 Rum Diary With two drummers and two bassists, you know the Rum Diaryıs sound is heavy. But somehow the Northern California band turns all that bottom into something ethereal. Its brand of psychedelic indie rock is more like Three-Mile Pilot than it is the Melvins, and its songs are complex, multi-part journeys that often culminate in an infamous drum circle. Members include Joe Ryckebosch (drums), Schuyler Feekes (drums, keyboard), Jon Fee (bass/vocals), and Daniel McKenzie. |
THE RUM DIARY With two drummers and two bassists, you know the Rum Diaryıs sound is heavy. But somehow the Northern California band turns all that bottom into something ethereal. Its brand of psychedelic indie rock is more like Three-Mile Pilot than it is the Melvins, and its songs are complex, multi-part journeys that often culminate in an infamous drum circle. Members include Joe Ryckebosch (drums), Schuyler Feekes (drums, keyboard), Jon Fee (bass/vocals), and Daniel McKenzie. GR: What is it like living in Cotati? Does your band's sound reflect the town? DM: Living in Cotati is a lot like living in San Francisco in the early 60s--just a bunch of kind folks wandering around in nothing more than a pancho and Birkenstocks, always smiling while walking past and whispering offers of "doses" and "kind bud." Doses of what? We still don't know. It's true that things move a lot slower where we live. There are cows in our backyard and our neighbor is a duck hunter. You could probably make a connection between this and our music, which is slow building and a little dreamy. Although I think that if we lived right in the middle of a busy city, we would sound the same. GR: Your band is named after a book by Hunter S. Thompson, right? Are you hard-drinking, debaucherous guys? FJ: Yes, we swiped our name from his novel. Iım not sure if we are hard-drinking wild guys. We have been known to get piss-ass drunk, demand meat, pass out, and wake up in mysterious places. One time we managed to get our van onto a private airport runway. When we woke up, we were parked among a row of little bi-planes and Schuyler was asleep on the roof of the van wearing a pilot cap! As we snuck off the runway I kept wondering why the police or security never came, but then I noticed an airport service vehicle and it looked identical to our van. I guess we got lucky. GR: Your music has a melancholy sound. Do you consider yourselves sad people? FJ: No way. Our music may have a melancholy sound, but our message will always be "smile now, cry later." GR: What do you think about when you play the spacy parts? JR: Iım usually thinking, "I hope I don't get too spaced out in this song, or else the whole thing is going to fall apart." I mean, that is the serious answer, especially while playing live. GR: Your multi-layered instrumental parts seem like they'd be good as a movie score. What type of movie do you think would go with your music? JR: Well, let me see. I think our music might do well in some weird old Lynchian film. I always thought the instrumental parts seem a bit "landscape-esque," so maybe they would do well in a film with lots of aerial shots of open land. Hey, maybe we could score the sequel to the Straight Story. I would love that, and it would be a Lynch film! GR: "Greasers Win" is an interesting song. Is that in references to the rockers vs. jocks John Travolta/Olivia Newton-John movie? or Quadrophenia? DM: Thank you. "Greasers Win" is not about rockers vs. jocks or mods vs. rockers. It is about the duality that exists in our band in relation to S.E. Hinton's masterpiece, The Outsiders. In that book, there were greasers and socials. Schuyler and I are from the poorer side of town; we smoke cigarettes, like hot rods and use pomade. Joe and Jon, on the other hand are socials. They never had to worry about money; they wear sweaters and drink gin out of gilded flasks. This song stems out of the frustrations that arise between the two social types within the band. GR: Usually the drummer and bass player in a band are pretty tight. Are there different dynamics with two drums and two bass players? DM: Well, in this band we actually have two bass players and two drummers a lot of the time, which introduces yet another challenge. If by "tight" you mean, do we have secret handshakes and call each other "dawg?" Then not really. But if by "tight" you mean musically together, then yes there are definitely different dynamics with a bigger rhythm section. When we first started, things sounded a little chaotic. It has taken a few years for Schuyler and Joe to perfect the double-drumming so that they are playing together and not competing with each other. I would say the same for Jon and me. When there are two basses, you have to know when to play something simple or something intricate. You can't just shred all the time--not that any of us are capable. I think that our arrangement works only because there are no musical egos in our band. There are no virtuoso soloists or control freaks. GR: With two drummers, do you need an extra-large van for touring? JF: Yes, we do. Let me tell you what our van is packin' right here. Alright, we got 411 Positrac outback, 750 double pumper Edelbrock intakes, bored over 30, 11-to-1 pop-up pistons, turbo-jet 390 horsepower. We're talkin' some fuckin' muscle. Not to mention itıs big as hell and itıs a smooth ride. It used to be a Canadian Power Company service vehicle. GR: Are drum circles not for hippies? Explain. JF: Well, what would a hippie say? They would say, "Drum circles are for everyone, man." Just let the rhythm take you to another planet man. During our live show weıve been known to do this thing called the "indie-rock-drum-circle" and it has a very strange effect on the crowd. For some reason, it seems to unite the audience and make them want to scream and howl. Iıve personally witnessed the indies, hardcores, emos, stoners, metal heads, and punkers unite in harmony during one of our drum circles and go completely crazy. After the drums stop they all go back to their corners with their crossed arms, but for a short period of time while we are playing our drums everyone seams to come together and leave their mohawks, black rimmed glasses, piercings, white belts, long hair, leather jackets, tattoos, and Diesel jeans behind. I guess drum circles are not for hippies. Theyıre for everyone, man |