Guys, I’m so wildly happy right now. In addition to seeing Handsome Furs at Monolith in just a short while, I’ll also be seeing Wolf Parade in Kentucky this November. Here are the new dates:
Wolf Parade Tour Dates
Nov 1: Buffalo, NY @ Asbury Hall inside Babeville
Nov 2: Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
Nov 3: Omaha, NE @ Slowdown
Nov 5: Tulsa, OK @ Marquee
Nov 6: Little Rock, AR @ Revolution Music Room
Nov 7: Columbia, MO @ Blue Note
Nov 8: St. Louis, MO @ Gargoyle
Nov 10: Madison, WI @ Majestic Theater
Nov 11: Indianapolis, IN @ Vogue
Nov 12: Newport, KY @ Southgate House
Nov 13: State College, PA @ State Theatre
Nov 14: Montclair, NJ @ Wellmont Theater
A few months ago I was listening to a Led Zeppelin bootleg and I had an epiphany: most of the drummers I listen to aren’t that great. So I decided to celebrate the ones who consistently knock my socks off with their fantastic work by doing an interview series titled (for lack of anything better) My Favorite Drummers. First up is Danny Seim from Menomena.
Last year’s Friend and Foe blew my my mind mostly because of Danny’s drumming. No two songs have anywhere near similar drum patterns — each contributes its own strength to the album. Danny’s also a great choice for the first installment of this, as most Menomena and Lackthereof (his solo project) start out with drum tracks before expanding into their full form. It was a real pleasure to have Danny involved with this. In addition to being one of my favorite drummers, he’s also got a wicked sense of humor (check out what his favorite song to drum to is).
My Favorite Drummers: Danny Seim from Menomena and Lackthereof
YANP: How did you get started drumming? Are you self-taught?
Danny Seim: I’ve been drumming by chattering my teeth together for as long as I can remember - doing sweet fills on my fillings and rolls on my molars. The human skull is an amazing acoustic instrument. I’ve also learned how to time my nasal sniffles to make some pretty convincing cymbal sounds. As a result, I remained a virgin well into my 20s and I’m going to need dentures by age 40. But otherwise, it was a fun way to learn. I still don’t really consider myself a drummer. I just started playing the drums live for Menomena because I was too self-conscious to do anything else onstage.
YANP: Did you go through any jazz camps or music groups as a kid?
DS: Yeah, I played trombone in my 7th grade school band. My teacher said my arms were too long to waste on any other instrument. I hated him.
YANP: Who were some of your favorite drummers starting out / who are some of your favorite ones making music now? What did you/do you like most about them?
DS: During my infamous 7th grade trombone era, I was always drawn to the drummer of metal bands for some reason, kinda like that Wilco song… But as in the case of Robert Sweet of Stryper, it was probably due to his undeniable physical beauty, not necessarily his percussive ability. I soon realized it was way less sexually confusing for me to love Lars Ulrich.
Nowadays, I like watching drummers who play like it’s their destiny to die of a heart attack behind the kit. Greg from Deerhoof and Benjamin from the Helio Sequence are two good examples I can think of off the top of my head. But there’s other folks like Bryan of the National and Justin of Broken Social Scene who obviously have taken the time to master their craft in ways I’ll never fathom, and I totally admire that too. And I guess John Bonham was pretty decent.
YANP: Any time I talk drummers and your name comes up, I always say the same thing: what impresses me about Danny isn’t so much the beats he hits, but it’s more what beats he DOESN’T hit and all the quick hitches and small pauses in his drumming (ex: “My My”) What steered you towards that style of drumming?
DS: Um, hours and hours of editing in Pro Tools. Ha ha ha, that was a joke, I swear… Ulp. Anyway, I guess if I had to really start talking influences, I’d probably go back to my early infatuation with rap music and the general production style associated with classic hip hop. When I first heard Public Enemy, N.W.A., Jungle Brothers and De La Soul in the late 80s / early 90s, I had no idea that all those huge beats were just loops and drum machines. I thought there was actually a dude back there, playing one simple beat as hard as he possibly could without doing any sort of extended tom tom solos or stick twirls, for like 4 minutes straight. This was light years more impressive to me than “Moby Dick”. And to be honest, I didn’t actually hear “Moby Dick” until several years ago because I was so scared of the Satanic backmasking.
YANP: You’ve said before that you often start the DLR sessions with a looped drum track. What’s it like using the drums to guide the flow of a song? What’s an example of a Menomena album track that started with the drums? Do you more frequently start with drums when writing Lackthereof songs?
DS: I can’t think of a Menomena song that didn’t start with drums. When we’re doing the looping composition thing, it’s always easiest to improvise off of a beat rather than just the annoying sound of a click track. Kick drums and snare hits do a lot to influence the placement of our bass and melody lines. I’m no good at writing lyrics in advance and then meshing them with pre-existing music. All of my syllables and melodies are usually dictated by the rhythmic structure.
Lackthereof has always been the same way. Brent’s DLR program just helps us all contribute simultaneously, when it’s more than just me staring into a computer screen recording my own music.
YANP: What’s your favorite song to play on the drums?
YANP: One of my favorite things about your drumming is that it’ll often go for a while before repeating. That way it can still be complex and unique, but still give the listener a sense of familiarity when it gets back to the beginning of that section. (ex: the verses in “Muscle’n Flo”) Do you feel like that’s a pretty fair representation of your way of thinking about drum composition?
DS: Yeah, for sure. I like thinking of every element in a pop song as a potential hook - not just the vocal melody or catchy guitar riff or whatever. Hooks are obviously borne out of repetition, but the trick is placing this repetition effectively enough to warrant repeated listens without boring or tiring the listener. We’re still learning.
YANP: Do you find it difficult to sing while drumming live? Do guitarists not know how easy they’ve got it?
DS: It’s incredibly difficult not to sound like a huffy obscene phone caller when attempting to sing into a mic while swinging your arms as hard as humanly possible. Fortunately, I have many brilliant role models in this area: Phil Collins, Don Henley, and that guy from Night Ranger.
YANP: Much like Deerhoof, I never realized how many drumless sections there were in Menomena songs until I started doing this project. (ex: “Muscle’n Flo,” long pauses in “Air Aid,” most of “Gay A”) It seems like both bands are more forward-thinking with their song structures, including when to cut out instruments to allow full focus on others, or to emphasize their return. It seems like if you had a great drummer, you’d want to constantly bash the listener over the head with his work, but you guys go the other way and it actually works out better. It reminds me of a quote I heard attributed to Glen Kotche of Wilco: “Loud is most effective when you know how to play quietly.” Any thoughts on that?
DS: Thanks for mentioning our humble little music in the same breath as those other great bands. I’m still definitely learning how to reign it in, as opposed to just bashing mindlessly like Jerry Falwell at a gay pride rally. As opposed to pretty much every other instrument, drums can be so physically cathartic, and it’s hard for me not to get wrapped up in that style of playing. When Menomena first started out, I think I was subconsciously trying to hide the fact that I had no idea what I was doing onstage by obliterating my crappy drum set night after night. Now I’d like to think I’m a little more self aware, if nothing else.
YANP: If you had to go out like all the drummers in Spinal Tap, how would you like to meet your dramatic rock and roll end?
DS: With a bad Pitchfork review (yikes, I’m going to regret that one)
YANP: (Vaguely awkward question where I ask Danny to comment on various other drummers I plan on interviewing — ranging from Pow Pow from Man Man to Greg from Deerhoof. Wouldn’t want to give away the whole drummer interview lineup so early. You understand, of course.)
DS: Jeez, all those dudes are total bad-asses. They’re reasons why I hesitate to call myself a drummer, because it would mean placing myself in the same category as them. I used to email Greg [from Deerhoof] years ago and and ask him if I could send him Menomena demos and stuff. He was always really nice, much nicer than I’d probably be if the roles were reversed…
Eagle*Seagull did a session with the video site They Shoot Music, Don’t They? Included therein is one of my favorite new songs of theirs, “The Boy With the Serpent in His Heart.” It’s a slow, acoustic version of a really fast, electric song and offers a nice take on it.
You can see it in better quality (along with another song) at TSM’s website
My original intro to this was “Twenty years after Trent Reznor started Nine Inch Nails…” but I had to stop and think about that. It’s mindblowing as a 20-something to think that Nine Inch Nails has been making music since the ’80s. I think of them as being one of the most important bands making music today, but they’ve been in that situation for twenty years. But hey, that’s great for me. That means he’s had decades to write some of the best music out there.
The show was amazing — even better than their Lollapalooza appearance. Trent and his band (including the returned Robin Finck who replaced Aaron North) were right on point through the whole thing. Unlike most other bands where there’s a legendary frontman (like, uh, Bob Dylan), each member of Nine Inch Nails played like all eyes were on them. The drummer was phenomenal, Robin’s guitar sounded like lightning grinding through metal and Trent’s voice was gripping.
The new songs sounded really incredible live. “Letting You Get Away” came out early and felt like it could really become a live staple like “Wish.” “Echoplex” also felt like a song Billy Corgan would have killed to have written in 1999 — and I mean that in a good way.
Speaking of “Echoplex,” I’ve got a weird story that happened during that song. Before the song, they lowered one of the incredibly advanced video screens behind the band. Trent started tapping the screen where these white squares were. After a few taps, I realized that he was actually programming a drum sequence. Eventually he filled out the whole drum pattern for the song and my jaw had started threatening to drop. An interactive light feature that actually programmed a part of the song? No way.
It was about this time that a woman fell on my head.
Yup, that’s right. Just as I was realizing how far beyond everyone Nine Inch Nails is in terms of their live show, a woman jumped off the balcony and onto my head. I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt and say that she was aiming for the covered trash can I was leaning on, but she made contact a little bit more on my head. Dazed, I watched her dodge a security guard and climb on stage until she was standing next to Trent. He handled it a lot better than his buddy Maynard.
This is an unknown Spoon song that was recorded at this summer’s Pitchfork festival. I downloaded the bootleg a while back, but am just now getting to enjoy it again. I’m going to go ahead and call this one a new Spoon song rather than a cover because it sounds so Spoon-y. Known differently? Help me out and share some insights!
MP3:Spoon - Writing to You In Reverse (new song; live at Pitchfork)
I remember about two years ago when Spoon’s “Don’t Make Me a Target” first leaked on the web as a low quality live recording. That one had me crazily excited for their next record — which would eventually become Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, a career highlight for the band — but this song has me even more hopeful. “Writing To You In Reverse” is every Spoon album crunched up into a single-worthy tune. There’s some wild, dissonant guitar and a great fuzzed-out bass line that, like many Spoon songs, really works well with the clanking piano. And through it all, Britt is showing us why he’s one of the most unique melody makers out there today. Great, great song.
Next in Okkervil River’s list of having their buddies cover songs from their new album The Stand Ins is Bird of Youth. I’m not really familiar with them, but they do a darn good take on one of my favorite songs from the new record.
Yeah! It’s been a while since Lexington’s Scourge of the Sea shared any new songs with us, but that day has finally come. Andrew English called me up today with the good news that they’ve finished recording two new songs and are ready to share!
Link fixed! Sorry about that
MP3:Scourge of the Sea - Tropical Place
I kind of regret mentioning that Scourge are from Lexington and friends of mine. I feel like that might turn a few of you off to checking this out — you know, nepotism and all that. But don’t let that fool you (in fact, it’s generally harder to get on here if we’re friends); these guys are fantastic. “Tropical Places” is like a youthful, fun Iron and Wine or some track that should really have been on the Garden State soundtrack. It’s great laid-back folk-pop that makes me want to lay out on a hill overlooking our moderately sized city of Lexington and just think about all it has to offer.
