Watts and SWIK Drummers

The passing of writer/director John Hughes last week brought back a rush of ’80’s memories. He wrote some classic comedies including National Lampoon’s Vacation and Mr. Mom. Yet for many of us, it was movies like Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off that captured our high school experiences with stories and music that came to, dare I say, almost define a generation. My favorite of his films was not a huge hit. Some Kind of Wonderful starred Mary Stuart Masterson as quirky drummer chick, Watts. I’ve seen this movie so many times, I’ve lost count. John Hughes movies reminded me of Watts, which started me thinking about female drummers.

[caption id="attachment_691" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Some Kind of Wonderful"][/caption]Female drummers seem to be an even rarer breed than female rappers (see Trina post). I don’t endeavor to undertake why this is so. I can only hazard a guess that the reason is similar to one related the lack of women in science. It’s not that we’re not good at it, we’re just not encouraged to go in this direction as young girls. There are, however, some women who do pick up a pair of drum sticks rather than a microphone. Since they’re generally at the back of the stage, I thought that I’d bring a few to the front. While they are a rarity in the music industry, there are too many to cover in one blog post. So here are a few of the more famous ones.

Sheila E. comes immediately to mind. Who can forget her video for "Glamourous Life"? The album of the same title is superb, and remains a favorite of mine. I prefer "Belle of St. Mark" to "Glamorous Life," but there are plenty of great songs there and on her follow-up album Romance 1600. In addition to playing the drums on her own albums, she performed on several Prince albums and toured with him throughout the 1980’s. I saw her when she opened for Prince on the Purple Rain tour. She sang and played drums for an hour, then jumped in and played for a good portion of Prince’s show. At the end of her set, all the house lights went out and all the audience could see were her illuminated drumsticks flying around in the dark. As I’ve said before, (see Purplish Rain) no concert I've seen since has compared.

Originally a jazz drummer, Sheila E. played with Herbie Hancock, Marvin Gaye, Lionel Ritchie, and Diana Ross before meeting Prince and embarking on her solo career. Today, Sheila Escovedo, her real name, tends to religious themes in her music. Earlier this year she won the Country Music Televisions (CMT) reality show Gone Country. She beat out the grandfather of funk, George Clinton, to win. I have never seen this show, but I can’t imagine what George Clinton sounds like playing country music. (Seriously, go look him up.) As the winner, Sheila E. will now have the opportunity to make country music with a famous country producer and writer. She has already released a country single, "Glorious Train." I’m not sure how I feel about this change in direction. I’m not a big country fan, so will hold my comments for now. Thankfully, she’s still playing jazz as well and is performing later this month at Jazz in the Pines in Idyllwild, CA.

If you’ve seen a Lenny Kravitz video, you may have noticed Cindy Blackman slamming away in the back. This woman can ROCK. She is also an extremely talented jazz drummer and composer. In addition to Lenny Kravitz, she’s played with jazz greats such as Ron Carter, Bill Laswell, Joe Henderson and, one of my favorites, Cassandra Wilson. Her most recent recording was Music for the New Millennium released in 2005 and a new album is expected soon. Jazz is not my area of expertise. So I asked my brother, Erik, who is a drummer and initially suggested that I check out Blackman, to say a bit about her playing. He says, “From light and smooth to all out groove, Blackman's drumming spans the spectrum of musical flavors.  She has earned her mark in the history of drumming.  It takes great talent and insight to play different styles as effortlessly as she does. Her latest album shows that she is well rooted in the many developments of jazz drumming, but is not afraid to go out on a limb and push the music somewhere new.” (Wow! Maybe he should start a blog?) I prefer classic jazz standards and Music for the New Millennium dips into more of a jazz fusion sound so it may not be for everyone. Works on Canvas is a bit more straightforward and may be a good place to start if you’re a jazz neophyte.

In 2009 one can’t write a blog about female drummers and not include Meg White of the White Stripes. I have to admit that, and this may be a shock to some readers, I am not a huge White Stripes fan. This is odd because they certainly have a punk and blues influence that normally thrills me. Maybe I just missed the wave? Or I’m finally too old for this music? A duo from Detroit, their sound can be called low-fi garage rock. The White Stripes stick to a color pallet of red, white, and black for their album covers, photos, and videos. This makes them highly stylized despite their anti-establishment sound. Music critics have been harsh on Meg White’s minimalist drumming. From all accounts, she has never taken a lesson. Yet, most drummers in punk and garage rock bands never took lessons. It’s typical for the genre. So I’m not sure why she’s given such a hard time for her playing. Oh wait, punk drummers are usually men. Can you say double standard? She may not be a Sheila E. or Cindy Blackman, but her style works for the music. It makes sense. Maybe the critics should just get over it, if they love the music so much. She rocks, plain and simple. AND she kept her shirt on for their Rolling Stone cover in 2005.

Finally, we come to Karen Carpenter, who I think was one of the first female drummers. After some limited research, it doesn’t seem like there were any women playing drums before 1969. If there were, they certainly didn’t get much credit for it. Karen Carpenter was highly respected by her peers as a drummer before moving front and center to sing. Originally, she recorded the drums on the Carpenters’ songs. When they preformed she sang and played the drums. Eventually, the label hired other drummers so she could be out front and sing. I grew up listening to the Carpenters, and know almost all of their songs by heart. They remind of my childhood, particularly my grandmother, or grandmama as we called her. I remember staying up late with her to watch the Carpenters Christmas special. While they may not have been ground-breaking in their sound, Karen’s voice was essentially perfect. Yet, according to her brother, she always considered herself a “drummer who sang”.

As for the fictional drummer Watts, it’s impressive that Hughes crafted this intriguing female character who played the drums. Except for a few unrealistic plot diversions, Some Kind of Wonderful resonated with me. The tomboyish Watts is in love with her best friend Keith, (Eric Stoltz) who wants the popular girl Amanda Jones (Lea Thompson). While I was never as cool as Watts in high school and never played the drums, she was exactly who I wanted to be at the time. The fact that I was embroiled in a similar situation with a crush on my best guy friend may have fueled my ongoing passion for the film. Of course, my high school love triangle didn’t have the same happy ending as the movie. Maybe I should have started playing drums? I suppose it’s never too late. I’ll see if my brother can fit me into his teaching schedule.


Hear Music
SWIK Drummers Vol. 1

See Music
Sheila E: Glamorous Life, random drum solo, All Around (live)
Cindy Blackman: The One , random drum solo, Are You Going My Way
Meg White: The Hardest Button to Button, Black Math (live)
Karen Carpenter: a drumming montage, For All We Know/Close To you (live)

Learn More (websites)
Sheila E.
Cindy Blackman
White Stripes
Carpenters

Buy Music
Sheila E.
Cindy Blackman
White Stripes
The Carpenters

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SWIK drummers not covered in this blog.
Particularly the drummers in all female bands, who certainly deserve their own posts and will get them eventually. This list makes no claim to be exhaustive, feel free to send any names I may have missed. These are in no particular order.

Sandy West - The Runaways
Gina Shock - Go-Go’s
Debbi Peterson - Bangles
Janet Weiss- Sleater-Kinney
Lori Barbero - Babes in Toyland
Torry Castellano - The Donnas
Kate Schellebach - Luscious Jackson, Beastie Boys
Samantha Maloney - Hole, Motley Crue, Peaches
Patty Schemel - Hole
Caroline Rue - Hole
Dee Plakas - L7
Jennifer Finch - L7, Betty Blowtorch
Judy Molish - Betty Blowtorch
Kim Thompson - Beyonce, Meshell N’Degeocello, Roy Hargrave
Dawn Richardson - 4 Non Blondes
Kat Kraft - Vixen
Hannah Blilie - The Gossip
Yael Benzaken - Savatage, My Ruin
Athena Kottak - KrunK
Evelyn Glennie - Bjork, Bela Fleck, Bobby McFerrin
Ruth Underwood - Frank Zappa’ Mothers of Invention
Terri Lyne Carrington - Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Herbie Hancock, Al Jarreau
Vera Figueiredo - Brazilian music
Camille Gainer - Chuck Mangione, Christian McBride, Kelis
Susie Ibarra - John Zorn, Yo La Tengo, Thurston More
Hilary Jones - The Mamas & The Papas, Clarence Clemmons, Lee Ritenhour, Dave Grusin
Helen Wiggin - The Shaggs
Debra Dobkin - Richard Thompson, Bonnie Raitt, Shawn Colvin, Melissa Etheridge

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