Guitar Center to Crown Drum-Off Grand Champion on January 5, 2008 at The Music Box @ Fonda in Hollywood

Guitar Center to Crown Drum-Off Grand Champion on January 5, 2008 at The Music Box @ Fonda in Hollywood

Angels & Airwaves, Stephen Perkins, 'Go Get A Late Pass!!!' featuring ?uestlove, Street Drum Corps, Adrian Young, Brooks Wackerman, Shannon Leto, John Sawicki, and Byron McMackin to Participate

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif., Nov. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Guitar Center is excited to announce the Drum-Off Grand Finals will take place on January 5, 2008 at the Music Box @ Fonda in Hollywood, CA. Now in it's 19th year, Drum-Off continues to bring together thousands of the nation's top undiscovered drummers for the chance to compete for incredible prizes, national recognition and the bragging rights of being crowned Drum-Off Champion.

This incredible night, hosted by Stephen Perkins of Jane's Addiction, will feature performances by the four Drum-Off finalists as well as Angels & Airwaves, "Go Get A Late Pass!!!" featuring ?uestlove of The Roots, Street Drum Corps with special guests Adrian Young of No Doubt, Brooks Wackerman of Bad Religion, Shannon Leto of 30 Seconds to Mars, John Sawicki of Stomp and Byron McMackin of Pennywise.

Drummers across the country began competing over three months ago at Guitar Center stores across the country. Beginning with preliminaries in over 213 Guitar Center stores, drummers then advanced on from store preliminaries to store finals. Winners of store finals then went on to compete at district finals at 24 Guitar Center stores nationwide for the chance to advance on to one of the four regional competitions held at Guitar Centers in New York City, Hollywood, Chicago, and Houston, TX with the winner of each of these regions advancing on to compete to be crowned the Drum-Off 2007 Champion.

This year's winner will receive a prize package valued at more than $45,000 including a Toyota FJ Cruiser, $10,000 cash, a feature in a Guitar Center ad campaign, a $2,500 Levi's shopping spree, a custom designed drum kit from DW, Pearl, Tama or Gretsch, a Roland TD20 electronic drum-set, a set of cymbals custom printed with the winner's signature, a one year drum, cymbal, stick and head endorsement deal, and a write up in Modern Drummer magazine. Additionally, store, district and regional winners will have walked away with thousands of dollars in prizes from Drum-Off partners.

"Guitar Center could not be more excited by the artists who are coming out to support the competitors as they come one step closer to being crowned Drum-Off champion," said Dustin Hinz, Manager, Event Marketing and Promotions for Guitar Center. "Drum-Off has become a staple in the drum community and in addition to providing emerging artists the support, encouragement and opportunity they need to succeed, Guitar Center's mission is to promote the development of community amongst drummers, encourage musicianship and further their passion for music."

Previous Drum-Off winners have gone on to enjoy successful music careers, record albums and tour the world with noteworthy artists. 2002 Drum-Off Champion, Cora Coleman, is currently performing with legendary recording artist Prince, playing on his most recent album 3121 and at Super Bowl XLI. Eric Moore II, Drum-Off 2003 Champion, has also achieved notoriety by performing with psychedelic funk band Sly and the Family Stone as well as singer Bobby Brown.

Prior to this year's show Guitar Center is thrilled to have the opportunity to present the "Drum Legends Award" to two of music's greatest drummers, Steve Smith and David Garibaldi. Named one of the top 25 drummers of all time by Modern Drummer in 2001, Steve Smith, occupied the drum chair for the rock band Journey from 1978-1985. He returned to the band in 1995 for their 1996 comeback album, Trial By Fire. An innovator in funk drumming, David Garibaldi, is best known as the drummer for Oakland-based funk/soul band Tower of Power. He has also worked with many amazing artists including: Natalie Cole, Jermaine Jackson and Patti Austin.

This year Guitar Center will also be giving one lucky person the chance to win a VIP trip for two to the Drum-Off Grand Finals. Starting on November 1st consumers enter to win online at http://www.guitarcenter.com/. In addition to the trip, the winner will receive a meet and greet with Angels and Airwaves, ?uestlove and Street Drum Corps, $500 spending cash, a Drum-Off Grand Finals poster signed by artist Shepard Fairey and more.

Partners for Drum-Off 2007 include: Levi's, DW, Evans, Vic Firth, Remo, Zildjian, Pearl, Roland, Sabian, Tama, Gretsch, Pro.Mark, and Modern Drummer.

About Guitar Center

Guitar Center is the leading United States retailer of guitars, amplifiers, percussion instruments, keyboards and pro-audio and recording equipment. Our retail store subsidiary presently operates more than 200 Guitar Center stores across the U.S. In addition, our Music & Arts division operates more than 100 stores specializing in band instruments for sale and rental, serving teachers, band directors, college professors and students. We are also the largest direct response retailer of musical instruments in the United States through our wholly owned subsidiary, Musician's Friend, Inc., and its catalog and Web site, http://www.musiciansfriend.com/. More information on Guitar Center can be found by visiting the Company's Web site at http://www.guitarcenter.com/.

The Guitar Center logo is a registered trademark of Guitar Center, Inc. Other brand or product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

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Source: Guitar Center

CONTACT: Maureen O'Connor, +1-310-854-8116, moconnor@rogersandcowan.com,
or Heather Lewandoski, +1-310-854-8147, hlewandoski@rogersandcowan.com, both
of Rogers & Cowan, for Guitar Center

Web site: http://www.guitarcenter.com/
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/

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Profile: International Entertainment