One bucket, two sticks and a million followers: How five NZ teens hit drumming fame

Five teenagers sit shoulder to shoulder dressed in hoodies, T-shirts and sneakers. Behind them in the video is a farm shed, sometimes a street corner or a hardware store. Each cradles a large orange plastic bucket between their knees. The scenes are laid-back but there is nothing casual about what comes next.

The group launch into a tightly choreographed drumming routine – sticks move at break-neck speed, flicking between the surfaces of their own bucket to that of their neighbours’, producing a slick, energetic and flawless sound.

They are the Beat Street Drummers – a quintet of teenagers from Tauranga, a city on New Zealand’s east coast – who have catapulted to viral fame thanks to drumming out covers of global hits on NZ$10 (£4.40) buckets from Mitre 10, a hardware store chain.

Since they began uploading videos of their performances in March 2025, the group have amassed more than a million social media followers and clocked up more than 100m views. Fans regularly praise their “clean” drumming and urge them to appear in global talent contests. Increasingly they are being called upon to perform at festivals and events.

For Elliot Laurie, 14, Tristan Sparks, 15, Daniel Moore, 17, and 18 year olds Noah Stuart and Lucas Shepherd, the attention has been surprising.

“It was definitely a bit of a shock seeing how many people were enjoying the content,” Noah tells the Guardian. “But yeah, it was cool to see everyone checking in, viewing it.”

The teenagers met in school music classes eight years ago and formed their existing group roughly five years ago, after discovering a shared enjoyment for drumming on buckets.

“We found out amongst ourselves that we are quite a good group playing on the buckets and we have that sort of dynamic – it’s like a brotherhood,” Daniel says.

Buckets have a different surface and tone to regular drums, which the group enjoy experimenting with. They are also eye-catching.

“It has got its uniqueness and the colours really pop on screen, it draws people in,” Tristan says.

The teenagers perform their own improvisations and a range of covers that fit their drumming style – everything from Macklemore, Ed Sheeran or the Red Hot Chili Peppers to the Beach Boys.

Their cover of Sigma and Paloma Faith’s song Changing, which has been viewed more than 22.3m times on Instagram, caught the attention of one of the song’s makers.

“Smashed it lads,” Sigma, the English drum’n’bass duo, wrote in the comments.

Part of the appeal in watching the group lies with their drumming theatrics – they spin drumsticks, throw them in the air for their bandmates to catch, and synchronise rapid movements between buckets.

It can be tricky to squeeze in practice around school and sports, Elliot says, and typically the group get together just once a week to play. Still, it hasn’t held them back.

“Normally there is only one drummer in the band – we’ve figured out how to add five into a band … we can read each other quite well,” Lucas says.

“We’ve also known each other for a very long time,” Daniel adds. “It sort of turns into a really close family … it just really clicks.”

There have been numerous highlights since they started gaining attention – playing festivals, performing to live crowds, and clocking up big online views. Playing at a Chiefs professional rugby game was “a really fun experience”, Elliot says.

The group hope to one day play international events and collaborate with other artists. But there is something they want to achieve closer to home: teaching others their art form.

“We see a lot – within our community and online – of people [who are] like ‘wow, how do you do it, how easy is it?’,” Daniel says. “It’s just a bucket and some sticks, you could go to your local hardware store and get some – it’s cheap and accessible and anyone can do it.”