 Photo by Daniel Hanssen. Name
Jess Maio Where are you based? Naarm/Melbourne How long have you been playing drums? And what initially drew you to the instrument? I’ve been playing drums since I was 10 years old (2007). I grew up surrounded by music as my parents had a great passion for it and my Dad played guitar, so I was always interested in learning to play an instrument. I started learning piano at 3 years old and then moved onto singing lessons, but wasn’t particularly keen on continuing either one. When I was 10, I visited a family friend who had a drum kit and I decided to have a go, and I felt so comfortable on the kit and knew I wanted to explore it further. I started drum lessons and never looked back! Do you play any other instruments? Yes, I play ukulele, piano, and I’ve just started learning bass guitar. I also sing backing vocals for all my projects. What bands/projects/collaborations are you involved in right now? My main project is Ramona Sky, an alternative rock/funk rock band. I’m the drummer, backing vocalist, and a songwriter for the band, and I also look after most of the management duties. I also play session drums for new wave/goth band Human Intrusion, and ukulele and backing vocals for my other project Luna The Moon, which is an all-female ukulele trio. What else have you previously been involved in (bands/shows/projects etc)? In high school I was in a band called Kid Sidney, we lasted a good three and a half years with some airplay on Triple M, and shared a festival stage with Clare Bowditch, but that feels like such a long time ago now! Do you write music or develop your own shows? What are they about/how have they come about? I write a lot of music for Ramona Sky, and sometimes create some demos for myself that nobody else gets to see haha. When I’m writing for my band, I usually create a full demo and bring it to the band members so they can put their own spin on it and make it sound more “Ramona Sky”, as my style of songwriting is quite chill/neo-soul based. Most of the time the band’s style of songwriting is collaborative though, and in those instances I write my drum parts, and sometimes the melodies, lyrics and bass lines which are interesting to see come together as I write them for other members. What are your thoughts on collaboration in music and in the projects you’re involved in or the projects you run? I’m a big fan of collaboration! To me, that’s what being in a band is all about. Bouncing each other’s cool ideas off one another. I’m always learning from my band mates and the songs we write all together are the most rewarding ones. I always feel lucky to be surrounded by such talented people. Who are you listening to/whose music are you enjoying right now? Right now, I’m loving Surprise Chef, Parcels, Men I Trust, Crumb, and Donny Benét. Big fan of groove based music. In addition, I always have Wolf Alice, Oasis, Supergrass, The Strokes, and Ball Park Music on repeat just to name a few. Do you have any favourite drummers? Or other musicians who inspire you? why? Karen Carpenter is a huge inspiration, especially as a drummer who sings, she’s phenomenal. I’ve always loved Matt Helders from Arctic Monkeys who has certainly influenced my playing, and I could watch Anderson Paak perform all day. Big shout out to one of my all-time favourite drummers, Daniel Hanson from Ball Park Music! His skills are mind blowing, and I’ve been having mentoring sessions with him over the past few years which has been such a fulfilling experience. I’ve learnt so much. Does social media play a big part in how you promote yourself as an artist and your various projects? Do you promote your work in other ways? Definitely for Ramona Sky, in fact I create a lot of the artwork/videos/ads for our social media so you could say I have quite an interest in self promotion. But honestly in this day and age, a social media presence is so important for artists whether you like it or not. Where’s the coolest place that music has taken you? Probably the Music Victoria Awards in 2022. Ramona Sky were nominated for the Best Group category which was an insane experience for a small local band like us. We have big dreams and work extremely hard, so getting some industry recognition for that meant the world to us. What kit/cymbals/gear do you play? A very beautiful sparkly turquoise glass Pearl Reference kit, a Ludwig Supraphonic snare, and Zildjian A Custom cymbals. I also use Big Sound Percussion drumsticks, THE BEST STICKS ON THE MARKET (and locally made)! I’m lucky enough to have an endorsement with this amazing brand, big shout out to James and Steve from BSP for all the incredible support they have given me as an artist over the past few years. If you could give your younger drumming self some advice what would it be? Oh man, I was so different back then. I can’t tell you how much I’ve grown as a performer. I guess firstly, it’s really not that scary up there on stage. It’s only 30-45 mins of doing what you know best - enjoy it. No need to get so anxious before every show. Performing is supposed to be fun! Secondly, Being a drummer doesn’t make you any less of a songwriter. You’re a musician just like everyone else in the band, don’t be afraid to voice your ideas. And on that note - start using your voice. Singing and playing drums can be scary at first but you’ll benefit from learning how to do it early. Thirdly, yes, your drum teacher is correct - those rudiments ARE important. Your 25 year old self would thank you if you practiced them more often! Other thoughts: Just want to say I’m forever grateful to my first drum teacher Daniel Luttick who taught me for 8 years and making me the drummer I am today! Website Instagram: @jessmaio @ramonaskyband
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 Photo by Mark Hopper Lindy Morrison toured the world as a drummer with Zero, The Go-Betweens and Cleopatra Wong. She recently toured with Dave Mason (The Reels), Alex the Astronaut and The Girl with the Replaceable head (UK). She has been touring with Rob Snarski for the last year. Between 1993 and 2018, Lindy worked directing or performing in community events with many diverse community groups. Lindy was a member of PPCA Board, as a representative of registered Australian recording artists, from 1994 - 2021. Lindy was the National Welfare Co-ordinator for Support Act, the charity for musicians, crew and workers from 1989 - 2021 . In 2013, Lindy was awarded an Order of Australia for service to the Australian music industry and in 2015, the APRA Ted Albert Award. Nat Grant interviewed Lindy on Gadigal Land on the 13th January 2023. We started with the all important task of getting the drums in the car… LM: So, I have a 2008 Holden Omega. And I had those little beepers installed at the back. So that now you can hear. But the boot is really huge. And I have a 1964 Ludwig. The only kit I've kept is that, and the only cymbals I've kept are the original Zildjians. But when I was in Adelaide playing only about three months ago, a guy gave me some Zillis. The most beautiful cymbals, and texture. The trouble with my high hats, the Zildjian high hats, which are 1960s, is that they're too heavy. They're really loud. And so is the ride, which is a 60s ride. These (the Zillis) are really crisp, very light, beautiful cymbals. I was so lucky to get them because, honestly, I knew I had to do something about it, but I… didn't have the will. I just love the old kit. So with the 64 Ludwig, the kick drum fits in the backseat and then I've got the original cases and the floor tom and the hanging tom fit in one case. And then the traps and snare. The stool is separate to everything; I don't put that in the traps because it's a real throne. It's heavy. And I just use that as a separate piece. But the cases are so old that the straps on them, the leather straps all were broken and worn. And what I was using was those cable ties. And then during Covid, a drummer here in town, Jess Ciampa, a percussionist, he told me how there was this guy who fixed luggage and I took them to him and he put all these beautiful, beautiful straps around my original cases. And now they're just as good as new. You do get very attached to your equipment. I've got the white Remo Ambassador heads on all the drums and I tell you, I can make those toms and the snares, the Acrolite: the original 64 Ludwig Acrolite, I make those sing, you know, because I know how to hit them and because often when I'm touring you can't take the kit and you're playing other kits. And if they have those heads on them that are transparent, I can never make those sing. Like they just never sound the same. With my Ambassador heads, I just have to touch them and they make a beautiful tone. And, I think what we were talking about, about just playing around and if you do a lot of playing around the kit, you really do start to think about everything percussively. It's so great. I’m really glad I’ve done it. I've been working on a few pieces. I've been working on a solo from Buddy Rich, which is pretty simple actually - a mixture of singles and doubles - but what he does is just have so much speed. I’m nowhere near his speed, will never get near his speed. You know, I mean, he started playing when he was like three. And Sandy Nelson “Let There Be Drums”. I mean, again it's not tricky, at the end of the day you've got, you know, doubles and singles, and the accent on the end. But again the question is speed. And then I just start mixing up paradiddles and making up different things that go around. I don't use cymbals at all. Yeah. I need to bring the cymbals back. I wear hearing aids now. My ears are so fucked from using crash symbols and in particular my left ear, I think, because I always had the monitor on my left ear, that's where they put the monitor…. And, you know, years, like decades of playing on stages with that right on your ear. So the hearing aids work great, but you know, I don't often have them on stage, cuz mostly I'm working with a click now. Not on all the songs, but you've got the little pods in your ears. For clicks. NG: And you're a fan of working with a click?. LM: I love it. I love the click. But I tell you, in the eighties, when they first started introducing me to that on the recordings, I hated it. And I went to this drummer, who was a New York drummer called Gary Chester, who played on all of Dion Warwick's stuff, and Gene Pitney’s. An amazing guy. And I had lessons between London and New York, with cassettes, where he had me playing to clicks, I had to play these parts to clicks and I had to send them back to him. And I started getting into it, but I don't think it was till… possibly the 90s that I started really loving the click. And it wasn't until the new century that I began to use them live, you know, it took me a while to start using them live. And then it was so easy, once you start using them live. But the difference between my generation and the young generation about using clicks is that, with the young generation, the whole band is using, not a click, but they're using in ear monitoring because there's so many parts being played. See, we never did that. There were no extra instruments. You know, there were no kind of sequenced parts. And so they've all got clicks in and I think that makes a really big difference if everyone's got a click rather than just the drummer. Because you know, when you're playing with a click, You really can hear the guitar speeding up. And you're just going, what the fuck? What are you doing? Just stop. You know, and you're trying to pull them back. You've got the click there and you hear how they're pushing. I did this show, a 16 Lovers Lane show, where we reproduced the album 16 Lovers Lane with a variety of singers. We had like five guitars on stage, and I tell you, we were rehearsing “Streets of Your Town” one day, and I honestly could not believe how they were pushing the beat. Mm. And I stopped and someone turned around to me and said, stop speeding up. You know? And I was just so, I was so upset. Like, I just screamed. "I'm trying to keep you back! You know, you're speeding up." And because you get a mass of guitars doing that together they're just gonna follow each other. It's terrible. And that was great though because it confirmed to me and still does that that will happen. And, and then so when you hear them start speeding up, really try to pull them back, you know? Or stop if it's a rehearsal and say, "okay guys, you're speeding up."  Photo by Mark Hopper LM: One of my biggest challenges at the moment is playing softly. I've really been working on that. So I'm playing with Rob Snarski of the Black Eyed Susans, his solo act. He plays with Shane O’Mara and Graham Lee and me. But often with just me, and I've had to really work on playing quietly. Playing quietly is a skill. Isn’t it? I watched videos of me, like just before I was watching a video of me… I had a gig in London last April. And something's just appeared on YouTube and I mean, okay, there's a shitload of guitars on stage, but I know it's a small room though. You can't tell that from the video. And I'm banging away! So that's gonna be my thing over the next two years is to really learn to play a lot more softly. That's years of playing on big stages, you know. Just so bad for you, when you get old and you suddenly you’re playing on little stages. You gotta really think all the time: "am I too loud for the room?" NG: I wanted to ask you about some other, younger artists you’re playing with now, like Alex the Astronaut? LM: Yeah. Well, I'm not playing with her anymore. She's got the best drummer from Brisbane. A young woman, Kaleah Scanlon, she's incredible. And a bass player from Brisbane. So she had to do that. She had to get a young band. I was her first drummer. So I was brought in as her first drummer and she had session players with her. But the idea always was that she would move on to a young band. And she was living up that way and that's why she got a Brisbane band. But this drummer, I went to see her the other night play with Alex and she starts with a drum solo. And it was tremendous! So I played with Alex for two years, probably. We did Like a Version, we did Mr Blue Sky. That was fun. And that was an all women group of really interesting musicians. It was really fun. And we toured, did all the festivals. It was just great, you know. I just love playing with her. And I'm playing as well with a trans woman called Cassy Judy. And she does the kind of, like the start of a cabaret act, I think. It’s in development. And Rob Starski - David McComb from The Triffids and him. He writes this beautiful music, very melodic, he's got a really gorgeous voice, slow ballads, and sometimes it's just me and him. And sometimes it's Shana, Murray, and Graham and it's great when there's a band, but he does pick up bass players in the different places we play. The songs are really beautiful and as I mentioned, for me it's been learning how to do long, slow fills, you know, it's very hard to do a slow fill, particularly over a bar. And what I've been working on is mixing singles and doubles. which is kind of outrageous cuz you know, if you listen to Hal Blaine in Burt Bacharach songs, for instance, whenever they do their long fills, they're always like very minimal, whereas I’m not doing those kind of fills. But if you're doing it really slowly you can really lose time and you lose momentum. So, I'm constantly trying to think of fills, you know, how can I make this fill just wonderful because when you listen to Hal Blaine and Burt Bacharach and those kind of 60s, beautiful fills, they're just divine. You know? I try to copy them, but often they're around a triplet. You know? And there's always a slight swing. And that makes it different. And a lot of our music doesn't swing, then you can't really whack in a swing. So that's what I was discovering. NG: And you said at the moment you were doing solo practice a few times a week? LM: Oh yeah, so I go to Soundworks and I have a deal with them to go in any day during the week at 9:30 and just take a spare room. I just got a set fee on that. So I've been doing that three times a week now for about 18 months or so. And I go for at least 90 minutes I don't have a break. I used to be really exhausted and then couldn't do anything else for the rest of the day. But I’m so strong now. You know, I'm 71 now, and I'm very, very strong. My hands are really strong. Oh, I'll tell you what else I've been doing. I don't know if you're aware of the guy on YouTube called Tommy Igoe? So I've signed up to his Great Hands for a Lifetime. I bought that and I've been doing that. I’m up to the intermediate, But my flams are shit. My flams are just terrible and there's so many different flam variations. You know, the flam a diddle, the flam tap and the flamacue. My flams are just terrible and I think it's because I never did a flam ever. Somehow or other flams passed me by. But I've really been into the paradiddles and the paradiddle combinations. The drags and… you know, it really has made my hands so strong. And particularly the doubles, getting the doubles fast. And bringing them down into a press role. You know, like that's so hard to do all that. So I think Covid was good for drummers in a way ‘cause we were locked away in our homes. And if you used the time, well, to start doing courses, they paid off. You know Tommy Igoe he’s a character and he’s very macho and it's all about speed. But if you don't buy into the macho speed stuff and you just just use it as content...  Photo by Mark Hopper LM: I also bought the Groove Essentials, but I haven't even looked at it. I have to say I've got it, but I haven't even looked at it because it's enough to be doing his hands. You know, and then when you're playing with people, you've gotta learn their stuff and you've gotta practice to their recordings. I mean, with Rob Snarski, we never rehearse. He's in Melbourne, the whole band's in Melbourne. NG: So you learn your parts at home and then you just go and gig? LM: Yeah, yeah, yeah. NG: But you've known each other for a long time, musically? LM: Yeah, I've known him since he was a young boy in the 80s. He's a lot younger than me, but I've known him a long time. But yeah, I mean, it doesn't really matter, but, uh, It does. Haha! NG: Yeah. It's a different way of working. LM: Yeah. We're gonna record soon, so I'm gonna go down to Melbourne and we'll record. Shane O'Mara is also a producer. Shane is great. What a beautiful guitarist. To play with him is like floating. NG: Do you have people like that? I know I do. Just a handful of people I've met in my life where we just really click musically and it's really easy. LM: Well, he's one, there's not been a lot. Mm. He's one. And Mark Moffatt, who is in Nashville now, and he's my age, and he’s played around forever. Playing with him was like that. It’s when they're really beautiful rhythm players. Yeah. They can be really creative too, but they're always playing beautiful rhythms. He was just absolutely gorgeous to play with. And every now and then you meet a bass player who lifts you. But I don't think there's a lot of that. NG: I feel like there's just been a very small handful of those people for me. Maybe even just two. LM: Yeah. I've got, I think I've got two as well. NG: Yeah. It's interesting, LM: Isn't it? It's really interesting. NG: Yeah. Very special relationships. LM: Yeah. Yeah. . I had a really great relationship with the Go-Betweens, but that was cuz we played together for so many years. So you just begin to play organically together. The rhythms are all just locked in. You know, you understand their guitar parts so well and, you know, that really was great. Um, but that also had its problems because after I came out of the Go-Betweens, I really couldn't play any other style. And I really had to start working on trying to find other ways to play. Yeah. And that, you know, frankly, that's all I've been doing since then. Trying to find other ways to play. Because 10 years in one band, that's a shitload of time.  Name Kaleah Scanlon Where are you based? Meanjin (Brisbane) How long have you been playing drums? And what initially drew you to the instrument? I’ve been playing drums and percussion for 12 years. My parents bought me a drumkit when I was 8 to try and stop me banging along to music on the seats in the car (not sure if that worked). I remember just messing around on the drums until I started in the band program at primary school, where percussion was the only instrument on the list that I wanted to do – all the other instruments seemed boring! Shortly after I started drum kit lessons and I haven’t stopped since. Do you play any other instruments? I studied classical percussion at uni and I play bass and a bit of guitar but just for fun! What bands/projects/collaborations are you involved in right now? I’m currently working with Alex the Astronaut, Asha Jefferies and With Blue. I’m doing quite different things with all of them at the moment which is lots of fun! Alex is on a headline Australian tour, Asha is recording her first album and With Blue are gearing up for some single launches. What else have you previously been involved in (bands/shows/projects etc)? I’ve done a lot of session work for everything from bands to musicals to orchestras! As a part of uni I played in Les Miserables and Grease, I’ve also been involved with Camerata and Australian Youth Orchestra and I do session gigs with different bands around Brisbane. Do you write music or develop your own shows? What are they about/how have they come about? I’m mostly involved in writing drum parts for songs, and sometimes the arrangement. Unfortunately I’m not particularly gifted with writing lyrics but I’ve written a few instrumentals one of which Jarryd from With Blue has put lyrics to. What are your thoughts on collaboration in music and in the projects you’re involved in or the projects you run? I think collaboration is essential when it comes to music. Everyone has a slightly different set of skills and experiences to contribute. People will always know things you don’t or have ideas you’d never think of! It’s so much more exciting. Who are you listening to/whose music are you enjoying right now? At the moment I’ve had Remi Wolf, Sam fender and Julia Jacklin on repeat.  Photo by Gabi Rankine Do you have any favourite drummers? Or other musicians who inspire you? why? Madden Klass is one of my favourite drummers. She is absolutely rock solid and has amazing chops, a great sound and incredible feel on the drums. I would definitely recommend checking out her Instagram. Do you have a particular warm up or practice routine? Or favourite exercises? I’ve been working on improvisation for the past couple years and I love warming up with just some free flowing playing. Of course I have favourite chops or rudiments that I go back to frequently but I try and play something different every time I sit down at the drums. Does social media play a big part in how you promote yourself as an artist and your various projects? Do you promote your work in other ways? Social media definitely plays a big part. Instagram is probably my biggest tool, it’s so easy to show what I’m doing and it’s the most common way I get contacted for gigs. Do you make a living from music? What different types of work does this comprise? I am incredibly lucky to have all my income based around drums, although it doesn’t come purely from playing. I teach privately and at a school as well as working at a drum shop during the week. Then on the weekend I get paid to play gigs! Where’s the coolest place that music has taken you? I am loving being on tour in Australia at the moment! I got to go to Perth for the first time and I’m looking forward to being in Tasmania next month. What kit/cymbals/gear do you play? I recently got a Ludwig Classic Maple in Mod Orange which is just a dream to play. I’ve been playing live with a mixture of Zildjian K Sweets and Darks and for my studio I bought a set of Meinl Foundry Reserve cymbals which sound incredible. I also use Vic Firth X8D sticks and my go to pedal is the DW9000. If you could give your younger drumming self some advice what would it be? Don’t be afraid to make some noise! Website @kaleahscanlon on Instagram is my best point of contact  24 March 2019 - by Suzanne Turner Name Liz Turner Where are you based? Naarm, Melbourne. I grew up in the far south eastern suburb of Narre Warren and moved to the inner north in 1996 for the live music. How long have you been playing drums? And what initially drew you to the instrument? I started drum lessons when I was eleven years old. That was 33 years ago! I’ve been playing live in bands since I was fourteen, so about 29 years. My mum’s side of the family is really musical. My aunty is a music teacher and my mum can play loads of instruments and sing really well. Growing up in the outer suburbs, my sister and I were exposed to a lot of heavy metal music. My drum teacher was a jazz teacher. He taught with the Alexander Technique, which taught me that you can push through things that are really hard by keeping calm and breathing through them. I wanted to play the drums because it was so meditative and as a crazy teen, I found that keeping rhythm helped me feel mentally stable. There was no way my sister and I were going to play in the church band like our cousins. So we formed a band with some local punk boys doing Dead Kennedys and Fugazi covers. Then we started a feminist grunge band called The Bobbitts with guitarist Bonnier Mercer and singer Leah Rigby. Do you play any other instruments? I’m also a vocalist / front person. What bands/projects/collaborations are you involved in right now? I play drums in BODIES with Joel Morrison and Swiss Kalkan. We released an album in 2022 called Ghost Hoaxing and toured a bit. I also currently play drums with If So Why and I’m the lead vocalist in Eunice and the Footes, a climate apocalypse themed punk band with my sister Suzanne Turner and Moz and Fudge who were previously in a band called Shit Tatts. What else have you previously been involved in (bands/shows/projects etc)? Prior to playing in BODIES, Joel Morrison and I were the vocalists in The Assassination Collective. I also drummed in that band, sharing kit duties with Matt Gleeson (The Stabs). The members of If So Why were previously in Lost Talk, a band with three drummers. I’ve also drummed with two fabulous all-women bands - pop rock band Remake Remodel and country band Royalchord. I was previously the lead vocalist in Jihad Against America, featuring Monika Fikerle on drums. I’m also part of Sonic Agenda, a project lead by Janelle Johnston featuring the Rah Rah panels and performances by women and non-binary punk performers. Do you write music or develop your own shows? What are they about/how have they come about? I tend to write the music, lyrics and drum parts for the bands that I front. So at the moment I write the songs for Eunice and the Footes. I wrote a lot of the songs for The Assassination Collective in the beginning. Then that band became very collaborative. And I worked with the guitarist from Jihad Against America to write the songs for that band. With the bands I’ve drummed in, I’ve always written my own drum parts, aside from the few times I’ve replaced previous drummers (yes, exploding drummers, like in Spinal Tap, it’s a thing). But when I’m drumming, I rarely write lyrics or music for the songs.  5 Feb 2022 - by Suzanne Turner What are your thoughts on collaboration in music and in the projects you’re involved in or the projects you run? With drumming, I approach my collaborative role like lending a skeleton. It can be quite selfless to contribute to another songwriter’s material. I love watching musicians who can do both: lend structure and support other people’s songs; and then separately lead their own bands. I’m so lucky to be in a community where many people are part of multiple musical projects – some of them they lead, some of them they participate and contribute but don’t lead. I like doing both. And I like being part of multiple musical projects at the same time. It helps me be a better player and performer. This is just a theory. But I wonder if the Spinal Tap exploding drummers phenomenon is related to the fact that drummers are often expected to selflessly lend the skeleton, with no prospect of being in a leadership role. So I think that as a drummer, it’s even more important that I have leadership roles in other projects. It levels the playing field a bit. It makes it enjoyable to sit in the back whilst drumming, because next week, I’ll have to step up to the front. I feel there is no risk that I will explode, Spinal Tap style. Because I know and love my dual roles. Just a hunch. Who are you listening to/whose music are you enjoying right now? CLAMM, Springtime, everything with Jim White, The Misanthropes, The Dacios, Sarah Mary Chadwick, Affordable Repayments, Ad Interim, anything with Max Ducker, Thomy Sloan and Lucy Waldron, Bat Piss, Horace Bones, Midnight Oil (as always). Do you have any favourite drummers? Or other musicians who inspire you? why? I have loads of favourite drummers! Most of them are local! Monika Fikerle from the Misanthropes (previously Love of Diagrams and the Sea Scouts), Mike Jordan from Paul Williamson’s Hammond Combo, Carl Pannuzzo from Checkerboard Lounge. Shauna Boyle from Cable Ties is brilliant. Jem from DEAD. I think actually Jim White (Springtime, Dirty Three, Cat Power, etc) is my favourite drummer. I love these drummers so much because they are accessible and I can go and see them play. Stuart Copeland from The Police and Rob Hirst from Midnight Oil have both given me an appreciation for playing pop. How would you describe the kind of music or projects you’re mostly involved in? And what kind of unique perspective/sound do you bring to these gigs? I play punk. It can be hard to reconcile this with jazz training. A lot of my lyrics are quite confrontational. With punk, you can really take the filter off and say things that are a bit inappropriate to say at work or with family. Anger can be really powerful when it’s expressed in an interesting and appropriate context. Punk allows us to highlight the systemic violence that makes people really angry. I think this is really important. We need space to be articulate, furious and pointed about injustices. I also try and bring sharp humour to issues that can otherwise seem very serious. At the moment I’m trying to write dark, climate apocalypse songs about the class divide. “Fuck your north shore Sydney mansions. Fuck your islands Richard Branson.” “Barnaby Joyce, don’t get run over by a rolls royce,” that kind of thing. Lyrics like this might seem harsh. But actually I think a lot of people understand that billionaires are the ones who have gotten us into this environmental mess. Most people want a nice environment with clean air and a future for their children.  11 Jan 2019 - by Stephen Smith Do you have a particular warm up or practice routine? Or favourite exercises?
No. I try hard to not be drunk before I drum. It interferes with my brain’s ability to communicate with my hands. I used to warm up by air-drumming, using the ball of my hand as a point of rebound. But I know my songs so well now right now, it’s muscle memory. Does social media play a big part in how you promote yourself as an artist and your various projects? Do you promote your work in other ways? No, I’m personally terrible with social media. I don’t hate it, I’m just highly unskilled and not very good in that zone. Selfies make me feel a bit too narcissistic, but unfortunately that’s how social media algorithms work. So as I don’t post a lot of selfies, people don’t tend to see a lot of my posts! I’m talking in an echo chamber (Hi mum.) For me, word of mouth from the people and the community who see my bands creates a reputation. Do you make a living from music? What different types of work does this comprise? No. I pay the bills with my work as an environmental educator and I also have a scholarship for a PhD about youth participation in disruptive climate activism. So these things keep me busy and keep a roof over my kids’ heads. My musical projects take place in venues that don’t pay large guarantees, this version of punk is a bit niche to make a living. I’ve recently started giving drum lessons and am able to take on more students at the moment. Where’s the coolest place that music has taken you? Supporting Midnight Oil. What kit/cymbals/gear do you play? I mostly play a hybrid kit that includes a bright blue 24” vintage Rogers kick, coupled with silver sparkly rack and floor from a 1970’s Premier kit. I love my 18” Ziljian Symphonic French crash that is actually one half of a set of orchestral cymbals. I play at 20” Ufip ride, which is really quite dry. My snare is a loud, cranked up remo. I’m trying to get a sound that’s quite heavy and loud but also warm and jazzy. Yes, hard to reconcile. What piece of gear would you buy if money were no object? A vintage Ludwig kit with Bosphorus cymbals. If you could give your younger drumming self some advice what would it be? The men are not better than you. Don’t let them be more visible than you. Get yourself in the position where you can join the bands you want to play in, including the amazing bands. |
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