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Troy Petrey, Irish Sea, 2008 10 03, page 1 (..the wide open Irish Sea, on a cold and windy night just before the Swansea gig would conclude Jubilee's "summer"/autumn tour of the UK in 2008. Everyone was frozen and exhausted out of their brains, but with the help of plenty cups of coffee and some chocolate, we managed to gather enough mental focus to ask Troy a buncha questions about his role in Jubilee, the occupational hazards of drumming, the rock'n'roll lifestyle, who hits the skins the friggin' hardest, and sea-sickness - oh yeah, and we talked some about The Icarus Line, too. Mind the waves, grab your life-jacket, here we go..) 
Troy - I'm ready. Let's do it ! First question.. question number one.
isolate by the hour - O.K., so we're on the.. what's the name of the boat we're on again ? "The Adventure".. Troy - Stena line.. ibth - ..from Dublin to Holyhead and it's the eve of the last show of Jubilee's tour of the UK and Ireland.. Troy - (emphatically) Two Oh Oh Eight ! ibth - .. Two Oh Oh Eight. And we're interviewing Troy right now.. so, Troy, please introduce yourself, who are you and what do you do in Jubilee ? Troy - I'm Troy Boy Petrey and I play the drums.. I think.. I try. ibth - So what sort of day was it today ? A weird day, since it was a day off ? Troy - Oh, wow.. yeah, it was a bit weird today. ibth - Was it relaxing or stressful - since it's the end of the tour ? Troy - Let's see. It was pretty exhausting cause I didn't sleep last night.. erm, after last night when we played.. and I haven't actually been feeling that great the last couple of days - cause I think I told you - I was throwing up.. so I puked pretty much my guts out for the last two days and today and last night was the first day I didn't throw up. ibth - Ouch, hope you're feeling better right now ? Troy - Yeah, I'm feeling better ! So back to the day.. I didn't really sleep.. I think I went in and out of sleep.. I had weird dreams last night. I ended up moving, at the hotel, I picked up the sofa, the cushions and I took them into the bathroom. So that's where I've been sleeping. And I've been having dreams of listening to Aaron snore, so in my dream I keep waking up, cause I keep dreaming of him snoring and he's not. It's really bizarre ! ibth - So you're doing the whole rock'n'roll hotel room destruction thing then ? Troy - Not too much.. a little bit. I cleaned up a bit you know, cause I think maybe someone's credit card may be on file and I don't wanna, you know.. hurt anyone financially or do something stupid. So today I basically caught up sleeping in the van.. and I froze because our windows are about to fall off, so that when we're driving it's like "Zzzzzzzzz.. issshhhzzzz" with the wind, so it's really cold. ibth - That's gnarly. Troy - Yeah, it's pretty gnarly. ibth - How do you feel about this tour that's about to end ? Troy - How do I feel anbout the tour ending ? Or the tour in general ? ibth - As well as.. Troy - The tour has been cool. I liked it, I've had fun. Its ending, I'm glad it's ending. I'm ready to go home. But I'm looking forward to playing more shows and another tour, but this has been my first tour playing drums in 5 years, so it's really new again and I'm not used to it anymore. ibth - And it's your first time around with Jubilee live ?  Troy - With Jubilee, yeah. But before this I haven't played in a serious rock'n'roll band or any band, since The Icarus Line, which was in 2002. ibth - Let's fast-rewind in time.. how and when did you get involved with Jubilee leading to this tour right now ? Troy - Leading to this tour ? Erm, basically I was going to join a band called Spinerette, and I've been keeping running into them, while going to parties and their guitar player Tony, whom I'm kinda friends with. I mean we don't hang out, but I always see him really, really close, so.. So they just decided there were only a few drummers that they had in mind and my name was one of them and I think all the other options failed - I don't know what happened exactly - but I ended up auditioning and it was really cool and I was excited and I was gonna go on tour and then all of a sudden.. ibth - And that was in 2008 ? Or in 2007 ? Troy - Yeah, this is recently. And then all of a sudden, I don't know what happened.. I was auditioning and I was practising and I was learning the songs, and basically I had learned half the Spinerette record and then Aaron called me.. ibth - And then you had the job ? Troy - And it's like.. no, well not really, and he's like I don't know, kinda, no.. I mean, no I didn't. I mean there were other guys they were auditioning. But of course I came in and I handled it. And it was like, they were all: "OK, do you wanna be in the band ?" and I was like : "Yes !". It's like "Do you wanna give up your life and go on tour forever ?" "Sure." "For nothing ?" "Yeah ! "Let's do it ! I'm ready !" It's all about the music. ibth - And that was basically the first moment you got involved with Jubilee ? Troy - No, nonono, not the first moment. The first moment was I guess in 2007, I don't even know when it was exactly. It was during the time when Aaron first got Shabbey Road, rented the studio and originally it was gonna be just a space to keep the stuff, keep Buddyhead merchandise at and just to hang out. And I don't know why.. but my drums ended up there. So my drums were one of the first things there, before even Aaron's amps and stuff. So our friend Scott and me and Travis were gonna start playing music and use that space before it was even Jubilee. Before I even knew about Jubilee, or knew anything about it. Because Aaron and I hadn't talked about it, I didn't know about any of his projects. So, when we got in the studio, well, Travis couldn't learn how to play bass very well, and then Scott was too.. well he just didn't want to pick up the guitar and play.. and so Aaron just got the guitar and he showed me some songs and it was like "Let's play !" and we started jamming and from that day he pressed "record" and we started recording.. ibth - And those were the first Jubilee tracks ? Troy - The first tracks.. not sure.. well kinda. With nothing concrete, just messing around, noise, the shittiest quality, you can probably imagine, just with a mic or two or something. But I actually have some of these recordings, it's kinda funny. ibth - And did it turn into any of the songs that are in the Jubilee catalogue nowadays ? Troy - Oh, I think so. ibth - Which ones ? Troy - I dunno, they've been morphed a bit, but I could tell, I can kinda hear where this song has been used. That was even before there were demos or anything, even before. Cause there have been A LOT of recordings, just "hit the record button and play." Even before this tour Aaron actually showed me a bunch of stuff, that I even forgot that I even played on, I couldn't believe it, I'm like "Oh my god !". Hours and hours of music, even 30 seconds, a minute long, this stuff that I had no recollection of ever recording.. ibth - That's insane.. Troy - Yeah, it's pretty bizarre. ibth - What were your first impressions when you heard the Jubilee material ? The songs.. did you dig it musically ? Was it up your street ? Troy - I didn't know, I wasn't sure. Because everything was still so bare. But what I did like was the approach of going into something different. And not being like the Nails or like the previous types of bands we had been in. It was about going into a totally different direction, which I liked. When Aaron and I were talking I could just see where this could go, how this could sound like and how big it could be. And just thinking kinda big and outside this little box of indie rock or whatever you want to call it. ibth - So what exactly attracted you to Jubilee ? Is it the songwriting, the sound ? Troy - Oh, the fact it's Aaron's project. I love that guy ! ibth - So it's not at all about the music then ? Troy - Well, Aaron to me IS music. It's about the music, yes. It's totally about the music.. And his place in music, too.. where he belongs is kinda cool, and I'm lucky to know him. And to have fallen here on this place of the planet, where I ended up, and it's really cool. ibth - Is it a sound thing ? Or a songwriting thing ? Or a dynamics thing ? Or an energy thing or.. ? Troy - I don't know, I think it's a bit of everything. I mean the songs, the way Aaron's songs came out, he's not your typical singer-songwriter guy. I'm sure some guy like Elliot Smith or someone like that just picks up a guitar and writes a song and that's it.. In Jubilee I think, it's a bit more collaborative. With Mike involved, they're just working up each other, and then even just from the material that's been recorded and then just finding out the way things work in the best way. So, it's about the best idea, you know. And putting those ideas together and if things don't work, it's like "you know, let's not do that, let's do this." But like I said, we've had hours and hours and hours of material that we can go through to make up a brillant song. Songs like "Fuzz Are Down", that's something that was probably taken from bits and pieces of ideas.. ibth - So it's like some sort of experimental process more or less where you try a lot of things and steer your way like that ? Troy - A little bit, a little bit.. I mean, at times, yeah. But there have been certain songs that were "OK, so this is how it is" and certain ideas, that we went forward through, the basic structure of a song that kind of stuck and then.. But I'm not a songwriter, so I didn't get too involved in all that stuff, but I was there for all of that.. ibth - What do you think you bring to Jubilee ? As well in the recordings and live ? What do you think is your special touch in the whole thing ? Troy - Recording.. I dunno.. Right now, I think live. Recording has always been kind of difficult for me, just cause I feel like I'm under the microscope. And I'm worried and I'm always overthinking things when I'm recording and I dunno.. But some of the recordings I did, I'm happy with.. like for example "L.A.", I like that song, I mean it's not a Jubilee song, but the sound of it, it sounds bigger than all the other tracks.. ibth - And you're on "Pioneers" as well, right ? The freaky version ? Troy - Which also sounds really cool, but it's so many layers, you can barely really hear the drums.. ibth - Oh, you can ! Troy - You hear handclaps, hi-hats.. ibth - How would you define your own drumming style ? Troy - Shitty ! ibth - Oh, come on ! ..and ? Troy - Very.. caveman like, not very good... ibth - Harris said that you're the hardest pounding, the hardest hitting drummer he's ever seen or recorded.. Troy - Aw, he's crazy ! No, he might be right. I don't know. I don't think I'm that hard a hitter. I think it just looks like I hit hard, cause I know how to do it with just so much style ? And I'm kinda bigger upper body, so people are like "That guys kinda big ! and he's pounding it, he must be pounding hard.." But I'm a big pussy.  ibth - Did you ever have academic training in drumming ? Or are you all self-taught ? Troy - Self-taught, I guess. Yeah, basically, I just listened to the radio and Nirvana, Pearl Jam and bands like that.. ibth - ..and drumming along ? Troy - Actually, growing up and being in high school, friends of mine, like the Captain from the Icarus Line.. I learned a lot from him growing up. Because he knew a lot of things I didn't. As far as being able to play punk rock, playing fast, and things I didn't know. Because I was into classic rock, into Zeppelin and Sabbath. And I was a total drop out, well not drop out, I got kicked out of school, when I was in 7th grade or something, so I missed out being in the school band. Or having friends, I was kind of a loner and I played drums by myself or with my uncle or neighbours. And not having other kids at school going like "Oh wanna join the band ? I already play guitar, now you'll play drums !". Kids, that were all into the current punk bands and tried to start bands as kids. I missed out on that. I didn't get into all of that until high school, when I met Jeff (Jeff Watson, "The Captain") and erm, then just watching him and basically a week later I knew everything he knew. Kinda all that punk stuff. If I wanted to be in a band I had to learn how to play punk rock. ibth - Did you have any big heroes or influences in matters of drumming ? Big names you'd be looking up to and saying "Wow, I want to be like that guy !" Troy - No, not any more. When I was a kid you had like.. yeah, growing up I idolized Dave Grohl and idolized John Bonham and Keith Moon. Just cause it was gnarly. I dunno, first it was Dave Grohl, cause it seemed so easy and it was like "I can do that !" and I basically went into my garage and did it and learned how to do it. And then moved on to more technical stuff like John Bonham and learning how to use my kick pedal and learning how to do little tricks and stuff. So, yeah I guess just those guys, the "gods" you know, like Bonham, Keith Moon and not until later, but even Ringo Starr. I guess I'm a pretty simple drummer, I'm not really fancy. I don't know any "cool" tricks.. ibth - ..or weirdo time signature changes and math rock and stuff ? Troy - Oh, I've played in bands where there has been time changes and stuff and I can do that. But it's not my preference, I don't like that kind of stuff, rather something like The Beatles, that's straight and simple or Joy Division, that's very one thing over and over, it's like "less is more". That is more important to me and I think those are the songs and things that you remember. ibth - ..because they're executed in a cool way.. Troy - Yeah, as opposed to a bunch of different changes, where the song is over and you can't even remember anything you did cause it was so complicated. ibth - And in matter of sound ? you've been defining that whole minimal style one minute ago, the whole "less is more".. but sound-wise, is there anything you're especially after ? In matters of drums ? Troy - Mhh, I dunno - I'm into a big sound, I like drums to be loud and big. I guess it varies from song to song, I don't want really heavy drums on like a softer song, it all depends. I don't want to be this one-dimensional drummer, so I like to play soft, but, as far as sound goes, I don't really have anything special. I can sit behind any kit and play that drum set how I play or how it should be played. Whether it's like a small kit, I'd play it in a certain way, but right now with this band I have a big drum set, not a lot of drums, just you know they're big. ibth - Huge bass drum right ? Troy - Yeah kinda big-can-like, yeah ! ibth - A huge barrel.. Troy - Yep, a barrel of a bass drum. So it comes across really big, but I like it. And I think it's good for this band, because with the bass tones and the big guitars, it comes through ! And I think it makes sense in the live shows and looking back on some of the footage, even on youtube seeing stuff, it's like "Whoa, it's pretty big sounding !". I mean I'm back there, behind everything and can't hear crap but my shitty drum set.. and then little do I know out in front it sounds like.. (whispers with awe and suspense) the masterpiece. ibth - Also we've heard that you've got a sound guy who likes the drums to get through a lot, too. So that might play a part.. Troy - Yeah, that's good too ! |
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Jubilee (ju.bi.lee), n. : 1. A rock'n'roll band from L.A., Ca., currently composed of Aaron North (vocals, guitar), Tony Bevilacqua (guitar, vocals), Jenni Tarma (bass), Troy Petrey (drums.)2. Jubilation; rejoicing. 3. A season or an occasion of joyful celebration. 4.a. A specially celebrated anniversary. b. The celebration of such an anniversary. |
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