Name: Dawn Richardson
Hails from: Los Angeles, CA
Current Band/s: Kindness
Previous Bands: 4 Non Blondes, The Loud Family, Penelope Houston, Porcelain, Go Go Market, Holly Vincent, The Martinis, Gus, Angel Corpus Christi, Bad Radio, The Wild Stares, The Sheilas, Lovedog.

Websites: www.home.earthlink.net/~kindnessrox coming soon... www.dawnrichardson.com
Email address: dlrdrums@yahoo.com

Discography:
"Welcome to Planet Excellent" - Kindness
"Kindness" - Kindness
"Loners, Stoners and Prison Brides" - Penelope Houston (Normal records)
"Interbabe Concern" - The Loud Family (Alias Records)
"Bigger, Better, Faster, More" - 4 Non Blondes (Interscope Records)
"If I Were A Carpenter" - 4 Non Blondes ( A&M records)
Airheads Soundtrack Album - 4 Non Blondes (Fox Records)
Wayne's World 2 Soundtrack Album - 4 Non Blondes (Reprise records)
"Encomium - A Tribute to led Zeppelin" - 4 Non Blondes (Atlantic Records)

Favorite Beats/Licks: The intro to "Walk this Way" by Aerosmith. There are lots of cool Fat Boy Slim grooves/Chemical Brothers/NIN/Led Zep intros.
Left or Right Handed: Right
Favorite Sticks: Vic Firth 5B

Dawn Richardson is recognized as one of the US's top rock drummers, male or female. Not only does she hold a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Percussion from California State University in Los Angeles, she has also studied with Raynor Carroll, principal percussionist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Steve Houghton, Greg Goodall and Jin Vessiny.

Well-known for being the drummer of 4 Non Blondes, Dawn toured the world opening for bands like Aerosmith, Neil Young, Pearl Jam and Prince. Playing with 4 Non Blondes also gave Dawn the opportunity to appear on US national television shows like Dave Letterman, Conan O'Brien, MTV and the Billboard Music Awards.

Today, Dawn spends a lot of her time teaching drums, writing drum tuition books and writing and editing for drum magazines such as DRUM! Magazine and EDGE. Dawn's current band Kindness has been described by gogirlsmusic.com as, "…trippy dance music with a twist of hard rock." Dawn was gracious enough to take some time out from her many projects to answer some Drummergirl Q and A.

GENERAL

DG: What inspired you to play drums, and how old were you when you started?
DR: I started when I was 13 - I can't quite remember the exact inspiration, but I wanted to play the drums!

DG: How did you learn to play?
DR: I took private lessons from a local rock drummer.

DG: What was your first kit?
DR: A "Kingston" - red sparkle with faded spots from sitting too long in the window at the music store!

DG: What kind of kit do you play on now?
DR: D'Amico Drums - and now they're silver sparkle - big departure, huh?!?!

DG: Being so accomplished, so young, what are your new goals and interests? What are you trying to achieve lately?
DR: I appreciate the compliment - you're very kind. One thing that makes creating music and playing music so challenging is that you can never really "finish". I think there is always room for improvement or to try new things. As I have gotten older my interests have changed and I just try to keep moving forward. The past few years I have been more into programming drums and doing electronic music. I haven't been as focused on my playing skills as I was when I was younger. I have been more focused on creating and finding new ways of expressing myself rather than playing paradiddles faster, you know?!?

So I have been exploring that side more and have done a few independent film soundtracks and drum/percussion programming for different projects. I have also gotten more into writing for the kit - mostly books and transcriptions to use when I teach (which is my "day" job!). There are still so many things that I would like to try. One of my favorite groups to play in was the percussion ensemble and I'd really like to have a group of my own someday - but that's in the future right now! At this point, I'd like to get a few more drum books out there and keep experimenting with acoustic/electronic drum combinations both live and recording.

DG: Who are your current influences?
DR: Everyone & everything! My favorite CDs right now are things like Fat Boy Slim and the Chemical Brothers and Kruder & Dorfmeister.

DG: How do you carry all your equipment?
DR: Packed in their containers : ) Um - I usually use soft cases for the clubs here and only break out the more heavy duty stuff if I'm touring or flying.

DG: Do you think there's still a need for things like the Female Drummers Roundtable you did for Drum!, or are we past that now?
DR: I don't know if there's ever really been a "need" for it. It just turned out that that's the way most of the publications decided they could talk about female drummers. Unfortunately, these aren't decisions that we get to make. I think we have to continue getting ourselves out there in the public eye, and if it has to be in that forum, so be it. I wish that it wasn't like that, but female drummers are still the minority - although we are fast growing - we're still out numbered by men. I think that women face this sort of thing whenever they are doing anything that is (or was) a predominantly male field. For the most part - I think it's all good. Do I wish that it was more of a level playing field - yes. But we still have a lot of catching up to do in terms of numbers and just looking at the kit historically speaking.

DG: Name your favorite drummer and describe his/her best qualities.
DR: That's a hard one. I'm not sure I have a single favorite and I always feel like I'm sort of doing the "apples to oranges" comparison. There are so many great drummers that are great at what they do or are suited to a particular band or style. I enjoyed Stephan Perkins with Jane's Addiction, John Bonham's drumming in Led Zeppelin and Matt Chamberlain has played on a lot of great recordings, including the first Macy Gray album which I really like. Then there are the great pros like Jim Keltner. I also like the drumming of groups like Radiohead, Curve, and NIN, Propellerheads, Lamb, G Love and Special Sauce, Morcheeba, Prodigy. So long as the drumming suites the music, that's the most important thing.

DG: What was your best comeback to an ignorant comment about your drumming?
DR: I'm kinda slow with the comebacks - I always think of a great thing to say, about an hour later!

DG: What do you believe the drummer's role is in a band?
DR: A band is the sum of all of its parts. To me the drummer's role is to contribute musically to the band's style and sound by adding that personal element to the mix. Playing in a band is different than being "hired" to play drums for a solo artist or project. I think it requires more thought and input to be a part of a band.

DG: When a guy asks you if you need help carrying your drums, what do you say?
DR: Sure - I have a lot of gear to carry, and most of the time I'll take the help from whoever offers it. I actually have a female roadie though - she's great at taking the kit apart & putting it away! I usually do most of the set-up. But I'm kind of tired of carrying things around, frankly - it's probably my least favorite element of drumming at this point!

DG: Do you have any drum tuning tips?
DR: Drums are funny. I think they each have a range that they'll sing in, so just be conscious of your kit and try and make it sound as best it can. Tuning can be pretty subjective!

EDUCATION & TEACHING

DG: You studied percussion formally in college, but then seemed to pursue a career in Pop Rock - what were some of the reasons that made you choose to get a music degree?
DR: The main reason that I chose to study music was that I couldn't fathom spending endless hours studying any other subject. Also, my mother was relentless in wanting me to get a degree in SOMETHING- you know how that can be! It wasn't easy though.

DG: In what ways, if any, did the degree help you overcome the issues you may have had to deal with as a woman in a male-dominated field? Did it give you an edge?
DR: I'm not really sure how beneficial it was in the "rock" world. Honestly, it wasn't really something I bragged about or brought up unnecessarily. You don't need a degree in music to play rock, and most of my training in college was classical and didn't involve the kit. I tend to think that all musical experiences are good for you and maybe because of the other types of training I had, I approached some things a bit differently. It made me pretty good at those tambourine overdubs, I guess! There are all sorts of players and everyone has gotten there a different way. To me it's often like comparing apples to oranges - they're not comparable - just different.

DG: How did your formal education influence your work as a teacher?
DR: In teaching, the education has come in handy. It has helped me to understand more than I would have without it. I can help my students with music theory and I have had more varied playing experiences to draw from than just being a rock drummer. That helps me when they have a concert band piece or marching band music to learn.

DG: When did you start teaching?
DR: I have been teaching since high school, actually. My mom was kidding me the other day about how I'd have the littler kids in the neighborhood over for lessons - and then I'd sometimes let them practice in my room - my poor Mom! I have been doing it off and on for a living the past 10 years or so - depending on how much playing I'm doing.

DG: What were the primary motivations for becoming a teacher?
DR: I enjoy it. What better thing for a 'day job" than talking about something you love to do and helping other people learn. It's really rewarding when students make progress and are able to do the things that they thought they'd never be capable of. I also teach a lot of kids and it's great energy to have around you all day. I also run across a lot of women who wanted to learn drums when they were kid - but their parents wouldn't let them take lessons. So it's great to help them do something that they've always wanted to try doing.

DG: Do you feel your drumming has improved from the teaching you do, or do you find it distracts you from your own musical work?
DR: I think the teaching helps because students often come up with ways of playing things that I wouldn't necessarily come up with. They are approaching it with a much more fresh perspective than I might be, and I benefit from being around that. It makes me stay more open minded about what can be played. It's refreshing to constantly be exposed to new perspectives and ideas.

DG: What drumming resources (stores, books, teachers, magazines, etc.) do you recommend?
DR: Well, of course I would recommend my book to learn basic rock stuff (I have a biased opinion, of course!) It's Building Blocks of Rock (published by Mel Bay). Some of my favorite books I use when I'm teaching include: Stick Control by George Lawrence Stone; Syncopation by Ted Reed; Bass Drum Control by Colin Bailey; A Funky Thesaurus for the Rock Drummer by Charles Dowd; The Phunky Hip Hop Drummer by Bob Ernest. I think it's great to find a local teacher to help you with new concepts and technique - these are very difficult to learn from a video tape or on your own.

All the mags are great - Drum!, Modern Drummer especially come to mind. Serious minded drummers and percussionists should really check out and join the Percussive Arts Society (www.pas.org) - they have a publication with a lot of great information and a yearly convention where you can see the great drummers and percussionists of our time. I highly recommend it.

DG: What was the inspiration for writing "Building Blocks"?
DR: My inspiration for the book was getting back into teaching on a more regular basis. I found I was using different texts and supplementing with things I had written out and I decided it was time to put together a book that would suit my needs as a teacher. I had also recently finished a couple of years of private composition lessons and felt like this was a great way to put everything together, knowledge-wise. Of course I eventually started to think a little further and tried to also make the book something that other teachers and students would find useful.

TOURING/4 NON BLONDES/THE BIG TIME

DG: How did you get involved with 4 NON Blondes?
DR: I had met Linda Perry previously and we had mutual friends in LA. When they fired their previous drummer, a mutual friend suggested that they give me a call. They did - I auditioned and got in the band.

DG: Was the point of being in this particular band to make it big?
DR: I think the point of it before I joined was just being in a band and playing and moving forward. When I joined, they had already signed a record deal - so I missed the 3 year build up to that point - but I heard about it! I think when you make a CD, you want people to hear it. So after the recording was done, we wanted to get it out there, yeah. I'm not sure we knew exactly what we wanted - but selling lots of CDs and touring and all that was great. It was a huge opportunity for us. I'd been in so many bands that wanted to get signed and have the chance that we had with 4 Non Blondes. Finally we were there. There's not really much middle ground in the music business these days. It is mostly and "all or nothing" proposition. Most bands are dropped if their first record doesn't sell - so in that way, yes we wanted to make it big.

DG: Was this a very collaborative effort, or were there just one or two specific leaders?
DR: I'd say that Linda was the leader, so to speak.

DG: What were some of the pressures of touring on such a big scale with such huge acts?
DR: Lots of scheduling and moving around! You have to stay on time, ya know?!? I guess just wanting to live up to the challenge - being able to play on the same stage before great acts and people that you've admired and feel like you're worthy of being there.

DG: Had you ever had any experience like that before?
DR: Not really. Playing in Marching Band in High School was good because you also had a lot of pressure and a lot of other people depending on you. But playing in a group of 250 versus a group of 4 is much different.

DG: How did it feel to receive Gold and Platinum status?
DR: Great! It was one of those things that I dreamed would happen when I was a kid, so it meant a lot to me.

DG: What led to the band's demise?
DR: Ah…..that's a good question. I suppose many things did, but it would probably depend on who you talked to, you know?!? Things that are seemingly simple can get really complicated at times. I'll just say that I wanted to continue on with 4 Non Blondes as long as possible and I was sorry that the band ended when it did.

DG: A lot of times you hear that when bands make it to the big time, they get ripped off by the big labels - were you properly compensated for your work, or was the band naïve when it came to contracts?
DR: All things considered - it was fine. The whole system is kind of funky, but considering some of the other stories I've heard, I can't complain.

DG: Does a drummer take home a great paycheck at that level?
DR: Yes.

DG: Do different band members get paid differently?
DR: It depends on how the band is set up - your agreement with each other. Usually the reason there are different payments is because even if you are splitting royalties equally from the recording, there is also the publishing side that generates income. So if certain members are doing all of the writing, then those members would most likely get more publishing money.

DG: When did you start to get endorsements?
DR: When I was in 4 Non Blondes and had a gung ho Road Manager!

DG: How does an aspiring drummer get endorsed - do sponsors come to you, or does one approach them?
DR: You just contact them and get an application. If you are on a major label or touring with a big artist, I'm sure it's much easier.

ELECTRONICA

DG: What got you interested in using electronic percussion?
DR: I started getting more into electronic stuff after 4 Non Blondes - when I did a project of my own called Trinket. That was probably around 8 years ago. But that was purely recording stuff. I didn't incorporate it into my live playing until I was in a band called Go Go Market - that was probably around 5 years ago. We had a great DJ (Mark "ill media" Reitman) and we both were using the same sampler. It really helped me to have another actual person to bounce things back and forth with. In that group, we used the sampler live to play loops and trigger sounds - I learned a lot from that experience and brought that knowledge to my group Kindness. I wanted to have it play an even bigger part in the sound - so that's what we did with Kindness. In both groups I used a trigger pad (Roland's SPD-20) to trigger sounds from the sampler, while it was often playing drum loops as well. I would place it where my high tom would be, so that I could use either hand to trigger from the 8 pads. It seems to work out pretty well for me. I'm sure there are a million different ways to do things - I just tried to come up with a way that would work for me in those playing situations. We were playing in clubs and I had to consider the set up time and things like that. It couldn't be overly complicated or problematic.

DG: In your bio, it says that you are in full command of electronica percussion and it's monsters - what are these monsters, and how did you gain full command of them?
DR: Who wrote that damn Kindness bio! I'm not sure exactly what that means. I think we were trying to get the point across that the electronic stuff was not some kind of studio thing - it was something that was a major part of our sound both live and recorded. You often see people with complex technology on big stages - but it's another thing to walk into a club and see bands using this stuff. Kindness was a rock band - guitar, bass, drums, and vocals - but live I was triggering trumpets and strings and voices and stuff. We didn't want to be just the same old rock band - we were trying to incorporate some new elements.

DG: Have you always been savvy with technology?
DR: No - I really don't consider myself any sort of expert on the topic, either. It's completely trial and error on my part. I have little patience for manuals and reference them only when I have to. I turn things on and try stuff - and then try and remember what I did. I ask people questions. I had a good friend once who had an excellent philosophy on gear which was basically to try and get it to do what you want or need it to do. You don't have to technically understand WHY it works - just do it! That's how I use technology. I learn it by doing it. With my manual right next to me - to help me figure out each mistake!

DG: What do you feel you're able to do with electronic instruments that you can't do with the traditional ones available to you? Do you feel you're as much of a musician when you use electronic instruments as when you use traditional instruments?
DR: Using electronic instruments just makes my palate bigger. I have so much to choose from - too much, most of the time! With electronic elements I can play melodic bits and all sorts of things that my kit is not capable of. Many people somehow have a notion that all you have to do is push a button and these magical things happen. When I use these other elements - I am required to have much more forethought on where and how I will trigger them live. I also have to create them so that they fit properly into the music. If I am going to use melodic elements, I have to understand the chord progression so that it fits correctly. Yeah, I'd say I feel like as much of a musician! Too much of one, sometimes!

KINDNESS

DG: Please tell us about Kindness - how it came about, how it's doing, what your role is, where you hope to see it go.
DR: Kindness is the band that I've been doing for these past three years or so. It is basically a rock trio with the electronic stuff thrown in there, too. At this point - we're on hiatus - I can't say if we'll be continuing on with the band. It started to feel like it was time to devote more energy to other things and to try some new things. Katharine Chase is the bassist/vocalist, Shelley Doty guitars - they're both great musicians. Kindness was a great example of a group effort - we wrote practically everything together in rehearsals.

SCI-FI

DG: Ok, so how on earth do you get to do your own TV show? Please talk ad nauseum about this sci-fi gig!
DR: Okay, I'm not quite doing my own TV show - that would be great! Here's the story on that……Shelley Doty (the guitarist in Kindness) has another project called Strange Frame (www.strangeframe.com) and she asked me to help with the music. Some of it has been a collaborative effort and other musical work either Shelley or myself did on our own. She's really into sci-fi and Japanese animation and G.B. Hajim (artist/animator) and Shelley have been trying to get this project off the ground. It's kind of like band stuff - you have to do demos to see if anyone is interested in financing it and all that sort of thing. We are hoping to get someone interested enough to do a full length film or series. I think they have both done a pretty great job - they came up with the concept and Shelley has been writing most of the screenplay while G.B. does the animation. It's a great project to be involved with and I'm hoping someone will pick it up. It's difficult to do lengthy animation without a budget, all on your own.

FINALE

DG: What would you be doing if you weren't a drummer?
DR: I really don't know. Playing the drums has been a huge part of my life and it has always given me something to strive for.

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About the Interviewer:
Currently just back from touring, Jen Kirk and her punk 'n' roll band T Minus One are starting to record a new CD. Jen has been playing drums for about 7 years and she is in the middle of establishing a website called NorCalPunks.com which will be launched in the near future. The goal with NorCalPunks is to bring all the killer bands from the Northern California area together and to provide support for bands touring in the area. A similar initiative exists in Arizona with http://azpunks.com and in Vegas with www.sincitypunks.com. When bands go on tour they have a support system in other cities, which helps make the punk world a little smaller.

Jen also plays in a side project called Super Deville which is a funky hip hop thing and she is presently working on a project with with Joanne (another drummer chick) from the Angry Amputees that will be a support center for people that rawk but have kids. Check out www.rawkmom.com.

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To pick up a copy of Dawn's "Building Blocks of Rock" ($19.95) , go to the Melbay Website. If you can already read drum music, then you can probably just jump right in to the rock grooves. There's not a lot of commentary or explanation about drum music notation so if you don't read music, it's a good idea to work through the book with your drum teacher.

To purchase copies of the Kindness ($10) or Welcome to Planet Excellent ($14.00) CDs, visit the Kindness Website.

© April, 2003 Happy Mazza Media, LLC.
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