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Troy Petrey, Irish Sea, 2008 10 03, page 2 ibth - In january with Jubilee there was Robi Gonzalez on drums. If you could pinpoint it, what would you figure is the difference between Robi's approach to drumming and yours ? Troy - Uh, I don't really know Robi that well.. I dunno if he was trained or he had lessons or some kind of training at school, I'd wanna think that he did, but I don't know. But he's technically a really good drummer and that's the thing. He's technically good and I'm a shitty drummer.. ibth - ..but you're really, really physical so that's cool.. Troy - Yeah, I'm physical and I push 'til like.. cause I have heard recordings of Robi and when he does things it sounds like it's really easy. When I do it, it's like "Man, I'm struggling !", like I barely, I mean at any moment I could just go off beat, and fuck up or fall over and ruin it.. ibth - ..but the energy is there ! Troy - Yeah ! And I think with that, it's a give and take kinda thing. I give the energy and if it fails, then it's like "you know what ? it's rock'n'roll !" As opposed to lame backing, making sure it's all perfect, making sure the song's right - it looses at lot, I think. But, I mean Robi, he's a rad drummer ! But his approach, I have no idea, though .. I wish I would have actually seen them (Jubilee) live with Robi.. I mean, I've seen footage, but I've never seen it live.. Cause when I go see a band I'm up front, looking at it and analyzing everything. So, I wish I had gotten to see Robi play ! ibth - On the album and on the singles that are released right now, there are a lot of guests like Dave Grohl, Carla Azar and Joey Castillo and all these guys. How does it feel for you to play these songs live, that these other people have recorded ? Is that an honour ? Is that intimidating ? Troy - No, no I feel honoured. Totally honoured. I feel lucky that I'm even that close to someone like Dave Grohl, who's like.. I wouldn't be playing drums, if it wasn't for him. It's pretty bizarre to me. I feel really honoured ! At the same time I feel kind of scared, like "I shouldn't", like "who am I ?", like "I'm not worthy", it's bizarre, I don't understand. But it's very cool, it's the most surreal. ibth - So it's not like a blow, on a narcissistic level, that you're in a band and then on the recordings there's all the guests drumming ? Troy - Yeah, it's kind of a bummer. But I mean, I wasn't in the band at the time, so.. On one hand it's a huge honour, but at the same time it's like "hmm.." but you know what ? That record might have suffered if it was just me playing on all these songs ! You know, having Dave Grohl playing on a song and having Joey playing and all those other people playing.. it gives the record something else, there's a bigger picture. So I can understand not having just one kind of dynamic, or sound. But I wish I had gotten to play on the record. But either way, I don't think Jubilee is gonna continue that way, so eventually, if I stay in the band, I will be on a record. I mean, I dunno, I'm just like those other guys - I got to play on a song or two ! ibth - Tell us if we're getting it right : for a lot of these songs, you were recording the demos, then the guests play on the same songs on the album and then you are the one to interpret these songs live ? Troy - Yeah, that's right. ibth - How does the evolution from the demo, to the recording, to the live stuff work ? Did the guests play the songs a lot in the way that you had been playing them on the demos ? And live, do you try and play these songs in the way that they were playing them on the final recording or do you go back to the way you did on the demos ? Or do things stray further away from the demos at every step ? Troy - It's kind of a fusion I think. I can't play like Josh Freese. He's way too good and really quick and I can't do some of the stuff he does.. So I do play like myself and I'm not really playing everything totally verbatim as far as "note by note", "hit by hit" goes. I am in a way, but there's certain fills that I don't do. ibth - But is everything fairly close ? Like the demo, the recording, the live ? Troy - No, kind of, yeah.. there's been little adjustments, I mean. But as far as songs like "Rebel Hiss" go.. there's been changes. In drums arrangements, things are just a little bit different. These drummers put their little personal thing, their touch on it. ibth - Do you try to get as close as possible to the recording in the live set though ? Troy - Yeah, kind of. ibth - When all these guests were in the studio recording.. were they playing on your drums then ? Troy - No, no, nono.. those were not my drums.. Cause my drums were already out.. erm, I don't know when. I think once Aaron started getting his gear, when things started happening. How it happened, I can't even remember, it was so long ago.. ibth - And were you around when they were recording ? Or not at all ? Troy - No, no, not at all. Was I in the studio ? I mean I was there at some times, like when they were doing the harmonica part for "Androgynous" and bits and pieces here and there. But not really that time, I wasn't really around.. ibth - You were not able to like watch Joey Castillo record, or.. ? Troy - No, I have never seen any of that stuff and I think, I dunno why, I guess.. I would have loved to.. but I wasn't. I mean the studio isn't a big place, it's not like "Come hang out and watch !". It's very tight and small. ibth - Have you still learned any tricks from the recordings ? Or from studying the tracks ? Troy - Yeah, oh yeah, definitely. ibth - Is it inspiring to do things different than you would have done them by yourself ? Troy - Umm, there's nothing on the record that's "bizarre".. there's some stuff, if anything.. of all the drummers on the record, I think Ted from The Willowz is the one who blows me away the most, and who's by far the best. ibth - And that would be in "Fuzz Are Down", right ? Troy - Yep. Just cause there's stuff on it, that I can't even, even if I try, mimic. And towards the end, the fills I do, are.. I mean.. I'm close, but there's like four fills. And I can do maybe three, or two and a half of them. But there's one that is.. it's just beyond my comprehension of drums ! I think he's just awesome ! Even, when I found out that he was playing in Jubilee.. I was like "Oh shit ! Oh my gawd ! Jubilee's gonna be rad ! With this drummer !" Because it was like Ted's drum solo !!! and he was just like Bonham.. ibth - Would you say "Fuzz are down" is the trickiest to play, then, on drums, of the Jubilee catalogue live ? Troy - I think at first, yeah, it was probably one of the hardest to play. Because there's a lot.. the kick drum does not stop. It's always like.. it keeps going through the whole song.. it always goes (Troy starts drumming the kick pattern on the table). So it's probably the one where you get most tired and it's the one that comes last and it's the one that kills me ! So.. ibth - And in the meantime, is there another one that's real tricky or really wicked to play ?  Troy - Erm.. "Smoke And Mirrors".. it took me a while to get that, to learn that. To get it right, cause the beat on that song is not your.. I don't know.. ibth - Yeah, it's not straight, it's weirdly syncopated. It moves almost against the perception of time, and it's got a really special vibe.. Troy - Yeah, it's freaky. I mean, it's very simple, if you wrap your head around it, you can.. it's just not normal I guess. It took me a while to learn it. I sat in the studio with headphones for days. ibth - And which song is the most fun to play live ? Troy - My favourite one to play live is probably "Crumble".. ibth - "Crumble" ? Why ? Troy - I don't know, I just like that groove. It reminds me of a Charlatans song, kinda like ah, like the drums, how they're sounding.. it's called.. erm.. it's off a.. it's called "Charlatans", it's the black cover, with a small picture of them, it's kinda orange.. ibth - We're gonna check that one out to confirm.. Troy - Yeah, that's my favourite Charlatans record. And it kinda has that vibe. And I just like that beat, it's really cool, it's simple, but.. ibth - It's straightforward, but it has a groove. It's very hypnotic I think.. Troy - Yeah, it's groovy, yeah it's got a groove ! ibth - Are there any tracks in the Jubilee catalogue and you wish you had played them, but you didn't get around to it yet ? Was there anything you were really looking forward to ? Troy - To the recording ? ibth - No to play live. Or as well as.. Troy - No I think we played them all.. ibth - And in matters of recording.. are there any songs and you really wish you'd recorded them ? Troy - Which ones should have been me, you mean ? ibth - Yeah, exactly (everyone laughs.) Troy - Nah, nah. They should be exactly who's on them right now. ibth - Maybe, not even in a "better or worse" type of way.. but is there anything that you just would have done completely different ? If it had been you drumming ? Troy - Oh, I think they all would be.. I don't think they'd be completely different. I think they would be similar, there would be minor things. It wouldn't sound exactly the same way, cause of the way I tune my drums, the way I hit the drums would come across different, the way I land, all the frequencies would be different. It would be a different total sound in the way I hit, cause by hitting maybe harder than someone else. Like Ted for instance, I know that he gets hired to do jobs, to do commercials and stuff. He's a professional, he gets jobs doing that, like session work and he knows how to record. And he knows his way how to actually hit the drums. And it's not always best to hit hard, you know. Maybe live, but when you record sometimes hitting hard it gives too much.. I mean, I don't know all the technicalities, I'm not Harris. I didn't go to school for sound engineering, so I don't know exactly the terms, the terminology of whatever. But I know there's a certain way to hit the drum and it just sounds the best. And sometimes that's just not about hitting hard. I mean, a kick drum like mine is meant to be kicked hard. That's why I use big drums, cause if I use little drums and I hit it really hard then it doesn't get any louder. With bigger drums, I think, the harder I hit, the louder it gets.  ibth - You were telling earlier how you guys were playing and jamming together for hours. In the construction of these songs, is it during the jamming process that the drum parts get added and implemented ? Or is it more like Aaron or Mike arriving and saying "Here, I've been writing that, add some drums." Troy - Yeah, yeah, there are songs like that. I think Aaron had even songs like "Rebel Hiss", that was a demo he did all by himself on the road, I think. Not for certain with that one, but for one of the first ones he showed me. He had demos of some of the stuff, even drums that he had programmed himself on protools.. So, yeah there are some songs where it's like "O.K., here it is." Not to say that that was the final way it was done, cause once you start jamming and playing them out it was like "O.k. let's try this ! Sounds better.." ibth - So there's no general rule where you've got, say, the song structure or the riffs, so that the guitars and the vocals might be existing and then you've got to start laying the drums over the existing guitar and vocal tracks ? Troy - What do you mean ? ibth - The working process.. is it like : the lyrics are existing, the song structure's existing, the riffs/verse/chorus and that's the moment when you get in with the drums ? Or is everything basically recorded over a click track or something ? Troy - No.. I don't, I mean I didn't record the stuff so I don't know, but as far as jamming.. well there was a lot of just jamming, live, no click, no anything, just playing. And a lot of it sounds like shit ! (chuckles) ibth - Would you say that there are differences between the Jubilee songs that are mainly written by Mike or mainly written by Aaron ? Do you get the idea that there are two different vibes in there ? Or do they require different.. Troy - Oh, yeah definitely ! ibth - What sort of difference, then ? Troy - From the two, Mike and Aaron ? Hmm, I don't know, I don't know how to describe it.. ibth - But there is a difference ? Troy - I think so. ibth - Do you catch yourself playing different, playing with a different style in both cases ? Or do you just go with the vibe of the song and.. Troy - Yeah, mhh.. maybe.. I dunno, I think I shouldn't, I don't really know, cause I'm not really the drummer.. (chuckles) I just play the songs basically how they've been recorded, or try to anyways, so.. ibth - Besides drumming, do you play anything else ? Troy - Yeah, I play guitar.. ibth - And do you write songs by yourself ever ? Troy - Not really. I'm not very good at it. I mean, I've tried, I have little things that I recorded at home. Just pieces of crap that are on my computer, that I've been messing around with.. But I've never taken it serious enough to be like "O.K., let's lay some drums over this." or let's put vocals on it even.. ibth - A little earlier you've been mentioning Ringo Starr.. and there are some Beatles tracks, where you've got Ringo Starr singing, like "With A Little Help From My Friends" and other songs where he's credited with songwriting too ..like "Octopus Garden" as well. Could you see yourself starting to sing one day ? Troy - Oh, yeah. I've actually wanted to sing ! I think I can sing, I mean.. I think I could..(chuckles) ibth - Would you feel like doing it? I mean, would that be exciting ? Troy - No, I think.. I was gonna maybe sing but I think we had such short time to prepare for the tour. Like there was some things I was gonna maybe try to sing, cause, you know, there are harmonies on the recordings.. ibth - Yeah, and you were singing some during the acoustic show in Sheffield, no ? Weren't you singing at some point ? A bit, harmonies, as you said ? Troy - I don't think so.. I mean, I probably was, but I had no microphone. ibth - Cause we heard you.. Troy - You probably heard something way out of key then.. erm, but yeah, there was some stuff.. I try. ibth - You've been playing with Aaron in The Icarus Line as well, is your drumming different - back then and now ? Is it a different drumming style ? Troy - It's pretty much the same, but with a little more of a feel. Icarus Line it was very heavy, heavy, heavy ! Where my hands were blood red every night, every night my hands bled. Like my hands right now, that's nothing ! I barely have.. I have soft hands !  ibth - It's fairly impressive though.. Troy - With the Icarus Line I had that (points at callus) on every single one. Like that.. on all of them. So this is nothing.. and I feel pretty, er, I dunno.. ibth - ..underworked ? Troy - Yeah, it's because with this band it's a little more like I'm in a groove, even if I still hit hard. I mean, if all the songs were like "Smoke And Mirrors" then maybe my hands would be all crazy, and really blistered. But they're not, they're like "Make You Crumble" or "Rebel Hiss" so it's a bit less physical.. (to be continued.) |
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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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