Q&A: San Cisco drummer Scarlett Stevens, 27
San Cisco’s Scarlett Stevens on her favourite female drummers, growing up in the music industry — and her band’s new album.
Is it true that the catalyst for your drumming career was a cartoon character? Josie and the Pussycats set me on this path, yes. I saw the movie with Tara Reid [as drummer Melody] and started a band called The Flairz when I was about 10. We were a band for seven years, we got to go to [US festival] South by Southwest, they wrote about us in The New York Times, and we were featured on Steven Van Zandt’s radio show.
Were you a child prodigy? Well I wouldn’t say that, but I have been doing it for a long time. Both my parents are in the music industry – my dad manages the John Butler Trio and The Waifs – so I was exposed to a lot of live music growing up in Fremantle. It was an amazing experience to have at such a young age, but my parents always kept me very grounded.
Has support for female musicians in the industry changed since you formed indie pop trio San Cisco in 2009? In the beginning it was quite isolating being a woman in a band and touring the world. There were experiences of casual and overt sexism I had that my fellow band members [Jordi Davieson and Josh Biondillo] couldn’t understand. But now women have been given a platform to speak about their experiences and that in itself has made the industry so much better.
How has the global pandemic affected San Cisco’s 2020 plans? We were meant to tour the UK, Europe and the US as well as Australia and that all got canned. It’s really strange releasing our new album, Between You and Me, without being able to back it up with a tour, and kind of unnerving not knowing where the industry is headed. At the same time I think the world needs great pop tunes – it feels very broken at the moment.
Which female drummers do you admire? I love Cindy Blackman from Lenny Kravitz’s band and Karen Carpenter – she was incredible. And I love Warpaint’s Stella Mozgawa; she’s Australian, absolutely mesmerising to watch.
Do women have a different style? I think it’s a mood; it’s quite charged. It feels almost rebellious in the context of history, as drumming has always been male-dominated and it’s only recently we’ve been given that space. There’s not as much ego; it’s almost meditative for me.
How did living in New York as a child shape your world view? My dad was setting up a record deal in 2002 so we were based there for six months and I went to primary school there. There were always open-mic nights and poetry readings and I met the most incredible people. Having that immersion in an insane world that was so different from where I grew up showed me that being creative is a real job and is valued.
San Cisco’s music videos have such a distinct aesthetic… They’re so important to us and we’re lucky we have complete creative control over the visual side of what we do. I’m really into fashion and styling and finding old references from movies and different photographers. I’ve been loving the photography of William Eggleston and Americana of the 1960s and ’70s.
Why travel to Brighton to film the clip for Beach? We were in England on tour, so we just caught the train and made a day of it. It’s quite a miserable beach, but it makes for a good video.
How do you feel about WA’s border lockdown? It’s very laidback here but it doesn’t look like we’ll be touring overseas or interstate for the rest of the year. Venues are not allowed back at full capacity here yet but when that goes back to normal we might be able to do a regional tour. It definitely feels surreal.
Between You and Me is out September 4