Photo by Jasmina Tomic
FULL NAME: ?
NICKNAME: Cupcakes
AGE: 30 (did someone say the new 20?)
HOMETOWN: Tel Aviv & Melbourne
LIVES IN: Brooklyn NY
PAST BANDS: A whole bunch of Israeli bands you’ve never heard of
CURRENT BANDS: Hank & Cupcakes
DAY JOB: Thank the Lord if she exists – only Hank & Cupcakes.
Photos by Adam Lipstadt (1, 2, 3) and Jasmina Wong
Tom Tom Magazine: Do you find it harder to sit and drum now?
Cupcakes: Hmm…I don’t know because I only play drums in Hank & Cupcakes. We rehearse 7 days a week and focus all our energy on the band so there’s really no time for side projects but even if there was I don’t think I’d be drumming. It’s hard for me to do something, especially in music if I’m not very stimulated by it, I wouldn’t have the patience to practice drum chops 3-4 hours a day!! What we’re doing in H&C is very interesting for me, I’m singing while playing patterns on the drums that I choose, Hank & I write the songs and are so completely involved in it – We love it!
Tom Tom Magazine: What is the most frequent comment you get after you perform?
Cupcakes: There are a few but the top 2 are definitely:
“Wow, I’ve never seen someone sing and play drums standing up like that!!”
“Which one of you is Hank and which is Cupcakes?” (giggle giggle)
Tom Tom Magazine: Can you talk about your method of singing and drumming and standing and drumming? Tips, reasons, etc.
Cupcakes: I started playing the drums in the missionary position (sitting down that is) but found it hard to sing and project my voice that way, so in one of the early rehearsals I just tried standing up and it felt really natural to me. I can dance around while playing and have a sense of freedom that I didn’t have when I was sitting. Singing and drumming simultaneously is something I started doing years ago when I was playing percussion, before I even knew how to play the drum set… It took a lot of practice at first but once I got the hang of it I discovered a new part to use in my brain! That new part has been growing ever since and Hank did recently comment that I have a snare drum growing on the right side of my head..hmm…weird.
Tom Tom Magazine: You also play a lefty kit. How did you come to do that?
Cupcakes: I’m left handed and left footed! It was actually hard for me to find someone to teach me how to play since my drums are set up the ‘wrong way’ around. But here’s a story: A little while after we started Hank & Cupcakes we didn’t have enough songs for a full set and could only open for other bands. No one wanted to let us play since the drums needed to be switched over!! So I forced myself to learn how to play right handed and did so for about six months. It was a bit tricky at first but in the end it improved my skills even after I switched back to lefty. (Thanks to all the drummers who were dicks and didn’t let me play lefty before their set!!)
Tom Tom Magazine: Do you find it harder to sit and drum now?
Cupcakes: Hmm…I don’t know because I only play drums in Hank & Cupcakes. We rehearse 7 days a week and focus all our energy on the band so there’s really no time for side projects but even if there was I don’t think I’d be drumming. It’s hard for me to do something, especially in music if I’m not very stimulated by it, I wouldn’t have the patience to practice drum chops 3-4 hours a day!! What we’re doing in H&C is very interesting for me, I’m singing while playing patterns on the drums that I choose, Hank & I write the songs and are so completely involved in it – We love it!
Tom Tom Magazine: What is in store for your band in the coming year?
Cupcakes: There is a lot of excitement in the air! We just got back from touring the East Coast and discovered that we want to keep on doing it more and more and more. We’re going abroad to play some shows for New Year’s and are coming back to NYC just for a few weeks to make a new video for the first single of our next album – ‘HIT’, then hitting the road again in February for our Hank & Cupcakes US Winter 2011 Tour which will hopefully go for longer this time. We just released 2 new music videos for our song ‘Aint No Love’ (2 interpretations by 2 different directors – very cool!) which was premiered by the Village Voice and are also going to launch a graffiti artist competition where the winner will be voted by our fans to design a Brooklyn-graffiti oriented stage design for our live shows.