DRUMROLL
Kerry Jane (Tiny Ghost) & Suzanne Wise (Frau Pouch) - Two Drummers chat over messenger Kerry: What inspired you to take up playing the drums and how long have you been drumming? Suzanne: Joe was desperate for a drummer for his band, to the point where we would harass anyone carrying a cymbal bag on the underground. I got very drunk one night after Future of the Left gig and agreed to learn specifically for Joe's band. So he got me a drum kit for Christmas and I attempted to teach myself. That was about 4 years ago! K: I took up drumming for a weirdly similar reason. Mike had a Spinal Tap succession of drummers over the years and I secretly harboured a desire to play. Are you in any other bands or projects? S:I'm also in Black Light Brigade (an experimental drone krautrock kind of thing) and played a couple of times with Pete from Bear Vs Manero in a two piece doom band that we named Intergluteal. K:What's the songwriting process in your band/s? S: Joe comes up with some riffs and Ollie fills in with a bassline and then I just add some simple drums for Frau Pouch. With BLB we just improvise. Every gig is different, we don't have any actual songs that we practise because we never rehearse with each other. We just meet for gigs and play! K: Who are your drum heroes? S:Tatsuya Yoshida from Ruins/Zeni Geva. He's just utterly insane, so much technical ability, speed and grace. Pablo of Punching Swans is also awesome, he's a really busy player and very inventive. Mark Heron from Kong/Oceansize is amazing too, he creates these utterly beautiful complex rhythms. Henri Grimes of Shitwife is a total machine - like watching Squarepusher being played live, and Daz from Bear Vs Manero is also interesting to watch as he seems to make very little effort and create a huge noise despite looking so laid back in his playing. Finally, Tom Close of Screen Wives is one of the most charismatic drummers I've seen play, he's really entertaining and has so much energy. I'm in awe of all these guys!
K: Are there any tracks that you particularly love the drumming on? S: Frau Pouch tracks I enjoy playing the most are Sexy Architecture and Uniporn because they're really fun and joyful. Clown is another I love, because secretly I wanna form a doom waltz band and play everything in 3/4. As for Black Light Brigade, I love playing anything that fucks with John's (our guitarist) head because it's amusing to see him turn around and give me a 'wtf?' look and try to control his giggles. K:If you could drum with any other musicians alive or dead who would be your dream line up to play with? S: I actually can't think of a dream line up because I start thinking and then realise that the sum of all those parts would probably sound pretty shit. I've already had the opportunity to play with some brilliant musicians who happen to be my friends and I think that's quite cool. We did a collaboration with the guys from Bear Vs Manero and that was lots of fun, and Greg from Punching Swans has played for Frau Pouch a few times before when we had no permanent bassist. In BLB we have Jim from Hand of Stabs do his James Worse Public Address method and that was insane. I'd love to work with Kill Rpnzl: Elle has some killer basslines and Aaron has such a unique style of playing, he's pretty interesting and creative and has a great ear for a riff. So yeah, my friends are actually my dream line up :) K: You look very happy when you drum, what do you love about drumming? S: I like being able to hit things, it's a good stress buster. I have a mentally, emotionally and physically challenging job where I have to be pleasant to people all of the time, even when they are being abusive, so it's good to be able to take all that stress out on a drum kit. Next issue Suzanne will chat with another drummer and (In my dreams) the drumroll will just keep rolling until we get to Jimmy Chamberlain, Stella Mozgawa, Jerimiah Green or Janet Weiss….
