I'm Clementine, the drummer for Zepparella.
My new project, Francis Bakin, is up and running. The debut album, Conversation with Francis Bakin, is for sale at Zepparella shows and online at myspace.com, iTunes, and CDBaby. I wrote the 11 songs with Gretchen Menn, guitarist in Zepparella, and this is the first project I've ever fronted as main vocalist. I'm now working with guitarist Martin Webb on the next batch of songs... stay tuned!
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One of the songs on the record, "Cold Snap," has won Second Place in the "Lyrics Only" category in the 2008 International Songwriting Competition (ISC).
With judges as diverse as Tom Waits, Rob Thomas (Matchbox 20), Ray Davies (The Kinks), Chaka Khan, McCoy Tyner, Jerry Lee Lewis, Robert Smith (The Cure) and many more, winning the ISC Grand Prize is an accomplishment that recognizes excellence in the craft of songwriting.
In its seventh year, ISC received over 15,500 songs from amateur and professional songwriters from 100 countries worldwide, confirming ISC's status as the leading global songwriting event. In all, ISC bestows prizes on 62 winners, awarding more than $150,000 in cash and prizes.
For a complete list of 2008 ISC winners and to hear the winning songs, go to http://www.songwritingcompetition.com/winners.htm
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You can get the record online here: http://www.myspace.com/francisbakin or email me.
I have a blog with thoughts about this project and how it came to be. That's on this website, as well as here: http://francisbakin.blogspot.com/.
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I have another project, called The Solid. The other dudes in the band are guitarist Justin Caucutt, bassist Greg Randolph and vocalist Brian Hagman. I'm playing drums in this one, and it's heavy-handed and sexy rock. We've just finished the debut 5-song EP, Arrivals and Departures. You can hear it here: http://www.myspace.com/thesolidrocks/
One last thing... I was just interviewed by the cool website Cosmic Lava in Germany. You can read it here: http://www.cosmiclava.com/reviews-interviews/interviews/interviews-2009/clementine/
Hope to see you at a show soon!
Clementine
Francis Bakin and Zepparella are on Facebook.
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Why I love to play the drums.
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The push and pull of the time. Providing the base on which the main melody sits. Giving the other instruments space for their voice. Playing simply, for the song. Leaving beats out as a fill rather than adding. Expressing the emotion of the song with my part. Making people move. Making odd times feel like four. Participating in the musical conversation. Playing loudly. Playing softly. The fact that it's PLAY. The fact that if there are drums in the room, I'm not paying very close attention to what you're saying. The way learning to play changes the way you think. The math of it all. Great teachers. Drummers who are free with information. The humility of great drummers. Knowing that I will never be as far along as I want to be.
Important people to mention, The Teachers: Fred Klatz (Drummers Collective, NYC), Peter Magadini (Bay Area), Paul Bostaph (Bay Area), and (by example and conversation) Dale Crover (LA). I've been so fortunate to have great instruction in my career, thanks all of you.
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I just have to spell it out, otherwise it may never happen.
I play a larger venue with a band I love to people who love it. At midnight when the show ends, I get in a cab and go cross town to a small bar and get to sit in with the band there and play till they kick us out. And recently, the dream has grown to include getting to sing my words at some point in this evening.
I want to wake up everyday knowing I get to be on stage that night. Yep, pretty much a one-trick pony.
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