WeıssJanet By David Jarnstrom
n the third season of hit comedy show Portlandia, Janet Weiss cameos as the timid timekeeper for folk group Featherwash — contestants in the satirical “Battle of the IGentle Bands.” e sketch is a shot across the bow of post–Mumford & Sons music culture, where extreme-quiet is all the rage and drummers have become increasingly marginalized. ankfully, in real life Weiss still reigns as one of the Pacific North- west’s hardest working and hardest hitting rhyth- mists, consistently doling out bombastic backbeats for an array of indie rock A-listers. TRIAL BY FIRE G UR ALTENB R ISTOPHE R CH
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D209_30_33_Vibe.indd 29 9/6/13 2:35 PM Quasi Janet Weiss Janet Weiss Double Deuce QUICK LICKS Transcription by Brad Schlueter “Double Deuce” q = 113 Perhaps the best piece of Janet Intro Weiss trivia is that she went on her > > > first tour after playing the drums yj j y yj j y œy y y y œy y y œy y y y œy y for just two weeks! Obviously, 13 ∑ ∑ ‰ œ ‰ œ œ œ œ Œ Ó ∑ ‰ œ ‰ œ œ œ she embraces challenges and ã 4 Sloshy Hi-Hat opportunities. e song “Double > > Deuce” offers another challenge y y j beginning in 13/4 before switching y œy y y y œy y y y œy y y y œy y y Y Yœ Y Y Y Yœ Y to a more normal-feeling 4/4 later ã œ œ œ œ œ œ ‰ œ œ œ ‘ in the song. Her drumming here is rock solid and her syncopated > accents at the end of the bar keep Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y the time signature from ever feel- 4 œ œ œ œ ing strange. ã 4 œ œ œ ‘ ‘ œ œ œ ‘ ‘
But though her résumé boasts high-profile names like Sleater-Kinney, Wild Flag, Elliot Smith, Stephen Malkmus And e Jicks, Bright “I THINK NO MATTER WHAT WE WANTED Eyes, and e Shins, it’s perhaps Weiss’ longest running project — the infectious, quirk-pop IT TO BE IT JUST TURNED INTO WHAT group Quasi — that best exemplifies her clas- sic rock–inspired groovability. With singer/ IT IS. IT WAS UNCONTROLLABLE. AND guitarist/keyboardist Sam Coomes being the band’s only other permanent member, Weiss’ comfortable pocket, melodic fills, and sweet WHAT’S BETTER THAN THAT?” harmonies are front and center — all crucial elements in the duo’s scrappy sonic aesthetic. producing, mixing — in Sam’s basement,” Weiss Vancouver and I remember watching Richard is fall, Quasi celebrates its 20th anniversa- says over the phone from her Portland abode. [English], their drummer at the time, at sound ry with the release of double album Mole City — a “It’s a homespun, personal statement, and we check and just putting my head in my hands fuzzed out slab of cleverly penned slacker rock. went for a really loose, fresh feel. We didn’t want and crying to myself, like, ‘How am ever I go- ough one would never guess by the qual- anything to feel too labored or stale.” ing to get up there?’ ankfully, I was able to ity of its fidelity, the band’s ninth studio album Mole City’s immediacy reflects Weiss’ love of pick it up quickly. My humiliation was a giant wasn’t recorded in a studio at all. “We made the spontaneous, unprocessed drumming. Reared motivator for getting better.” whole record ourselves — playing, engineering, on ’70s AM radio while growing up in Hol- Weiss credits Coomes for fostering her lywood, she soaked up the sounds of the “Big development early on. e two met while VITALS ree” (Bonham, Moon, Starr), along with the playing in various underground San Francisco Quasi, Drumgasm likes of Mitch Mitchell, Mick Avory, and Bill Ward bands, and moved to Portland together (where — iconic drummers with unique voices whose they were briefly married) to form Quasi. “Sam Mole City (Quasi), raison d’être wasn’t necessarily the pursuit of would push me to always play something re- Drumgasm (Drumgasm) perfection. “I’ve never striven to be a techni- ally interesting and expressive — something 47 cal drummer,” Weiss admits. “I’ve always just with big, long fills,” says Weiss. “He wasn’t Hollywood, California wanted to sound different. I want to sound like afraid to have the drums be a prominent part me, so when people hear a song I’ve played on of the song.” John Bonham, Keith Moon, Ringo they’re able to tell who it is.” While working on Quasi’s third album, Starr, Steve Shelley, George Hurley, Alan Mey- ers, Mitch Mitchell, Bill Ward, Pete omas Due to extreme circumstances, her play- Featuring “Birds,” raucous riot grrrl up-and- ing has sounded different from the get-go. comers Sleater-Kinney enlisted Weiss to play theequasi.com While most drummers spend years cultivat- on their 1997 breakthrough, Dig Me Out. e ing their skills in solitude, or with bands that trio would release four more records en route GEAR remain forever sequestered in the basement to becoming one of the most critically ac- 1967 Ludwig Green Sparkle kit; or garage, Weiss took a decidedly more direct claimed rock bands of the late ’90s/early ’00s. Craviotto maple snare drum approach. Upon receiving her first and only “ at’s when I quit my job and became a full- drum lesson while studying film at San Fran- time drummer,” Weiss recalls. “Sam and I were Zildjian cisco State University, she was promptly asked also backing up Elliot Smith and doing Quasi, DW to go on tour with an all-female group called so I was in three bands. It all just happened — I Remo e Furies. With a mere two weeks to prepare, was travelling around the world and playing Weiss took the plunge. with all these great musicians.” Pro-Mark “I was terrible,” she groans. “Our third and As has been the case during much of Quasi’s fourth shows were with the Flaming Lips in existence, Sleater-Kinney operated without a
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D209_30_33_Vibe.indd 30 9/6/13 2:36 PM bassist. e lack of a rhythmic counterpart “Sometimes it takes them about two ‘ is is giving me a heart attack.’ I personally would leave most drummers feeling exposed, minutes to hear [the beat] before they join in,” think that it’s kind of therapeutic. It’s like rain- but Weiss prefers it. Again, she chalks it up Weiss notes. “But then they get right in under drops — it sounds like nature.” to sounding unique. “When I’m told I need it and start to play around it — it’s so cool. And With a cache of quality material to draw to lock my kick drum with the bass,” Weiss then zoom — everyone’s off in different direc- upon, future Drumgasm releases are a distinct muses, “I always wonder, ‘Why do I have to tions again. possibility. But more importantly, could a tour do that?’ Of course I want the groove to fit “We went in the studio for three days and be in the works? “We would all love to but I together and make sense, but I don’t feel like just played with no script,” she continues. “I don’t know if we’ll ever find the time,” Weiss those hard-and-fast rules are always to your think no matter what we wanted it to be it just laments, citing each member’s laundry list of artistic advantage. I’m not interested in play- turned into what it is. It was uncontrollable. And personal projects. “But how fun would that be?” ing anything that sounds generic.” what’s better than that? People either get it and After a few seconds she adds with a giggle, In that regard, Weiss’s latest collabora- think it’s hilarious and awesome or they’re like, “Well, fun for us anyway.” tion takes the cake. Drumgasm is an all- drummer supergroup featuring Weiss’ old tour buddies, Matt Cameron (Soundgarden, Pearl Jam) and Zach Hill (Hella, Death Grips). e “band’s” self-titled debut consists of one continuous 40-minute jam that, upon first listen, sounds like utter cacophony. But take a deeper dive (headphones recom- mended) and rewarding subtleties emerge. e best moments happen when Weiss, panned to the far left, initiates powerful, interlocked drum circle–type moments with her tribal tom patterns, temporarily breaking up her busier associates’ spastic, otherworldly wanking. INSIDE TRACKS
Quasi Mole City /
ose only familiar with Janet Weiss’ aggressive, angular playing in Sleater- Kinney might be surprised to hear her lay back and kick out the retro rock jams with Quasi. “You Can Stay But You Gotta Go” sets the throwback tone on Mole City, with Weiss’ staggered snare shots cutting through a wall of distorted fuzz and launching into a gargantuan beat reminiscent of “When e Levee Breaks.” e endless fills that pepper the up-tempo “Blasted” are Moon-like in their shambolic scope, while the push- ing hi-hats, tripping snare, and rolling toms of “ e Goat” would make Ringo proud. Undoubtedly, the doubleheader’s tastiest moments occur when Weiss wrangles the occasional odd-time figure and makes it groovy, à la the emphatic 7/4 stomp of “See You On Mars,” the punky 13/8 push of “Double Deuce,” and the dropped eighth-notes in the sassy turnarounds of “Nostalgia Kills.” Not that she’s counting, mind you. “I just do it by ear,” Weiss says. “I memorize the melody and then play around it. at’s my whole modus operandi.” — David Jarnstrom
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