IPOD
RADIO
Street Drum Corps: A Lesson in Misfit Drumming
By Erin Broadley
Mar 11, 2007
There are drummers, and then there are street drummers—the guys who truly aren't afraid to get down and dirty with their craft. The musicians in Street Drum Corps are both, having played played traditional drums in rock bands for years before lending their sticks to something decidedly more free-form and experimental. Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman once dubbed Street Drum Corps the “punk-rock Stomp,” and the name stuck. The band is an apocalyptic, voodoo-rock revolution born from smog stained, litter strewn Los Angeles sidewalks and grown into a full-force, stage production that now brings its battery of sound to the masses. Since SDC’s start in 2004, drummers Bobby Alt, Adam Alt and Frank Zummo have used found objects to create their elaborate beats and have toured the world—leaving a trail of broken drumsticks, battered trash cans and busted tail pipes in their wake. They’ve gone from drumming in downtown junkyards (which they still do), to recording an album with DJ Lethal for Warcon Records, to performing on Late Night with Conan O’Brien to, last fall, having their gear inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of a Warped Tour display. SuicideGirls met up with the guys before a recent gig at Hollywood’s famed Goth club, Bar Sinister:
Erin Broadley: Street Drum Corps has a long history playing Bar Sinister. How did that start?
Bobby Alt: Sinister is like our other home…we can get as freaky as we want. This is our third year performing here. It gives Street Drum Corps an opportunity to play with [a range of] musicians and do a longer set. We can do something more experimental, which we haven’t done on the road in the last couple years.
EB:
It’s a different crowd, compared to the Warped Tour or playing for younger audiences at places like the Key Club.
BA:
Yeah, for one thing it’s 21 and over. We rarely play 21 and over shows.
Adam Alt: But we like playing 21 and over shows…
BA:
We like to think that SDC can adapt and fit in to all different categories: punk, new wave, gothic, you name it.
EB:
I read that SDC was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of the Warped Tour Exhibit?
BA:
The Warped Tour got inducted into the Hall of Fame we were asked by the Warped owners to donate something. We donated one of our custom trash drums and it’s displayed next to an outfit worn by Bert of the Used. It’s really cool. They also invited us to play the opening ceremony. It was awesome to have our stuff in [the collection] and also perform…a great time.
EB:
Is your gear in there permanently?
BA:
It’ll be there until September. Then they’ll put it in a time capsule for 20 years. It’ll be cool to see in 20 years who’s got kids, who’s dead…it’ll be fun to go back. It’s a great Warped exhibit…it’s all there.
Frank Zummo: The exhibit might tour, as well, to other museums. It would be amazing if it went out on the road.
EB:
Going from street drumming to being part of the Hall of Fame, you guys have accomplished a lot even though you only hooked up three years ago, right?
BA:
Three years in April. We started SDC as a half-time show for the Clippers! And from there we went to theme parks, then the Warped Tour, then on the road with the Used, then the Taste of Chaos tour and that brought us to the Matisyahu tour.
EB:
What were you guys up to before SDC got started?
AA:
Bobby and I had a show called Experiment before we met Frank. Basically we’d play schools and camps. We played regular drum kits, garbage cans, and hand drums. Each show was about half an hour.
BA:
When we met Frank, he’d just moved to LA and went to play for the Start. When he got back, Frank said, “I do this whole drum thing like you guys do. I had a show in Pennsylvania called Repercussion.”
FZ:
I moved to LA and put all that behind. I saw Bobby and Adam do their drumming show using found objects and all of us were like, let’s get together and see what the hell happens. We went to a downtown LA junkyard and shot footage of us drumming and having fun. Adam edited it and sent it around. Magic Mountain freaked over it so we started performing there. That’s where we learned, with three drummers, how to work a crowd. The first time we played there we had trashcans strapped to our waists. People loved it. We’re real and that’s the reason, now, we’re able to do what we do and people just see that we’re not trying to adapt to this or that tour. And that’s why we can play this Goth club tonight and next Saturday play a bar mitzvah.
EB:
What led you to challenge the traditional rock-drum format?
AA:
We had fun playing with each other and realized we had the opportunity to do something different and have another outlet than our other bands. We wanted to show that drummers could become front men.
FZ:
It was refreshing. Drummers are the guys in the back, trying to get noticed. We’ve been playing drum sets in bands our whole lives so it was nice to step outside of that. It’s challenging to be front men. Being drummers, it’s new. You have to learn how to play all these found objects and make them sound good.
EB:
Yeah, it’s starting from scratch—learning a new instrument that there’s no handbook for. It seems these found objects become really personalized instruments because the way you beat the shit out of it changes the sound specifically to your playing style. Once you break it in, it becomes completely yours. Only you know how the feel and sound work together.
AA:
Yeah, we all have our own little things that we always play on. I have a satellite dish that’s my token thing.
EB:
How did the showy, performance part of your act evolve alongside street drumming? How do those two aspects of your set work together without risking SDC coming off as a sideshow act?
AA:
On Warped we played in our normal clothes and, one day, got some crazy, hot pink makeup that we put on—probably drunk—and thought, “Oh, this is war paint!” It looked cool so we started experimenting with things like costumes, smoke and lights. We were always trying to step it up, keep it weird and it turned into Mad Max, post-apocalyptic Blade Runner type thing. We change it up all the time and might not wear face paint every night. Bobby might come out wearing his Raiders jacket with a hat on backwards.
FZ:
There are no rules and that’s the great thing about it. SDC isn’t a band where it’s like, we’re a “punk rock” band and we can’t step outside that box. Our record has industrial songs, hip-hop, freestyle, Latin. If you want to come out in a pink tutu and a Speedo, knock yourself out.
EB:
How much improv works into a set?
BA:
We like about 75 percent scripted, 25 percent experimental. A lot of bands tend to get up on stage, do their thing and then get off. We like to keep it open.
AA:
Sometimes you get the urge to describe something different with a song.
EB:
What are your plans for the rest of the year?
AA:
We’ve been touring for a year and a half so now we’re writing new songs and also preparing and getting ready for something in Vegas.
EB:
Yeah, now that Celine Dion is leaving Vegas I guess there’s a big spot open for you guys.
FZ:
We’re going to keep touring the world and writing our new record. We also want to go out and play colleges. We also just found three new guys for another SDC unit. When we’re on tour we have guys that come in and work corporate dates and theme parks for us. We’ve finally found some more guys that we feel really good about so were training them and getting them ready for the summer.
EB:
Does that make you nervous? Expanding the SDC crew to include people that’ll use your name when you’re gone?
BA:
It did in the beginning for me. Our manager pulled us aside and told us to make sure the three guys we got had the energy of us three, the original SDC. We turned down some gigs because we hadn’t found the right people yet. But now we have.
FZ:
The best compliment is that Stomp members sent us their press kits! Last summer, three Stompers covered Magic Mountain and corporate events for us. It was crazy. We were the dudes auditioning for Stomp and now they’re working for us…it’s a trip.
EB:
Have you guys suffered any backlash from fans or critics?
FZ:
No, we’ve been lucky to be accepted in every genre. The only weird thing was on Taste of Chaos last year. We went on before the Deftones, so for the first half of our set, our fans would be there, but the rest of the arena would be like, “What the hell is this?!” Every night we won them over and the guys that didn’t like us—the tough guys—ended up being the first in line to buy our merch and CD.
EB:
You guys are all involved with other bands and projects…how do you balance it all?
BA:
With a good plan and a good idea, we can make it all work.
EB:
So you wouldn’t consider SDC a side project then?
BA:
It was, but not anymore!
AA:
It’s a side-project gone wild.
BA:
[I’m so busy that] I’m playing drums downtown in my studio and, literally, I have my cell phone in one hand and my drumstick in the other! And all the bands we all play in are like best friends. They get it. We make it all work.
EB:
How involved are you with your fans?
AA:
I showed up at my mom’s house today and one of our fans was there hanging out with her! She’s cool and understands that we’ve met a lot of cool people over the last couple of years.
BA:
I think we’re at a point with music where bands really have to give a little more. You can’t be like Led Zeppelin and play your show and then just go sneak off into your dressing room. Take a band like the Used, they still go out after every show and sign autographs. We learned from those guys.
EB:
Anything else before we wrap it up?
BA:
Well—and I want you to print this—Frank is no longer a vegetarian. I’m really upset about it.
AA:
Our tech got choked out on the road by one of the guys in Slipknot.
EB:
Excellent.
There are drummers, and then there are street drummers—the guys who truly aren't afraid to get down and dirty with their craft. The musicians in Street Drum Corps are both, having played played traditional drums in rock bands for years before lending their sticks to something decidedly more free-form and experimental. Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman once dubbed Street Drum Corps the “punk-rock Stomp,” and the name stuck. The band is an apocalyptic, voodoo-rock revolution born from smog stained, litter strewn Los Angeles sidewalks and grown into a full-force, stage production that now brings its battery of sound to the masses. Since SDC’s start in 2004, drummers Bobby Alt, Adam Alt and Frank Zummo have used found objects to create their elaborate beats and have toured the world—leaving a trail of broken drumsticks, battered trash cans and busted tail pipes in their wake. They’ve gone from drumming in downtown junkyards (which they still do), to recording an album with DJ Lethal for Warcon Records, to performing on Late Night with Conan O’Brien to, last fall, having their gear inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of a Warped Tour display. SuicideGirls met up with the guys before a recent gig at Hollywood’s famed Goth club, Bar Sinister:
Erin Broadley: Street Drum Corps has a long history playing Bar Sinister. How did that start?
Bobby Alt: Sinister is like our other home…we can get as freaky as we want. This is our third year performing here. It gives Street Drum Corps an opportunity to play with [a range of] musicians and do a longer set. We can do something more experimental, which we haven’t done on the road in the last couple years.
EB:
It’s a different crowd, compared to the Warped Tour or playing for younger audiences at places like the Key Club.
BA:
Yeah, for one thing it’s 21 and over. We rarely play 21 and over shows.
Adam Alt: But we like playing 21 and over shows…
BA:
We like to think that SDC can adapt and fit in to all different categories: punk, new wave, gothic, you name it.
EB:
I read that SDC was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of the Warped Tour Exhibit?
BA:
The Warped Tour got inducted into the Hall of Fame we were asked by the Warped owners to donate something. We donated one of our custom trash drums and it’s displayed next to an outfit worn by Bert of the Used. It’s really cool. They also invited us to play the opening ceremony. It was awesome to have our stuff in [the collection] and also perform…a great time.
EB:
Is your gear in there permanently?
BA:
It’ll be there until September. Then they’ll put it in a time capsule for 20 years. It’ll be cool to see in 20 years who’s got kids, who’s dead…it’ll be fun to go back. It’s a great Warped exhibit…it’s all there.
Frank Zummo: The exhibit might tour, as well, to other museums. It would be amazing if it went out on the road.
EB:
Going from street drumming to being part of the Hall of Fame, you guys have accomplished a lot even though you only hooked up three years ago, right?
BA:
Three years in April. We started SDC as a half-time show for the Clippers! And from there we went to theme parks, then the Warped Tour, then on the road with the Used, then the Taste of Chaos tour and that brought us to the Matisyahu tour.
EB:
What were you guys up to before SDC got started?
AA:
Bobby and I had a show called Experiment before we met Frank. Basically we’d play schools and camps. We played regular drum kits, garbage cans, and hand drums. Each show was about half an hour.
BA:
When we met Frank, he’d just moved to LA and went to play for the Start. When he got back, Frank said, “I do this whole drum thing like you guys do. I had a show in Pennsylvania called Repercussion.”
FZ:
I moved to LA and put all that behind. I saw Bobby and Adam do their drumming show using found objects and all of us were like, let’s get together and see what the hell happens. We went to a downtown LA junkyard and shot footage of us drumming and having fun. Adam edited it and sent it around. Magic Mountain freaked over it so we started performing there. That’s where we learned, with three drummers, how to work a crowd. The first time we played there we had trashcans strapped to our waists. People loved it. We’re real and that’s the reason, now, we’re able to do what we do and people just see that we’re not trying to adapt to this or that tour. And that’s why we can play this Goth club tonight and next Saturday play a bar mitzvah.
EB:
What led you to challenge the traditional rock-drum format?
AA:
We had fun playing with each other and realized we had the opportunity to do something different and have another outlet than our other bands. We wanted to show that drummers could become front men.
FZ:
It was refreshing. Drummers are the guys in the back, trying to get noticed. We’ve been playing drum sets in bands our whole lives so it was nice to step outside of that. It’s challenging to be front men. Being drummers, it’s new. You have to learn how to play all these found objects and make them sound good.
EB:
Yeah, it’s starting from scratch—learning a new instrument that there’s no handbook for. It seems these found objects become really personalized instruments because the way you beat the shit out of it changes the sound specifically to your playing style. Once you break it in, it becomes completely yours. Only you know how the feel and sound work together.
AA:
Yeah, we all have our own little things that we always play on. I have a satellite dish that’s my token thing.
EB:
How did the showy, performance part of your act evolve alongside street drumming? How do those two aspects of your set work together without risking SDC coming off as a sideshow act?
AA:
On Warped we played in our normal clothes and, one day, got some crazy, hot pink makeup that we put on—probably drunk—and thought, “Oh, this is war paint!” It looked cool so we started experimenting with things like costumes, smoke and lights. We were always trying to step it up, keep it weird and it turned into Mad Max, post-apocalyptic Blade Runner type thing. We change it up all the time and might not wear face paint every night. Bobby might come out wearing his Raiders jacket with a hat on backwards.
FZ:
There are no rules and that’s the great thing about it. SDC isn’t a band where it’s like, we’re a “punk rock” band and we can’t step outside that box. Our record has industrial songs, hip-hop, freestyle, Latin. If you want to come out in a pink tutu and a Speedo, knock yourself out.
EB:
How much improv works into a set?
BA:
We like about 75 percent scripted, 25 percent experimental. A lot of bands tend to get up on stage, do their thing and then get off. We like to keep it open.
AA:
Sometimes you get the urge to describe something different with a song.
EB:
What are your plans for the rest of the year?
AA:
We’ve been touring for a year and a half so now we’re writing new songs and also preparing and getting ready for something in Vegas.
EB:
Yeah, now that Celine Dion is leaving Vegas I guess there’s a big spot open for you guys.
FZ:
We’re going to keep touring the world and writing our new record. We also want to go out and play colleges. We also just found three new guys for another SDC unit. When we’re on tour we have guys that come in and work corporate dates and theme parks for us. We’ve finally found some more guys that we feel really good about so were training them and getting them ready for the summer.
EB:
Does that make you nervous? Expanding the SDC crew to include people that’ll use your name when you’re gone?
BA:
It did in the beginning for me. Our manager pulled us aside and told us to make sure the three guys we got had the energy of us three, the original SDC. We turned down some gigs because we hadn’t found the right people yet. But now we have.
FZ:
The best compliment is that Stomp members sent us their press kits! Last summer, three Stompers covered Magic Mountain and corporate events for us. It was crazy. We were the dudes auditioning for Stomp and now they’re working for us…it’s a trip.
EB:
Have you guys suffered any backlash from fans or critics?
FZ:
No, we’ve been lucky to be accepted in every genre. The only weird thing was on Taste of Chaos last year. We went on before the Deftones, so for the first half of our set, our fans would be there, but the rest of the arena would be like, “What the hell is this?!” Every night we won them over and the guys that didn’t like us—the tough guys—ended up being the first in line to buy our merch and CD.
EB:
You guys are all involved with other bands and projects…how do you balance it all?
BA:
With a good plan and a good idea, we can make it all work.
EB:
So you wouldn’t consider SDC a side project then?
BA:
It was, but not anymore!
AA:
It’s a side-project gone wild.
BA:
[I’m so busy that] I’m playing drums downtown in my studio and, literally, I have my cell phone in one hand and my drumstick in the other! And all the bands we all play in are like best friends. They get it. We make it all work.
EB:
How involved are you with your fans?
AA:
I showed up at my mom’s house today and one of our fans was there hanging out with her! She’s cool and understands that we’ve met a lot of cool people over the last couple of years.
BA:
I think we’re at a point with music where bands really have to give a little more. You can’t be like Led Zeppelin and play your show and then just go sneak off into your dressing room. Take a band like the Used, they still go out after every show and sign autographs. We learned from those guys.
EB:
Anything else before we wrap it up?
BA:
Well—and I want you to print this—Frank is no longer a vegetarian. I’m really upset about it.
AA:
Our tech got choked out on the road by one of the guys in Slipknot.
EB:
Excellent.
