Drummers' Clan

Drummers' Clan was a music group formed in 2007 by members Andie Brown, Addison Godfrey, Eric Oates, Matt Peters, Albert Allen, and Zara Dawson. They released three studio albums as a group. They had been touring around GoAnimate City with The Hype Girls in 2009. Their first two albums did moderate success, but their third studio album did commercially worse. In late 2010, due to low album sales, the Drummers' Clan disbanded, and it wouldn't be until around 2015 when Andie decided to resume the album project her group has abandoned before. In May 2016, she filed a lawsuit against their manager, James Johnson-Ricks, for defrauding them of 2.5 million GoBucks. In August 2016, Johnson-Ricks was indicted for running a twelve-year Ponzi scheme and was sent to 150 years to life in prison. It turns out that Andie had won the lawsuit and received $10,000 in financial damages.

## Drummers' Clan

### Production studio

Pat Pat Records (former), GoDrum Records (former, indie

## Past members

Andie Brown (2007-2010), Addison Godfrey (2007-2010), Eric Oates (2007-2009), Liam Peters (2007-2010; deceased), Albert Allen (2007-2009), Zara Dawson (2007-2010), Zoey Balkin (2008-2010), Derek Johnson (2008-2009), Liam Orton (2009-2010)

## Early beginnings before Drummers' Clan (before 2007)

In March 2006, Andie Brown and Addison Godfrey met at the West Side district of GoAnimate City. Addison had realized Andie's talent at first glance. They were a duo called Andison, a portmanteau of the names of the two girls. That was when Pat Pat Records started to notice the young girls' talents altogether. Eric Oates and Matt Peters also realized their talents and joined in. With the inclusion of Eric and Matt, Andison changed their name to Andiserimatt.

## Formation of Drummers' Clan (2007-2009)

With the inclusion of Zara and her friend, Albert, Drummers' Clan had formed. They released their debut EP, Make Some Noise!, on June 1, 2007. They started their small tour around their middle school after classes have concluded. That was when GoDrum Records took notice and realized their talents all along. They even distributed their second and third EP. However, their first two EPs sold mere hundreds of copies.

## Debut album and tour with The Hype Girls (2009-2010)

In 2009, the Hype Girls agreed to collaborate with Drummers' Clan. Their third EPs was released on March 27, 2009, and it sold thousands of copies. In November, they released their debut studio album, Bongo Time!, and it proved to be a moderate success. It sold 5,000 copies after the official release of the album. The album was met with general critical acclaim. Even they toured around the city after they started blowing up. In December 2009, their tour started at GoAnimate High School. The freshman homecoming queen, Erika Dawson, greeted them with Hershey's Kisses as the group entered. She was sitting in the front row seats at the high school gymnasium, sitting with her boyfriend, then-freshman homecoming king Eric Erikson. Their tour lasted until February 2010. Their tour ended after performing at the GoAnimate City Hall. They were greeted by the mayor upon arrival.

## Final years as a band, fallout with record label, and aftermath (2010-onward)

After releasing their second album, Bongo Beats, in January 2010, it had sold 2,000 copies and was met with favorable reviews. After releasing their album, they were working on another album. In May 2010, Drummers' Clan toured around the city once again. However, in the middle of the tour, there was an altercation involving eight people in the GoAnimate University Basketball Arena. As soon as the altercation started, it turned into a horrible tirade of violence. However, Matt Peters was fatally shot by an unidentified assailant. He was pronounced dead hours after being rushed to the hospital. To pay respect to their fallen friend, Drummers' Clan cancelled their second tour. The murder remains unsolved until 2018, when Larry Doors was identified as the killer. The reason Doors fatally shot Matt was because one of their songs have to do with a Satanic ritual. Doors was a pastor at a local church at the time. In August 2010, Drummers’ Clan left the GoDrum label to prevent any further financial meddling from their manager. They spent the last two months as an indie group. Their third studio album was released with the introduction paying a tribute to Matt. It was a critical and commercial failure, having been met with polarized reviews (some good, but others not so good). It only sold around 65 copies. The next month, due to lack of compensation and low record and album sales, the group disbanded in October.

Albert Allen, who left the group in 2009 (before their debut studio album was released), was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2011. In 2016, he was arrested for driving under the influence and was sent to rehabilitation. As of today, he is still in rehabilitation, and it would be possible in the future that he would've gotten out of rehabilitation only to be completely sober.

Liam Orton, who replaced Albert in 2009, suffered mental problems after the band's disbandment. In 2017, he was arrested for disorderly conduct of a police officer. Liam had lashed out at the officer and assaulted him. It took three cops to tackle him to the ground.

The others are doing fine as they would. Andie left The Hype Girls because of her failing grade in one of her classes; eight years later, she would rejoin the Hype Girls. Addison was cut from the group in 2015 following a lineup reorganization. That same hear, Andie made a voice recording about the fallout of her group, explaining in great detail. She also stated that she has bought a drum kit for 1,000 GoBucks. She resurrected her group's abandoned album project. The group's fourth and final studio album was released on May 8, 2020; unlike their previous albums which sold mere hundreds of copies, it sold over 20,000 copies. On top of the generally positive reviews from music critics, everybody liked the album so much that Andie had earned over $100,000 off of her album.

## Legal issues

In December 2007, Drummers’ Clan was hit with a $1.5 million copyright infringement suit by Mista Allah, a record producer based in Atlanta, Georgia. He alleged that his beat for Yung Prankstah’s 2004 rap, “Prankstah Gangstah”, was emulated without his permission. The beat was emulated for at least twelve seconds. The lawsuit was dismissed two months later.

In July 2009, Drummers' Clan filed a lawsuit against Henry Too for 5 million GoBucks for not asking the group permission to sample one of their tracks from Make Some Noise! for his single, Riffin'. The case had since been settled out of court.

In February 2010, Addison filed a lawsuit against fellow labelmate Gorcko (real name Jack Jorgen) for copying their rhythm patterns without their permission. The judge ruled that his sample from one of Drummers' Clan's songs from Bongo Time! was fair use, so the case has been settled out of court.

In August 2016, Andie filed a lawsuit against the group's manager, James Johnson-Ricks, for swindling the group out of 2.5 million GoBucks of their fortune. She also accused him of sexually assaulting both her and her sister (this happened in 2009). Later, the FBI got involved, and Johnson-Ricks actually got 150 years to life in prison for these crimes.