Steve Shelley - Sonic Drum

Steve Shelley, a legend, the drummer for Sonic Youth, and before that for the seminal Crucifucks, pure hardcore. After Sonic Youth was put on indefinite hiatus, he became the go-to man for Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo on many of their artistic projects, and has played with musicians of the caliber of Cat Power, Mike Watt, Howe Gelb and Sun Kil Moon, but the full list would really be very long.

We meet him in the old town of Terracina Alta, right after soundcheck. A great opportunity for a chat at sunset about the American drummer's past, present and future — he proves to be a bundle of good humor, eager to talk about Sonic Youth again, without neglecting his many ongoing projects.

Hi Steve, we're meeting just minutes before the start of an Emma Tricca show, in which you'll be by her side on stage, having played on her recent “St. Peter”: how did you meet Emma and how did your working relationship come about?

The connection happened through Jason Victor, the current guitarist for Steve Wynn's Dream Syndicate. Jason had met Emma, and a friendship developed that later turned into their current artistic collaboration. Jason contacted me a while back to let me hear some recordings, asking if I wanted to be part of the project. I listened and said yes: from there I took part in the recording of “St. Peter” and now I'm here playing drums on some of the live dates supporting the album as well.

An obvious question, but an inevitable one: what's life like after Sonic Youth?

You know, to me it's as if Sonic Youth still existed. The band was actually never officially disbanded, and I keep doing things with both Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo (the band's two guitarists from “Daydream Nation”, ed.). Every so often we also reissue something, old recordings or shows. As a band we're not active anymore right now, but there's a kind of aura about it, as if something is still carrying on.

Four years ago I had the chance to chat with Lee Ranaldo, and I found him open to the possibility of Sonic Youth getting back together. But another four years have gone by since then…

We still have a recording studio. Yes, it still exists. And it's actually the studio where we recorded with Jason and Emma. Sonic Youth were a huge part of my life, I often feel like I'm still there with them.

Where is the studio located?

In Hoboken, New Jersey, where I live.

Would you ever have imagined that among your three sonic bandmates, it would be Kim Gordon who'd go on to make the most musically “uncompromising” solo work? Or was that a surprise for you too?

No, I didn't expect it, absolutely not.

Have you read “Girl In A Band” (the book Kim Gordon wrote after Sonic Youth broke up, in which she harshly attacks her ex-husband Thurston Moore in places, ed.)?

No. Thurston is my friend, I didn't want to read it.

You've played on a huge number of records, and there's one in particular I loved enormously, which I consider a cornerstone of post-punk in the new millennium: Pre Language by Disappears.

Hey! I love that record too!

How come your collaboration with them lasted only one album?

Actually, I also play on the live album “Live At Echo Canyon”, which came out just before Pre Language.

What happened after that?

You know, Disappears are a Chicago band, we traveled a lot and I had to keep going back and forth to play with them. I had to go to Chicago all the time. When it came time to record another album, that situation became a real difficulty for me.

Also because in the meantime you were juggling other projects at the same time…

Exactly. Plus the touring schedule got busier after the good response to Pre Language, and it didn't always fit well with my other commitments. Brian Case and the others and I have stayed friends regardless. Besides, the band doesn't exist anymore, or rather it changed its name, it's now become FACS, the acronym under which they released their debut album this year. I was really sorry to end that collaboration, but the trip from New York to Chicago was genuinely long for me every time.

With Sonic Youth in Rome you played some of the shows that Italian kids of that generation remember most fondly…

I was just talking about that with Emma and Jason when we landed at the Rome airport. There's a lot I don't remember from my past as a musician, but I remember certain Italian shows perfectly.

I imagine you're thinking especially of the one with Pavement at the Tendastrisce (if I'm not mistaken it was during the "Goo" and "Slanted And Enchanted" tours), and the two incredible shows at the Roman Theatre of Ostia Antica, which Lee Ranaldo also told me he remembers with huge emotion…

The two Ostia Antica shows were something incredible. Coming to Italy and playing in places like that, so steeped in history and atmosphere, really hits you. Those are places that genuinely put you in a position to do something special, qualcosa di speciale. Strangely enough, I also remember the show with Pavement very well. We were there in 1992, and we hadn't been to Italy in quite a while. 1992 was a particular year, also because at that point we wanted to get to know your peninsula better.

A lot of then up-and-coming bands opened for Sonic Youth in the '80s and '90s. Many of them went on to enjoy extraordinary success, even bigger than yours. Among these bands, is there one whose success you would have bet on with your eyes closed?

A lot of bands played with us. There was a great energy in those years. But if I had to name one, well, I'd mention Nirvana above all — yeah, Nirvana were pretty good (laughs, ed.), Nirvana was pretty good, for sure.

What about the most bitter disappointments?

Hey, there's no way I'm telling you that!

What are your upcoming commitments?

Once the mini-tour in Italy with Emma wraps up, unfortunately I won't be able to continue on to the following dates planned in England, because I'll be joining some friends in Brazil. They're called Riviera Gaz, we're a trio.

So, right now you're in Italy playing with Emma, an Italian musician who moved to London years ago, and then from here you'll jump straight to the other side of the globe to join a Brazilian band? You're the prototype of the modern cosmopolitan artist!

You know, I go to Brazil often, and a while back I started playing with these local musicians. We made a record that came out the same month as Emma's record, last May. In the coming weeks we'll play a few shows in Brazil and Chile. Let's just say I don't get bored.

Aside from Emma's record, which album you've played on recently are you particularly attached to, or which one would you recommend we listen to?

Wow, thanks for the question, it gives me a chance to point you to Spectre Folk, a project led by Pete Nolan, already known as the frontman of Magik Markers, in which I play drums alongside Mark Ibold, the Pavement bassist. We're a quintet dealing in a kind of indie psychedelia. Hang on, let me give you a copy of the latest record.

Thanks, Steve! And a couple of words about someone else's record you're listening to right now?

There's an American band I consider legendary, called Fuck, and in the '90s they shared the stage with Sonic Youth several times. After a ten-year absence from the scene, they're back with a new record, containing entirely unreleased material, called "The Band". Here it is (he's got this one with him too, ed.), I put it out on my own label, you know I've had a label for many years, right? It's called Smells Like Records.

Yes, and I imagine where the name comes from…

Well, listen to this band Fuck, we've also reissued a few of their old albums.

And so, we discover another side of Steve Shelley, the eternal kid who recommends you records, the way people used to, and who, during his travels around the world, still keeps an eye on stages hunting for talent old and new. To put something out, or to play together for a bit. Tireless Steve.

(interview conducted on June 18, 2018)

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