Where Are The Women Drummers?

Last night I had a dream in which a prominent male session drummer barged into my private rehearsal space and without asking or even speaking to me, loaded in about twenty drumsets and began filling the place with his gear. Shortly after arranging his shiny, super-pro, custom gear, the rehearsal space morphed into an open space at the bottom of a big, grassy hill. Session drummer boy and I were standing at the edge of the rehearsal space when my friend (and entertainment lawyer to rock stars) came whizzing down the hill on her bicycle. Upon seeing session drummer boy and me, my friend skidded to a halt and proceeded to exuberantly greet session drummer boy, while totally and completely ignoring me. Then I woke up.

For me, figuring out this dream is no big stretch. I’ve been playing drums for twenty-seven years, and during that time I’ve experienced the most painful and ridiculous exclusion throughout my journey in various worlds of music. I’ve been denied auditions and scholarships, been granted auditions only to be rejected for lesser players because they were male, and asked more times than I can count if the equipment I was buying at music stores was for my boyfriend. The dream I had is merely the latest confirmation that as a woman musician, and specifically as a woman drummer, I feel invisible.

Visibility and representation in popular music are luxuries women instrumentalists are almost never afforded. When I was growing up, playing drums every day, working with top teachers, and winning awards for my drumming from Berklee College of Music, the only women drummers I ever saw were Gina Shock from The Go-Go’s and Shelia E. (although I never saw her behind a drumset until Ellen Degeneres put together a band for the Grammy Music Awards in 1996). While I’ve admired and have been influenced by several male drummers, the lack of female role models in the music I love has always left me feeling alone and longing for drummers I could identify with as a woman. My solution: The music business needs gender-based affirmative action, and it needs it now.

I live in Los Angeles, where a majority of major label records are made. Since moving here several years ago, I’ve become friends with three other women drummers who play at the pro level. Two of them have played with major “household name” rock acts (both female-fronted). Yet all four of us work our asses off, struggling to get paying gigs, while two or three male drummers are given all the drumming work in town. WTF?! Most recently, it seems that artists, their managers, and record producers don’t even bother with auditions. They play it safe, hire the guys who they think must be great because everybody’s using them, and women don’t even get a chance to get in the door to show them what we can do.

And, just to be clear, I’m not talking exclusively about male artists, managers, and producers here. Women are just as guilty as men at this exclusion. Yes, even those who call themselves feminists, or claim to support women in the music business routinely ignore women instrumentalists. Check out the liner notes in your favorite major label CDs (if you still have CDs, that is). I can almost guarantee that you’ll see one or two names coming up as drummer over and over again. Are these guys good drummers? Yes, obviously they are qualified for the work that they do. The problem is that there are plenty of fully qualified women out there who can do the same job, if not do it better, and who rarely, if ever, get hired. This is discrimination, plain and simple. Women are just as qualified and are not getting hired. Searching through the L.A. Craigslist for drumming gigs I’ve even seen ads that blatantly discriminate. “Male drummer wanted for pro paying gig,” is not only discriminatory, it’s against employment laws.

I recently went to a live taping of The Jimmy Kimmel Show to see Katharine McPhee perform (I work with her mom). Katharine and her team put together an almost exclusively female band, including Cindy Blackman on drums (you may recognize Cindy from Lenny Kravitz videos). I had the pleasure of meeting Cindy and was reminded again of the problem the music business has with hiring women. Cindy is an incredible drummer, well-versed in several styles, and in a blind drum battle against these dudes who get all the work in town, she would tastefully kick their asses every time. (Seriously, check out some of her You Tube drumming videos.) For every one gig these male drummers get, Cindy should get a dozen or more.

It’s been almost thirty years since The Go-Go’s hit the scene, and since then I can still count the number of women drummers in mainstream music on one hand. The music business is obviously not capable of evolving to a gender-balanced industry on its own. Women need to be hired, heard, seen, and paid. Down for the cause? Want to help us out? Social media is a great way to interact with your favorite artists. The next time you’re checking your Twitter or Facebook accounts, message your favorite artists and ask them what they are doing to advance women instrumentalists in music. Ask them if they hold open auditions for any available positions in their bands, and if so, how and where they advertise. Let them know there are women out there who are qualified for the gigs, women who need and want the work. Most importantly, let them know you want to see women rock!