Katy Elwell – drummer with the band Lizzard – talks to BeatIt
Drum Fest – an annual drumming event organized in Opole, Poland – is one of the most important events of this type in Poland and quite a remarkable one on a European scale. The 25th edition of the festival was held even with a bigger bang than usual. As there were quite a number of outstanding drummers present there, we simply couldn’t miss out on the opportunity to invite them to our interrogation room. You have already had the opportunity to see and hear what Jason Sutter (Marylin Manson, Chris Cornell, Foreigner) had to say about his own career, technique development, education, gear and many more things.
Now, it is time for Katy Elwell – a female drummer, who is a member of the French progressive/alternative/metal outfit Lizzard. She conducted a drum clinic and performed with her band, which is why we could also host Mathieu Ricou – the band’s singer/guitarist/composer.
In the second episode, we talk about how Katy prepares for a show, how her playing has developed over the years spent with Lizzard, the book titled “New Breed” by Gary Chestera, the band’s approach to odd time signatures, as well as how difficult (but important) it is to listen to the other bandmates while playing the drums. Here are some of those thoughts:
“When you’re travelling like this (we travelled more than 12 hours yesterday and we go again on Sunday), you travel 12 hours, you play 40 minutes. You have to remember why you’re doing it so we just focus on the „Why?”. We want to play music, have fun and give people a good time.”
“I also got stuck in the trap of trying to improve my technique and maybe forgetting why I was doing it. At the moment, I’m working on using the technique I’ve developed to serve the music properly.”
Mathieu Ricou adds: “I tune the drums but she makes them sound good. If I play the way I tuned, it won’t sound good. Katy’s got this feeling going on. There are so many great but if you end up playing with them, it’s not necessary that something’s gonna happen because they don’t really listen to what’s going on.”
During her performances at the 25th annual Drum Fest in Opole, Poland, Katy used a DW Performance kit (the clinic) and a DW Collector’s Maple kit (the concert), UFIP cymbals, Evans drumheads and Vic Firth sticks.
Drummers and Drummerettes! We give you Katy Elwell – drummer with the band Lizzard – in the second part of an exclusive interview for beatit.tv! Enjoy!
