has generously agreed to help the drummers get fit enough to endure a 24hr Drumathon!
Nathan Garnham from B-Physical said:
The guys are friends of mine and I regularly go to gigs where they are playing. They have a lot of work to do in order to sustain 24hrs of physical activity including work on posture, core strength, stamina and flexibility. We will be working on these throughout the next month.
Nathan has already started training them up 3 times a week at the B-Physical Fitness Camp where they will be blogging about their progress.
Visit www.charitydrumathon.com for information on the event and view the blog.
You can donate money towards the challenge by going to www.justgiving.com/charitydrumathon or by texting DRUM49 + amount to 70070.
