Here are 3 more! I asked everyone why they started playing, why they are still playing, and their dream set up for their particular instrument. Also what bands they were in/are in.
Katy Otto
Hiya!! Welp, I started playing drums at age 17 after I saw Patty Schemel play drums with Hole at Lollapolooza 95!!!!
right now i am in trophy wife and callowhill
in the past, bald rapunzel, del cielo, problems, helsinki, the lonely american
vistalites forever are my dream
but i like my cherry ludwigs too
Rahne Alexander
I'd love to participate in your call for musicians! I'm a trans woman who started teaching myself to play guitar at the start of my public transition (20+ years ago) and to figure out a way to put music to the songs I was already writing and perform them in public. I picked up the guitar -- a classical acoustic that belonged to my mother -- because I had no money and it was free to me. I picked it for its convenience. As time has gone on, and I've been forming/leading bands, I've begun to feel that my performances are the way I exercise and promote my feminism/queerness/trans-ness. I like to break down boundaries and use my art & music to develop understanding and empathy across otherwise entrenched identities, but since I'm usually working in a garage/pop/rock milieu I don't think it's always as obvious what my agenda is.
I like my empathy building to be kind of sneaky. Like, my dream is for some straight dude to come to my show and go away singing a phrase and then later on realize oh I'm singing this big queer song; in the same way that I've been singing Baby it's Cold Outside for years only to go, uh, that's a little creepy/rapey. My first album with my band the Degenerettes was all about writing really simple pop songs, innocuous Buddy Holly kind of songs except queer. Because no one was doing that. I was like, I don't need to be Fast & Frightening, because L7 already did that way more convincingly than I could.
AMY SEVILLE
Hi - Was referred to you by Jared Midgen, who knew me when I was fronting a couple of different indie bands in the 90s in NJ. I was always obsessed with music and hanging out with my boyfriend's band in high school. When he quit, he suggested I audition for his place as the singer. So I did. It was 1988 at the time. I tried playing bass and then guitar and felt better with a guitar in my hands and so I just kept playing and performing. This is so funny - I can't really come up with a coherent "why" answer. The reason why is because it feels good. Writing and performing music makes me feel powerful and it lets me say things I can't say in any other way. It makes me who I am. I know those answers are both vague and a little profound but that's really the truth. Best of luck with your story/piece.
I was/am the front person for Prosolar Mechanics. I was also the front person for ExVegas (both New Brunswick, NJ bands), and I did a short stint in The Urchins (also from New Brunswick) as a guitarist and backing vocalist. My dream set-up is the one I have. A Fender Twin with a custom extension cabinet, two Japanese Jazzmasters, my Guild Starfire and I'd like to have a nice Gretsch Double Anniversary with a bigsby on it. Sometimes I think I'd like to play through an Orange head and cabinet.
Friday, October 7, 2016
Friday, August 5, 2016
So...what is it like?
Remember when I asked if anyone female or female identifying wanted to tell me why they started to play music and stuff? Well I did that like a long time ago. It was in response to only ever being asked about how much it sucks to be constantly subjected to sexism as a woman in a band. Which...it does. But talking about the music we make would be nice sometimes too. So here are 2 responses. I'm going to try and do a few a day. Read and enjoy.
CATHERINE TUNG. Hilly Eye and Antibodies
hi miranda! i'm responding to your post about female musicians--i thought i'd send in my experiences and hope they will be helpful to you.
i grew up on violin and voice lessons and classical music, and got interested in punk/rock when i was in high school. i played in a nascent band with a friend during those years, but it was largely confined to jamming in basements and garages--it was more about reveling in hanging out with like-minded people than building a serious music project. teenage projects are often that way, and i think they often should be that way! still, there was a bit of a disconnect in my mind: i was constantly going to shows, but never truly thought that i could be on the stage, rather than in front of it.
when i moved to new york after college, two things happened: first, i went to a halloween cover band show at the forts and saw a friend playing drums in a misfits cover band. he's primarily a bassist/guitarist, and had learned basic drums in two months for the cover show. i remember thinking something along the lines of, "if he can do it, i can do it." so i started learning drums.
the second thing that happened was that amy klein got in touch with me about lending my budding drumming skills to her new project, which turned into hilly eye. sleater-kinney and janet weiss were big influences for us.
i like drumming because it allows me to orchestrate things behind the scenes smile emoticon playing guitar at the front of the stage would be a bit too scary for me, i think.
hope this helps (and that it's not too long!). thanks for posting, and good luck with your piece!
Faith Layla Bocian
Hi Miranda, Sue's friend here. I started playing flute in orchestra when I was 7 and have picked up bass and guitar in the past and finally landed at drums when I was 15. This month exactly marks 10 years since I started playing drums. I picked it up when my neighbor gave me his old westbury Japanese knockoff kit and I played literally 6 hours a day. I was very antisocial, depressed and angry at that time. I had problems with throwing things around the house and verbal arguments with my twin brother who bullied me in my young life. I noticed later on that the drums were therapy because I haven't thrown anything since. To this day, I still use drumming as therapy and I feel the need to play when I start to feel the aggression again. It's also my passion and because I love it so much, I started studying other styles like Latin, jazz and funk, but I started out as a punk drummer, then hardcore, then pop/indie rock and now I'm in a metal band. I also studied under numerous drummers and taught myself how to read notation. And now I'm a drum teacher at school of rock baltimore, where I get to inspire the next generation of lady and guy drummers!! I will say, it definitely does not feel like work! I found something that I truly love. Hope this helps!(Yeah right now I play with my friend James Healy in a project called Boys Don't Cry. We just recorded our first EP and we're writing our first full length now. My dream drum set up would be 22, 12, 16 custom DW kit, 14 supraphonic snare(which I own already, love it) and all meinl cymbals. Haven't picked out the sizes on those yet.)
CATHERINE TUNG. Hilly Eye and Antibodies
hi miranda! i'm responding to your post about female musicians--i thought i'd send in my experiences and hope they will be helpful to you.
i grew up on violin and voice lessons and classical music, and got interested in punk/rock when i was in high school. i played in a nascent band with a friend during those years, but it was largely confined to jamming in basements and garages--it was more about reveling in hanging out with like-minded people than building a serious music project. teenage projects are often that way, and i think they often should be that way! still, there was a bit of a disconnect in my mind: i was constantly going to shows, but never truly thought that i could be on the stage, rather than in front of it.
when i moved to new york after college, two things happened: first, i went to a halloween cover band show at the forts and saw a friend playing drums in a misfits cover band. he's primarily a bassist/guitarist, and had learned basic drums in two months for the cover show. i remember thinking something along the lines of, "if he can do it, i can do it." so i started learning drums.
the second thing that happened was that amy klein got in touch with me about lending my budding drumming skills to her new project, which turned into hilly eye. sleater-kinney and janet weiss were big influences for us.
i like drumming because it allows me to orchestrate things behind the scenes smile emoticon playing guitar at the front of the stage would be a bit too scary for me, i think.
hope this helps (and that it's not too long!). thanks for posting, and good luck with your piece!
Faith Layla Bocian
Hi Miranda, Sue's friend here. I started playing flute in orchestra when I was 7 and have picked up bass and guitar in the past and finally landed at drums when I was 15. This month exactly marks 10 years since I started playing drums. I picked it up when my neighbor gave me his old westbury Japanese knockoff kit and I played literally 6 hours a day. I was very antisocial, depressed and angry at that time. I had problems with throwing things around the house and verbal arguments with my twin brother who bullied me in my young life. I noticed later on that the drums were therapy because I haven't thrown anything since. To this day, I still use drumming as therapy and I feel the need to play when I start to feel the aggression again. It's also my passion and because I love it so much, I started studying other styles like Latin, jazz and funk, but I started out as a punk drummer, then hardcore, then pop/indie rock and now I'm in a metal band. I also studied under numerous drummers and taught myself how to read notation. And now I'm a drum teacher at school of rock baltimore, where I get to inspire the next generation of lady and guy drummers!! I will say, it definitely does not feel like work! I found something that I truly love. Hope this helps!(Yeah right now I play with my friend James Healy in a project called Boys Don't Cry. We just recorded our first EP and we're writing our first full length now. My dream drum set up would be 22, 12, 16 custom DW kit, 14 supraphonic snare(which I own already, love it) and all meinl cymbals. Haven't picked out the sizes on those yet.)
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