ODC Drumline Interview July 2011
By: Liane Escorza
Graeme, Russ, Chris and James form ODC Drumline, a newly born Oxford ensemble of drummers who create loud, danceable and energetic rhythms to backing tracks and melodic soundscapes with collaborating musicians. Each gig is unique and treated as a one off project. They are hoping to record one day but so far, it is a delight to see that their explosive live performances consistenly surpass any expectations. We caught up with them ahead of their performance at the Truck Festival on Saturday.
Tell us how ODC was formed…
Graeme: I had been getting together with Russ and a few other drummers just to play because after Youthmovies split up I wasn’t doing much in that area so it was kind of for my own sanity really. And then there was a Blessing Force event taking place in Oxford, where someone was meant to play but they dropped out a couple of weeks before. I had been talking to Andrew (ex-Youthmovies), who was organizing the event, about my plans of playing as a one-man thing with electronics and looping and all that but I realised quickly that the sound and energy that I wanted to create wasn’t going to be accomplishable. And he suggested for me to do something with a few drummers instead and I asked these three others if they wanted to join with a backing track, they said yes and we formed within those two weeks on time for the event. And the event was real fun!
What are you trying to achieve through your music?
Graeme: I really don’t know. I cannot see where it’s going. I see it more like a collaborative type of project. The first gig we did I kind of did the backing track and the baseline and we had James, who plays guitar; we were trying to bring electronic and drums together. There’s no real direction; it’s all about enjoying playing drums in that kind of format. When you sit down and play on your own or in a band it can be quite isolated, you just get stuck into doing things in a certain way. And I guess by creating this dynamic we’re trying to make the drumming a bit more interesting for ourselves (all other members play in other bands aside) and for the crowd.
You’re collaborating with Coloureds at the moment, playing together on stage; are there any other plans of joining more bands in the future?
Graeme: Yes. I spoke to Rose from Rhosyn to do something and she’s really keen to get into it. With Coloureds we are doing it for this Truck Festival event, so other shows will work like that. We will definitely carry on working on projects on a one to one basis.
How do you work together and make musical decisions? What’s the creative process you use?
Chris: We work in pairs at the moment because of the set up. Russ has the same set up as me so we work together, practice, try things until something sounds good and we show it to the other too. We are hoping to experiment a bit more over the summer when we have more time, to see if other methods work.
So, in line with that, how do you challenge yourselves?
Russ: Well, I think it’s about not playing too much so as to stick to a pattern and not deviate from it much.
Graeme: Initially we were all sitting behind our kits but that’s like going back to your comfort zone… because by standing up and following patterns each you’re naturally inclined not to elaborate much and concentrate on the three others trying to come together to make a sound as one.
By doing that do you aim to please yourselves or the audience or both? How aware are you of what people may want to hear?
Chris: People enjoy the spectacle…
Graeme: Yes, and then it’s down to delivering confidently as well. It’s as much like about the visual aspect as it is the sonic, wait, do you say sonic? (laughs)
James: We knew we’d be on a stage and we’d be layered and so we had to find patterns that would sit well, like dance beats.
Rhythm is quite innate in humans, we all respond to a beat even before a melody kicks in. How do you stretch the possibilities of your sound to make it exciting all the way rather than repetitive or boring, considering you cannot ‘elaborate’?
Chris: Well at this point with the collaborations the stuff that we do is dictated by the music we drum to and because we have been working to strict deadlines to get it sorted we did as best as we could Now, for this festival we have been practicing for a couple of months…
Russ: Not all of it (laughs)
Chris: Ha, not all of it, no
James: But it didn’t take us so long to get started; this time we knew the setup.
Chris: And because the music by Coloureds in this case changes so often we switch, twist and turn and so on…
James: We’ve been using snare drums, which sound like a Scottish military band but making it all very cheaply. It’s a very thin sound making it almost rattle-y. And you can do lots of complicated patterns of those yet it never becomes too busy, so we increase layers upon layer over the top in a lot of sections and it almost works like having a lower and a higher voice for each pair of us.
Russ: We try to keep it interesting of course but there’s also guitars and the collaborating band to add the melody – danceable and catchy but not too repetitive.
What drummers do you listen to; what are your influences?
Graeme: There’s a group called Soul Percussion… I’ve been looking around a lot at drum lines because that is something we can live up to; the American college bands… they perform at their college games, before and during the match and on the breaks. They have a 200-piece brass band and drum sections and one band is set up n one side of the stadium and the other on the opposite side and in the interval they kind of battle against each other and they play big pop classics like Beyonce, hip hop tunes… all in a massive scale. And these drum lines are really choreographed. It’s all about the movements. It’s really show-y… compared to us! (laughs). We wanted to incorporate that kind of approach somehow.
The energy you create is contagious. There is a reciprocate wave of energy going to and fro the audience. What do you feel when you’re drumming?
Russ: I get a massive adrenalin rush from playing. I try to enjoy myself without going too far or losing control and making mistakes. It’s all about perfection, I guess.
Chris: When I play it’s like being in a grey area between thinking and not thinking. Like meditating, I suppose. It’s like your muscle memory takes over instead of thinking about what to play so the playing happens on its own.
Graeme: Everyone feels different. Sometimes I see it being quite pictorial, with shapes and things… I think about the quality of what I am doing at that point in time. On stage it’s strange because there’s that obvious element of performance and so you’re influenced by things that you see or have seen. I’m also kind of happy to sometimes hold myself back. Drummers are endlessly notorious for the stupid faces they pull… (laughs) There’s the ones that are prepared to look stupid but I… I… it’s hard… (laughs)
ODC Drumline play with Coloureds on Saturday 24 July at Truck Festival at 00.30am
Artists in this article: ODC Drumline