![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/5089.jpg\")
The group of New Zealand teenagers finding fame with a few buckets and sticks – video<\/p>\nFive 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.<\/p>\n
The group launch into a tightly choreographed drumming routine \u2013 sticks move at break-neck speed, flicking between the surfaces of their own bucket to that of their neighbours\u2019, producing a slick, energetic and flawless sound.<\/p>\n
They are the Beat Street Drummers \u2013 a quintet of teenagers from Tauranga, a city on New Zealand\u2019s east coast \u2013 who have catapulted to viral fame thanks to drumming out covers of global hits on NZ$10 (\u00a34.40) buckets from Mitre 10, a hardware store chain.<\/p>\n
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 \u201cclean\u201d drumming and urge them to appear in global talent contests. Increasingly they are being called upon to perform at festivals and events.<\/p>\n
The group of New Zealand teenagers finding fame with a few buckets and sticks – video<\/p>\n
For Elliot Laurie, 14, Tristan Sparks, 15, Daniel Moore, 17, and 18 year olds Noah Stuart and Lucas Shepherd, the attention has been surprising.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was definitely a bit of a shock seeing how many people were enjoying the content,\u201d Noah tells the Guardian. \u201cBut yeah, it was cool to see everyone checking in, viewing it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found out amongst ourselves that we are quite a good group playing on the buckets and we have that sort of dynamic \u2013 it\u2019s like a brotherhood,\u201d Daniel says.<\/p>\n
Buckets have a different surface and tone to regular drums, which the group enjoy experimenting with. They are also eye-catching.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has got its uniqueness and the colours really pop on screen, it draws people in,\u201d Tristan says.<\/p>\n
![\"Beat](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/_Beat_Street_Drummers_create_energetic_videos_of_their_plastic_bucket_percussion_performances--06d90.jpeg\")
Beat Street Drummers create energetic videos of their plastic bucket percussion performances<\/p>\n
The teenagers perform their own improvisations and a range of covers that fit their drumming style \u2013 everything from Macklemore, Ed Sheeran or the Red Hot Chili Peppers to the Beach Boys.<\/p>\n
The Beat Street Drummers at their instruments. One clip of their performances has attracted more than 20m views online. Photograph: Alan Gibson\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
Their cover of Sigma and Paloma Faith\u2019s song Changing, which has been viewed more than 22.3m times on Instagram, caught the attention of one of the song\u2019s makers.<\/p>\n
\u201cSmashed it lads,\u201d Sigma, the English drum\u2019n\u2019bass duo, wrote in the comments.<\/p>\n
Part of the appeal in watching the group lies with their drumming theatrics \u2013 they spin drumsticks, throw them in the air for their bandmates to catch, and synchronise rapid movements between buckets.<\/p>\n
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\u2019t held them back.<\/p>\n
\u201cNormally there is only one drummer in the band \u2013 we\u2019ve figured out how to add five into a band \u2026 we can read each other quite well,\u201d Lucas says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve also known each other for a very long time,\u201d Daniel adds. \u201cIt sort of turns into a really close family \u2026 it just really clicks.\u201d<\/p>\n
There have been numerous highlights since they started gaining attention \u2013 playing festivals, performing to live crowds, and clocking up big online views. Playing at a Chiefs professional rugby game was \u201ca really fun experience\u201d, Elliot says.<\/p>\n
\u2018Cool to see everyone checking in, viewing it.\u2019 Photograph: Alan Gibson\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe see a lot \u2013 within our community and online \u2013 of people [who are] like \u2018wow, how do you do it, how easy is it?\u2019,\u201d Daniel says. \u201cIt\u2019s just a bucket and some sticks, you could go to your local hardware store and get some \u2013 it\u2019s cheap and accessible and anyone can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Five teenagers sit shoulder to shoulder dressed in hoodies, T-shirts and sneakers. Behind them in the video is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":701434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-701433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=701433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/701434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}