I came across Jonathon Bafus, a local Sacramento Drummer, when he and Tera Melos’ Nick Reinhart opened for Melt Banana with a totally improvised free jazz/noise set. His obvious exuberance and interesting kit configuration put him on the radar for our drummer Q&A. Since the he’s been playing around Sacto with Gentleman Surfer. I caught up with him via email and he graciously offered his two cents on the following….
All posts tagged interviews
Interview With A Drummer: Cindy Blackman Santana
Cindy Blackman Santana is probably known to most in pop culture as the drummer for Lenny Kravitz in the 90s, but she has had a long and storied career as a jazz drummer backing the likes of Cassandra Wilson, Angela Bofil, Bill Laswell, Joe Henderson, to name a few. She was mentored by Tony Williams, who is her main musical influence, and holds the firm belief that jazz is the highest form of music a drummer can performs because of the creativity it requires.
She is this week’s featured drummer, answering FLAB Magazine’s 20-Question Questionaire regarding her evolution and perspectives as a drummer.
Podcast #0006: Artist Chloe Flores
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Welcome back! I assume you’re a repeat visitor, if you’re not, “Welcome to the Weekly Podcast!” We’re already at week six, so you’re a bit behind. Feel free to download all of the podcasts…you know, in the interest of getting up to speed.
Anyway, this week I speak with Southern California curator, Chloe Flores who is currently conducting an online arts experiment of sorts. She has set up a through the Facebook page using her name, but means it as a space for artists to engage an audience and/or use it as a literal (and figurative) art space. It’s heady stuff.
We discuss at length the objective of the project, current findings and how you (or I) can get involved. Actually I’ve been involved in ways I did not imagine I was involved, but you’ll hear about that and more.
Enjoy it!
Chloe Flores on the Interwebs:
Facebook Project | GuestHaus Residency
Photo Courtesy: Chloe Flores
Interview With A Drummer: Sebastian Thomson
Sebastian Thomson is best known as the drummer for Electro Rock/Post Rock/Rock band Trans Am, but he’s been making drum-driven club music under his alter-persona “Publicist” for quite some time. That gig seems to take him to Europe every other month, which is fitting, because they love them some club music over there, and Thomson lays it down nice and sweaty-like. Here he answers FLABmag’s most burning questions about life as a drummer.
FLABmag: When and why did you start playing drums?
Sebastian Thomson: I was 14. I was living in Argentina (my family and I are from there) after having lived in the US during my elementary school days. I therefore spoke the best English of all the kids in my high school in Argentina, which was a sought-after skill if you wanted to play in a band playing covers. So I was approached to be the singer in a covers band. The drummer left his kit at the garage where we rehearsed but he would never show up to rehearsal so I would sit at the kit and fill in. The keyboard player (this was the 80s!) showed me the basics and it all seemed pretty natural and easy to me. I eventually became the full-time drummer and we got my brother to sing.
Read more…
Podcast #0005: Cathy Pellow
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This week’s guest is the irrepressible Cathy Pellow, founder and leader of Sargent House Records in Echo Park, California. I’ve been curious about her for a while. Like many others, my understanding of her was essentially derived from Facebook posts and Tweets – some of them quite hilarious, others misleadingly terse. I am very aware that a Tweet is not the best way to judge a person’s character or even their current state of mind/status. It’s all too meta and more than a little curated or in some cases, not very curated at all, which has been the appeal of watching Cathy’s Twitter feed. However, recent debates about women in charge of companies, how they should or shouldn’t behave in business, had me wondering, “What would Cathy do?”
We talk about her business strategy (take no shit off no one!) and she opened up about her background and the drive that determined who she is today, why she does what she does and the reasons behind her apparent love of “instrumental music.”
I also had some stuff to say in the intro about why this interview, out of all the others, is most salient for me right now in my life. Feel free to skip ahead, but always, enjoy it!
Sargent House on the Interwebs:
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