Keep up with Sandra here:
www.neoandertals.com
www.myspace.com/neoandertals
www.myspace.com/jointhenavy
I was a little 8 year old girl and wanted to go to the music-school. When I stood in the front of the teachers, I had to choose an instrument what I am going to learn. In my head, there was “drums…drums…drums” but I said “piano”. I do not know why. So I learned piano for 4 years.
The time moved on for 9 years and me and my boyfriend Rain, the bassist of Neoandertals, lived in a city called Tartu. He attended the university and studied law and I was the freshman in the high school. One day, Rain said to me: “Do you want me to show you some drums?” I said “Yes”. He of course showed no mercy for me and started with the “Effigy Of The Forgotten” from Suffocation and I managed to learn very fast. I was a brutal death metal fan before all that, so I enjoyed all the process. In the fall, we had enough of the city life and we moved back to my home, far away in the countryside. Because of the moving, Rain could not rehearse with the old drummer anymore that often and he needed a new drummer, fast. And it was me. We started learning the whole set of songs right away. I believe that the right things are coming back to people sooner or later and my very early thoughts of playing drums in the music-school realized.
My first live was after 4 months I started to play drums. It was a nightmare. Everything bad you can imagine to happen in one live show, it happened! After that, I was very depressed. I almost thought of quitting. But one week after the first live, we had another live and it all went great. Everything worked out. After the show many people came to thank us, said that we were brilliant and we were just what they needed. It was a very big motivation for me.
After that, we continued practicing almost every day, gave gigs and we had several interviews and articles in big Estonian magazines. In the fall of 2007, we had an opportunity to make a mini-tour in Lithuania and only a week after that, we went on the two-week Middle-European tour with the Latvian band Flaying. We had an awesome time there. Now we start tracking the new album of Neoandertals, which will be my first recorded album behind the drums. The new album will be much tighter than the last one. Cannot wait!
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Sandra Vungi Interview:
SD.com: How old were you when you started playing?
Sandra: I was 17 and half. Right now I am 19.
SD.com: Did you play in a school band or any drum corps?
Sandra: I have not played drums in any school band, but I played keyboards in a music-school accordion band when I was 11, haha.
SD.com: Who are your top 5 influences?
Sandra:
1)Chad Walls – killer long blastbeats!
2)Tony Laureano – awesome breaks!
3)Ricky Myers – Nice style!
4)Flo Mounier – Defenestration!
5)George Kollias – Stamina!
SD.com: Assuming that influences doesn’t mean favorites, who are your favorites?
Sandra:
1)Chad Walls
2)Tony Laureano
3)Buddy Rich
4)Pete Sandoval
5)Jojo Mayer
SD.com: Let us know 5 CD’s that are in your current rotation
Sandra: From time to time, I love to listen to Cynic pretty much. “Focus” is genius. Brodequin “Festival Of Death” is also in my rotation right now. Suffocation “Pierced From Within”. And to mention the singles – the new Origin “Aftermath” absolutely kills. Cannot end my day without it. And Detrimentum “Dark Eye” – evil, I must say. Not “evil” when it comes to black metal, but cool evil.
SD.com: What do you do to warm up before a show?
Sandra: About 30 minutes before the show, I take out my practice pad in the backstage and just do the simple single strokes and blast exercises. Also warming up my wrists and feet. It is very important.
SD.com: Can you remember a night you think was your best playing ever? If yes, when and where?
Sandra: I really cannot remember about the technical side, but the best live feeling ever behind the drumkit was in the city called Klaipeda, in Lithuania, on the fall of 2007. I loved every second of the show and the crowd was totally insane!
SD.com: Do you have a favorite brand of drums or cymbals?
Sandra: My favorite drumsticks are Tama “Japanase Oak” 5A sticks. Also my saw-blade, which gives an interesting sound and I could not manage a live without my Axis double-pedals!
SD.com: If you could give one piece of advice to young drummers, it would be…
Sandra: Have big ambitions, find the right angle for hands and feet, build up good stamina and of course – practice. No pain – no gain!
SD.com: Who gave the best live performance you’ve ever seen?
Sandra: Suffocation in Czech Republic, at Brutal Assault 2007. It was the best show in my life. I was in the front and I almost did break my ribs when few thousand people were pushing backside, but it was all worth it. I finally had the opportunity to scream “GOD FORBID, GOD FORBIDDEN” along with Frank, haha.
SD.com: If you had to stop drumming, what would you want to do with your life?
Sandra: I am a vegan for ethical reasons and I would love to run my own little vegan restaurant one day. I am also writing a vegan cookbook right now and it will be out soon! I am such a food pervert! Thank you for the interview! I enjoyed answering to it and I am very proud to be one of the Sickos now! Also watch out for the new upcoming Neoandertals album very soon! Keep up the awesome work with the site!
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