Charlie Andrews

Badges Drum Shop, 2026 Make the Mile Brick Finalist

Every gem has something that makes it shine. What would you say is your greatest strength or “sparkle,” and how does it show up in your/your organizations work?

Badges Drum Shop is not just a store, it’s a place of connection and learning with reverence for the history forged between drum makers, drums, and drummers. I don’t think of myself as a salesman or a businessman, but link between those forces. I spend my days surrounded by decades worth of the instrument I love while serving people who love my instrument.

A Bit About Charlie Andrews

Charlie Andrews, a drummer and drum enthusiast, opened Badges Drum Shop to cater to drummers and honor the best brands and badges in the business.

Andrews love of drumming began at age 10 where he progressed in his school music program at CHCA while training privately with professional drum instructors. While in high school, Andrews performed often and regularly drummed for the student house band at Cincinnati’s internationally-known Blue Wisp Jazz Club. During college, Andrews trained under the legendary drummer Zero at Belmont University and then later completed a business leadership degree at NKU. While there, he interned at various companies including Pearl Drums in Nashville where he connected with the business side of the drumming industry and began considering opening a shop.

During all his years as a musician, Andrews has enjoyed learning the technical side of drum gear and the many brands and badges that contribute to the industry. A drum gear expert with a keen ear for the relationship between materials and sizes, Charlie enjoys helping other drummers find the right combination of drums, cymbals and accessories to achieve their best sound and maximize their joy of playing.

Andrews lives in Mason, Ohio with his wife Jackie, a professional cellist.

Learn A Bit More

What does being part of the Mason-Deerfield business community mean to you?

Share 2–3 fun facts about you/your organization that people in the MADE community might not know.

If your company culture, or personal persona, had to be summed up in five words or less, reflective of a
gemstone, what would they be?

It’s a tremendous blessing to be located in Mason, a city that has so much to offer but is safe and has a small-town feel. I grew up in here, so it feels like home, and a sense of home is important for the spirit of community I want to foster for my customers and students.

“Badges” are the company emblems on drums that often double as a vent for sound to escape the drum, hence the name Badges Drum Shop.

Badges Drum Shop is one of the few independent drum shops in the country (there are only around 50 total) so they are heartily supported by drummers who consider them fundamental to the drumming community and its heritage.

As a shop with with a large online following and that ships worldwide, Badges Drum Shop’s community reaches far beyond Mason and even the greater Cincinnati to friends all over the globe who experience our city through this shop.

Badges Drum Shop recently worked with Mason’s own Creative Contracting on an updated and nostalgic facade for our 125 year old historic building. The front now looks similar to when our location was a tiny Kroger store in the 1940s.