Drummergirl - for women who drum

Ruth Keating

Oneonta, NY

The Malarkies

Snackchunk, Elvis from the Waist Up

sandor21@akula.com

The Malarkies, "When Every Metal Shines," Muss My Hair Records

The Malarkies, "1," Muss My Hair Records

I was about 20 when I started playing. I always liked the drums. My brother had been playing drums for a while when I started, and that was an inspiration.

I play right-handed.

One summer, I was home from college and I had a lot of free time. My brother was away or something that summer and his kit was just collecting dust in my mom’s dance studio. I took a tape player down there and just started playing along to the music I liked. It was great — I would play for hours all by myself, sounding awful but having a lot of fun.

A 70’s Slingerland that I shared with my brother.

A 5-piece Tama Superstar. My snare is a 7" X 14" Legend. I have 2 crashes, a ride, a high hat, and some extra toys — a cowbell, a fire bell, and some shakers.

Rock/pop.

I always listen to a lot of the Beatles, the Who, XTC, Elvis Costello, Captain Beefheart, Bob Dylan. Also Miles Davis, Coltrane, Mingus, Duke Ellington.

Pro Mark 5A’s.

I don’t have a lot of cases. I have a good snare bag and a good cymbal bag, and the guys in the band just gave me a big duffel bag for all my hardware.

No. Guys that work in drum stores are people that I have something in common with. Usually, they think of you that way too.

I think I try to do both. I try to listen to what Matt and Dave [her co-Malarkies] are doing, guitar-wise, voice-wise, rhythm-wise, then pick up on and compliment those things. I definitely try to master the music — we sound best when we’re really well rehearsed.

I guess my favorite drummer is Keith Moon. He’s totally fearless, loud, technically close to perfection, and everything he does works great with the rest of the band. I always get inspired to play when I listen to him.

I think it depends on the band. In my band I see my role as first, trying to support the other guys, provide a backbone for them to work with. Then I also try to enhance the song, add to it with what I’m doing. Sometimes that can mean a huge, long fill, and other times it means just laying back and letting them go nuts. I recently have started to appreciate drummers that don’t show off their chops but have a great feel. I’m really starting to appreciate guys like Charlie Watts and Jim Keltner and the subtle things they do.

I’ve only been in one band with another woman in it — I don’t think it made much of a difference.

The only thing that’s ever come close to an ignorant comment was when we were setting up to play at this little family restaurant/bar in Brooklyn called the Charleston. This elderly lady got up from a table nearby where she was eating with her family and came over to me where I was setting up my drums, and she says, "Are you going to play those?" I just said, "No, they’re automatic drums!" And she kind of shrugged and walked away.

I’m grateful to anybody that helps me carry my stuff. When friends of mine play out, I help them move equipment, too.

When we play out I think maybe you pique other people’s interest at first because it’s unusual to see a woman behind the drums. But 95% of my time playing is spent rehearsing and recording, not at performances, and I don’t think my being a woman makes much of a difference there. When some guys find out I play drums they’re surprised because I’m not really big and muscular. But that’s a stereotype of drummers in general, not just women drummers. I think most drummers know you don’t need to be totally buff to play loud or play well. And men don’t have any rhythmic or coordination advantages over women.

My job, mostly. I don’t practice enough on my pad at home, but that’s sheer laziness.

It wasn’t long. I think as soon as I could play a simple beat along to a tape I was pretty psyched. And the first time I played with other musicians I was really hooked.

Not long enough! The first band I was in, Snackchunk, played our first gig after only being together a few months, which means I had probably been playing less than a year. We quickly developed a reputation around our college as a 2-six-pack band, meaning you had to drink a couple of six-packs before our shows to be able to tolerate us.

I read really basic drum notation.

I edit TV commercials. It is a pretty demanding job with long hours, so I sometimes have to put playing on the back burner when it gets busy.

Joel Rothman’s drum exercise books are good. I love this video about Elvin Jones called "A Different Drummer." It’s not an instructional video, but it’s really inspiring. I buy most of my stuff from Drummer’s World on 46th between 6th and Broadway [in New York City]. I like the selection of gear they have there, and I like the people who work there.

I get compliments from time to time at shows — none really stand out. But at the drummergirl show in December I was breaking down my stuff and the drummer in the next band, Catherine Oberg, was setting up and she came up to me and said, "Wow, you’re like a real drummer!"

I’m always trying to improve technically. I want to get to the point where I can relax and improvise more when we play live.

It’s hard to think of specific negative experiences. Aside from the occasional bad show or frustrating rehearsal, my experiences have been mostly positive.

I was a dancer before I started playing drums. I might still be doing that.