TheBestDrummerInTheWorld.com talks with Anthony LaMarca of St. Vincent about getting different textures from the kit, embracing electronic drums, and putting the song first. Transcript follows:
TBDITW: Paul here with TheBestDrummerInTheWorld.com. I'm talking today with Anthony LaMarca of St. Vincent. Thanks for joining us today.
First of all, I've been watching some clips online, and I really like the way you've been able to take the different textures from her recordings and reproduce them live. Can you go into your setup, and explain how you get different drum sounds.
AL: Yeah. I guess my approach has changed 'cause our arrangements change for every tour. When I first started I was taking an approach -- I also play with Dean and Britta and with them it's a lot of using different mallets, just using the drums to get different sounds or textures, changing the sound of the drums with how I'm hitting them or muting them.
For Annie (Clark, St. Vincent) we also use an SPD-S. That is used for some stuff that's just way impractical to recreate live, like a giant church bell sound, or stuff that you just can't do live. So I'm triggering some stuff with that. Then after the tour we did with Andrew Bird, I was really impressed with his drummer Martin Dosh. He is so masterful with how he's moving and (inaudible) "Oh yeah, I should do that here" and pull out some more sonic possibilities. So on the February tour that we did, I had one extra mic each on my snare, kick, and floor that I was running through Fuzz, Delay, Gate, and Reverb. I was using those to get, like on the bass drum batter side, if I hit it lightly it distorted and sounded like a big concert bass drum. And with tea towels on the snare drum and floor tom, it sounds like 808s.
TBDITW: So you'll be pulling that stuff off, throwing it on here and there?
AL: Actually I just got a set of Simmons drums, the SDS8. A 5-channel analog drumset, basically. I'm using two of the pads, and since the pads are basically just big hexagonal contact mics. I have a pad, just on the ground, that I step on. One next to the snare drum as well. I'm tweaking those, to make them sound like 808s. Also, just to make them sound like Simmons pads, and I'll be effecting those. Today will be the first time I have pulled those out.
TBDITW: Did you have any resistance coming into the "electronic" world of things?
AL: Not really. Jake from C&C Drums, he had come to one of our shows in Kansas. He was telling me about one of his friends who does mods to Simmons stuff. I thought, "Yeah, I should check those out." I started checking out videos online—there's a lot of Bill Bruford talking about them, and really intelligently using them, and approaching them as a totally different instrument. It seemed like a really perfect addition to my setup for this particular group.
TBDITW: What other groups are you playing with?
AL: I do some stuff with Dean & Britta. Dean Wareham used to front Galaxie 500, and then Luna after that. And his wife, Britta, who played in Luna for awhile. They have their own stuff. I've been touring with them since 2007. We just finished up a big run, which started in April. They got commissioned to write music for a bunch of Andy Warhol's short films. We've been doing that show performing with the films behind us. It's really cool.
TBDITW: And then you have a more solo project?
AL: I have a band in which me and my brother write all the music, called The Building. We just finished some recordings with that, and we're still working on the record which will hopefully come out in the fall.
TBDITW: Do you play drums in that?
AL: I do not. My friend Jason does.
TBDITW: This is kind of a broad question, but if you could encapsulate your philosophy towards drumming
AL: I always tend to like drummers who are simpler. My favorite drummers are Levon Helm and...last night there was a block party, and our neighbor put on some Fleetwood Mac and we like, "Yes! This is the perfect rhythm section." Everything we strive to be. Simple supportive drums, simple bass.
That is my approach in a group. To see where I fit in, without being flashy, without getting in the way. I'm way more careful about the sound I'm producing rather than my technique. I'll work on tuning, rather than licks.
TBDITW: Do you think that being a songwriter, involved in that side of it, helps you when you got to play with someone like St. Vincent or Dean & Britta, you feel that maybe you're a more educated drummer?
AL: I guess. It sort of helps me see the song as just that, a whole piece. Approaching from that side, rather than the "drummeristic" side of it, like "How can I be the drummer in this band?" How can I not get in the way, but also be present...(inaudible).
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So great to see one of St. Vincent's band members get some attention too. (they're all F in' awesome) Like a steel and concrete foundation with perfectly curved details. Annie could close her eyes and take a nap on the mountain that is her rhythm section. Anthony supports the music and enhances it, without drawing attention. Yet when you focus on what he is doing in a live performance - you realize how precise and artful he is.
agay40 1 year ago 4