To say that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts is a fair statement when considering the individual calibre of each member that makes up TFS. Yet the combined forces coming from each quadrant of Australia’s finest noise act is due to the individual might that once melded together has resulted in one hell of a powerhouse act as drummer Lauren Hammel explains when she took time out to speak with us.
Can you summarise your musical journey to date in terms of how you got into music, your influences, and the various paths that have led you to be in one of Australia’s most recognisable bands?
I got into punk and hardcore growing up in Newcastle, hanging out at the skate park and the beach, swapping mix tapes with other kids, and heading into the second-hand CD shops that had heaps of local band demos you could buy for a couple of bucks. Kids used to record their band on a 4 track, burn a bunch, and chuck em in the local record store. There was always a really cool DIY and all ages scene in Newy. I haven’t lived there for a while so can’t comment on what it’s like now but I rkn Newy has had some of the best bands come outta that town. So early days and up until my mid-20s I kind’ve just listened to punk/hardcore/metal. My dad had a great record collection so I grew up listening to Deep Purple, Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Sabbath, etc but he was also listening to KLF and CW McCall, and mum got me into Janis Ian, Carpenters, Carol King, Sam Cooke, stuff like that. All of that has had some kind of influence on how I play and how I understand music. As for ending up where I am, dunno. I didn’t follow any paths or seek out being in a touring band. It just kind’ve happened. Lucky I guess.
Having each juggled your time between different bands, yourself with High Tension, (Gareth with Springtime), (Fiona with The Drones), and Erica (Palm Springs and Harmony), have you found that what you do outside of Tropical Fuck Storm influences what you do within it?
High Tension haven’t played for ages so I’m not really doing anything else music-wise outside of TFS. But TFS is a constant teaching ground for me personally. With High Tension we’d have riffs to work on or complete/close to complete songs on guitar and we’d build from there; a typical writing process. TFS writing style is a whole different beast. Sometimes we start writing a song with a drum track I came up with messing around trying to find a cool beat for a song two albums ago. Gaz records everything. I could be fucking around with some brand-new drum machine I’ve got no idea how to use, could be for 45mins, Gaz records it and saves it and we listen back every now and then. Most of the time it’s 44 minutes of unlistenable shit but there might be a bar of something cool we can use as a base for something new to work on. There’s always happy accidents. Sometimes I don’t know what the song is gonna sound like until it’s finished. Making an album is like building and making a song is like cooking. With building you have a bunch of materials and an idea of what the end product needs to be and you think about it, plan, cut things to create the shapes you need, and start sticking them together till you get to the thing it’s meant to be. With cooking you get your ingredients, chuck em together and hopefully end up with something good. Every so often though it's dogshit and needs to be chucked in the bin. That happens with songs too.
If there was ever an outfit to smash through any barriers, social or otherwise, it would have to be Tropical Fuck Storm but that being said, have you still found challenges within the industry and to a wider extent the community, in regard to your gender, orientation, and world view?
Nah not really. People who listen to our band, or read interviews/follow social media stuff generally have an idea of who we are and what we stand for, and what we don’t. Most people we meet are just real nice and friendly. I had more of the “good drumming for a girl” bullshit when I played Tenno shows, but I’ve not heard any of that dribble in ages. There’ll always be dickheads that wanna put other people down by talking some kind’ve bullshit about how they know more, or they’ve seen better etc. If someone came up to me after a show and said “I’ve seen heaps better drummers”…of course you have, I’ve never claimed to be the best drummer. Music isn’t a competition, never has been, it’s something people of all genders do because they enjoy it and it makes them happy, and that should be enough. If someone wants to spend money to come to our show to tell me how shit I am/or how good I am for a girl then go for it. You’re helping to pay for us to travel the world doing what we love.
Stylistically what is your drumming approach with TFS. That is to say, it is a freeform as what the others are banging out or somewhere closer to reigning it all in an attempt to stop it from bursting at the seams?
There are parts of songs that have structure, and parts that call for chaos. Sometimes guitars can be going nuts but the drums have gotta stay measured and vice versa. It’s a balancing act. Sometimes you can all let loose and almost lose it completely but if you can all bring it back together at the same time that’s when it gets exciting. When we’re touring heaps the structured bits stay similar but that chaos changes.
Would you say your style has evolved over the years or perhaps tailored to a particular track or album you are working on at any given time?
I think my drumming style is indicative of what I’m listening to at the time of recording. It evolves when we’re touring heaps but I guess that’s just because it’s daily practice. More practice = more confidence = better playing. I feel like I always used to play right on the beat, which at the time seemed right, but when I listen back it sounds like I’m rushing. I think I’m slowly becoming more considered in the way of making space and realising that drums can be almost unnoticeable. Like they're there, and they're loud but I don’t need to be doing crazy shit all the time. Less busy doesn’t mean less good.
Across your records to date, what tracks are particularly special to you, and for what reasons?
Pretty much everything on A Laughing Death in Meatspace is special. First album, new band, learning how to play a different style of music to anything I’d ever tried before. Figuring out new friendships and then seeing that morph into becoming family. It was a real special time and that album brings back all those feelings. Excitement, nervousness, feeling outta my depth, and pride at making something outta nothing.
Braindrops as a complete album too. My Dad died the day we were meant to start recording it. I stayed in Newcastle for a bit then flew home and went straight to Nagambie to start recording. Was a hard album for me personally, trying to be creative and not drag everyone down emotionally while feeling completely fucked by grief. I think a lot of that sadness comes across in songs like ‘Paradise’, ‘Aspirin’, and ‘Maria 62’ and ‘63’. ‘Paradise’ especially became really cathartic to play live, cause it’d take me back to that time emotionally and I was angry and I was distraught but I had an immediate release and could just go fkn nuts and punish the drums for all the hurt I was feeling lol. Sounds intense, it is I guess.
That’s why music is so special. You have a sonic time stamp of a certain period in your life and playing those songs can take you right back there, but instead of feeling it alone, you feel it, look up and you’re on a stage playing with your best mates and it becomes a little easier to deal with. Sometimes I’ve had tears running down my face when we’ve played ‘Legal Ghost’. Moving shit. Garry O Garry knows how to write a song that will fuck you up emotionally.
How would you describe the dynamic within the band in relation to your working style and the collaborative processes you each bring to the table across all aspects of TFS music?
The dynamic of the band is kind’ve like what you’d picture being in a band with your best mates in high school is. We have our own studio at Gaz and Fi’s house in Nagambie so it’s all pretty relaxed. When we first started we used to play music and write till 3am, get up late a do it all over again. I guess we’re more disciplined now, or old, or both. Now we get up before 9, take the dogs for a walk, talk about what songs we wanna work on for that day, and write what we need to do on the board. I like to listen to a basic version of the song, maybe an acoustic version I’ve recorded on my phone, and try and write a basic beat on a drum machine to figure out the different parts. Gaz, Fi, and Reeko do a fair bit of collaborating with guitars, bass, and vocals. Then we jump in and try to play through the song and everything changes. We play through a new song really basically, to figure out structure, how many verses, choruses etc then the more we play it the more we try to fuck it up. Change a basic chord into an expensive chord, change a typical drum fill into something that sounds completely off but somehow works. It’s pretty collaborative. Lots of constructive criticism, tossing kitchen sinks at songs till we get something everyone likes, and then everyone goes to bed by 11:30.
On an artistic front, how important is the concept and delivery of art is terms of its inspiration, its lasting stamp such as the album art, and to a wider extent the outward message all TFS media is expressing to the world?
For most of our albums we’ve worked with Joe Becker. Gaz found a painting, which we used for A Laughing Death on Google images or something, and basically cold-called this dude asking if we can work with him. He’s such a legend and his artwork is incredible. I think he is as cooked as we are and his art compliments our music. I like to think our music compliments his art too but you’d have to ask him what he thinks about that. A match made in heaven? We met him for the first-time years ago on tour in Canada and it was like meeting this long lost friend. Album artwork is such a weird thing though, cause you want something eye-catching, and maybe you want something that suits the album title or the content of the songs. And sometimes you just email a stranger because you liked a bright green slipper on a monster you saw on the internet one day and want that. Everyone perceives art differently, so I don’t think there’s a need to overthink it.
Having toured heavily over the years, can you share with us a certain show that really stood out and why it was so memorable?
I find it hard to remember shows. We’ve spoken about it in the tour van before. In your day-to-day life, you get up, do a thing, come home and you talk to your partner or your friends about what you did today and the act of talking about it commits it to your memory. On tour, you are all doing the same thing so you don’t really have conversations backtracking your previous day. So you kind’ve forget things and what you do remember morphs into one giant never-ending day. That being said, most memorable would have to be the time we played in an old abandoned TV station, that has a costume room and a haunted house built inside of it. We dressed up in the costumes and started filming ourselves walking around for the Soft Power film clip and then we heard this guy asking what the fuck we were doing. After lots of apologising and offering our rider to them they ended up being real sweet and turned the horror house on and let us do our thing. All’s well that ends well. I thought we were gonna get shot though.
Having performed with so many artists over the years, during that time were any words of wisdom spoken to you that really resonated and in turn altered the way you approach your craft?
I wish I had something really cool and inspirational to say here but I don’t. I don’t really get down and deep with others on tour. Most of the time I’m too tired or anxious to hold a conversation.
What does music give you that nothing else does?
Going back to what I was saying before about music being able to transport you back to a time and bring back emotions and feelings of the exact moment you heard that song. That and the ability to travel, it’s a pretty good deal.
