Name: Jenie Ashbaugh
Age: 34
Originally From: Colombia, South America
Currently Resides: Florida
Current Band/s: Freelancing at this time with various local bands
Previous Bands: Snap, Backstreet Boys, Enrique Iglesias
Discography: Live recording with a Sarasota folk guitarist Mindy Simmons, Takin' Care of Business Video with Billy Ashbaugh (Warner Bros. Publications).
Favorite Beats/Licks: My favorite beats are ones that have a busy kick drum pattern with a phat groove or real funky synchopated type of grooves. Latin grooves are also a favorite, too. For licks, I like Bonham-ish bass drum licks, triplety fills with double-bass.
Left or Right Handed: Right-Handed.
Favorite Sticks: Vic Firth 5B's wood tip American Classics.

At 34, Jenie has been playing drums for more than half her life. She has collaborated with high-profile musicians such as Snap, Backstreet Boys and Enrique Iglesias but she is perhaps more well-known as the wife of Billy Ashbaugh, N*SYNC drummer.

Today, Jenie's drumming career takes a back seat as she juggles motherhood while Billy is absent on tour for much of the time. Although her priorities have changed over the years, drumming still remains a passion and something Jenie will continue to pursue in the future. With two drumming parents, it remains to be seen whether their daughter (and any future children) will take up drumming.

An experienced, professional drummer, Jenie offers some thoughtful insights into the benefits of talking music lessons, her ability to cram a full drumset into a four-door Honda Civic and some pitfalls to watch out for in the world of professional drumming.....

DG: What inspired you to play drums, and how old were you when you started?
JA: Rock'n Roll inspired me to start playing drums. I started at age 16.

DG: How did you learn to play?
JA: A little through Junior High school, but mostly through private lessons.

DG: Would you recommend lessons to others?
JA: Yes I have and I absolutely recommend lessons to everyone who wants to learn any instrument (not just drums).

DG: What was your first kit?
JA: A beat-up red Ludwig 5 piece kit that my brother gave me for my 16th birthday.

DG: What kind of kit do you play on now?
JA: A Pearl Master Series Maple wood kit, (anywhere between 4 to 6 piece) but I usually practice on my husband's (N*SYNC drummer Billy Ashbaugh) DW's mounted on the Drum-Frame at home.

DG: What style of drums/percussion do you play?
JA: For drums, I mainly play Rock, Funk, and R&B, but wouldn't be opposed to playing any style, unless it requires fast be-bop or incredible chops. For percussion, I mainly play what I call pop percussion or straight ahead rhythms on percussion as opposed to playing Latin music, because in Latin music the rules for percussion are a lot more strict than for pop music. I am in the process of learning the Latin percussion rules though.

DG: Would you recommend lessons to others?
JA: Yes I have and I absolutely recommend lessons to everyone who wants to learn any instrument (not just drums).

DG: Who are your current influences?
JA: Carter Beauford, John Otto, Rob Bourdon of Linkin Park, and I always love listening to Dave Weckl at any given time.

DG: How do you carry all your equipment?
JA: Believe it or not in our 4 door Honda Civic (it all fits in there).

DG: Do you get intimidated when you go in a drum store?
JA: Yes I do. The people behind the counter always [try] to make me feel like I don't know what I'm talking about.

DG: Do you play by ear and intuition, or do you focus on mastering the music?
JA: I play more by ear and intuition, I am definitely a feel player as opposed to a technical player. Although I am working on getting some of the technical part too.

DG: How did you improve your speed?
JA: Practice, practice, practice!!!! With a metronome or with pre-recorded music, that's how you will know if you are wavering the tempo or not.

DG: Name your favorite drummer and describe his/her best qualities.
JA: Dave Weckl - He IS the drum God!
Carter Beauford - his style is incredible and his groove in undeniable
John Otto - Can you say Phat-Ass Groove?!!!! He's got some phat grooves!!
Billy Ashbaugh - I love his style & groove, but also because he's a major inspiration to me (he's always striving to get better) he's always there to help me with grooves or parts that are tricky.
Sheila E. - I love her free style of drumming and she's also one of the first female drummer's I saw when I first started out. She was a great influence on me.

DG: What do you believe the drummer's role is in a band?
JA: Keeping steady time and to make each song "FEEL" good.

DG: What, if any, is the difference between playing with male as opposed to female musicians?
JA: I have played with both. And I honestly think there IS a difference. In my experience, I enjoyed being in a band with males more than with females. I had no confrontations with any of my band members but I could always sense some animosity between some of the female musicians whereas the males were always fun and more like big brother figures to me. But that's just my experience. That doesn't mean I wouldn't join a band with females. I have played with some males that were not so much fun either. I guess it just depends on the personalities.

DG: What was your best comeback to an ignorant comment about your drumming (like, "Wow, I didn't know girls could drum"…)?
JA: One of my favorites is, after a drummer (male, that is) would sit in with our band, I'd get on the mic and say "Wow, not bad for a GUY" or "If you knew ANYTHING about the drum scene you WOULD know that girls can play drums, and many are famous too".

DG: When a man asks you if you need help carrying your drums, what do you say?
JA: Sometimes I say "No Thanks" but usually I let them help me. Not because I'm a female in need of a man's help, but because that would get my loading and un-loading part of the gig over-with sooner. And why not use them [men] to your advantage.

DG: Do you think being a woman in a male-dominated profession has been a help, a hindrance, or neither? Why?
JA: I would say both. A "help" because through my experiences, I've gotten a lot of gigs that way (because I was a female, I got the gig). Maybe it was for the novelty of having a female drummer in the band or they needed an All-Girl band theme or for the shock or uniqueness of seeing a girl drummer. That's the part that helps. But a "hindrance" because they (male musicians) don't take you seriously, or they audition you and hover over your shoulder to see if you CAN really play. Or they think you won't hit hard enough or you won't be able to tough-it out, or that you wont know how to set-up, much less load and un-load your stuff. That's the not-so-fun part of being female in a male dominated profession. You will be put under a microscope and scrutinized more so than a male counterpart. But with time and experience, those intimidations will go away and soon you will gain the respect as a "musician" and not just a "female musician".

DG: How long were you playing before you knew this was the thing for you?
JA: I fell in love with it right away.

DG: How long were you playing before you played a gig?
JA: A couple of years. Very inexperienced!

DG: Was there ever anything that kept you from playing?
JA: Yes. Since I became a Mom and my husband is out on tour the majority of the time, I've had to push the drumming to the back burner. So I'm not playing out as much as I would like to because our daughter is my first priority right now.

DG: What do you do when Billy is on tour? Do you ever travel with him?
JA: While he is out on tour, I mainly do the Mommy thing, but yes, both our daughter and I go and visit him on tour. She loves it! And all the N*SYNC members and staff really like her too, so it's always a lot of fun.

DG: With two drumming parents, do you hope that your children will be drummers? What advice will you give them?
JA: Our daughter is showing interest and I do hope that she ends up playing drums, even if it's just for the fun of it. (She has been playing since she was in the womb you know). With regards to advice, I would tell her that if she's truly into it, then she needs to practise hard and make sure she has fun doing it. And of course not to let anyone tell her that girls shouldn't play drums.

DG: Do you read music?
JA: Very little. Not as good as I would like to.

DG: Do you have any drum tuning tips?
JA: I have a disadvantage here. My husband has SPOILED me, I do not have to tune my drums much because he pretty much keeps all our drums tuned and so I have to fine tune very little when I have to gig. HOWEVER, I strongly recommend that you learn how to tune. Especially you females!!! We wouldn't want our male counter-parts to think were not capable, now would we? But yes I do have a tuning tip: For the toms, try to tune the bottom head a third higher than the top . I personally like the snare as tight as it can go without choking the drum and the bottom head pretty tight too, so you get a nice crack to it.

DG: What was the greatest compliment you've been given about your drumming?
JA: That I have great feel, time and groove. Or that I have a great "POCKET", that's always a great compliment to me.

DG: What are your aspirations as a drummer?
JA: To keep improving as a musician and to keep having fun along the way.

DG: Share one positive and one negative drumming experience you've had.
JA: THE POSITIVE: When I was on tour in Africa, I was asked to do an interview for the media there. I was treated better than the artist I was there with and everyone was so amazed about the "Female Drummer" in the band. (That's one of the advantages of being a female). I felt like a star and signed lots and lots of autographs.
THE NEGATIVE: When I was first starting out, no one took me seriously. Some people, no, some guys, even laughed at the idea that I was gonna be their drummer. I got ripped-off of my pay a lot of the times too because I was so eager to play that I would forget to ask details like pay and such, and sometimes I would get 50 bucks or they'd tell me some story that they didn't get paid, etc. stuff like that. I'm sure that if I had had more experience and confidence, this wouldn't have happened. But I'm much wiser now. I want to point out that this could also happen to a young "male" drummer, 'cuz when you're inexperienced, you're open for that kind of situation. So always value yourself and only do a free gig if it's what you want and not because you're being taken advantage of.

DG: What would you be doing if you weren't a drummer?
JA: I would probably be a singer.

Drummergirl would like to thank Jenie for her time in completing this interview. Thanks also to Perry Bashkoff of Warner Bros. Publications for making it possible.

© January, 2002 Happy Mazza Media, LLC.
Contact Drummergirl