Brendan Murphy – Revolution Mother Interview

Interview With Brendan Murphy of Revolution Mother

By: Craig Sternberg

 

SDM: How long have you been drumming, and who were your influences growing up?

BM: I started drumming seriously around age eighteen, but throughout high school I was playing on all my friends’ drum kits.  Then my brother toured with Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters, who was touring with Alanis Morisette at the time.  He had a drum set laying around, and hooked me up with that.  He was one of my biggest influences; also Matt Cameron, John Bonham, Danny Carrey, and probably Jimmy Chamberlin.  They are some of my favorite drummers.

SDM: The new record just came out.  How would you describe your drumming style on this new record?

BM: With Revolution Mother, it’s pretty simple, straight-forward, heavy and to-the-point.  Not too flashy, just hard-hitting and groove-oriented.

SDM: Is there a specific approach you have behind the kit?  Some players seem to play for songs and some seem to play for themselves, do you have a goal or approach behind the kit?

BM: I like to think I’m one of the guys who thinks about the song first.  A lot of times I try to accent the vocals.  If I try to throw in anything flashy, it’s to accommodate vocals or cue vocals, other than that, it’s pretty straight-forward.  I try not to get out of bounds.

SDM: That’s interesting actually, I’ve never had a drummer say they tried to follow a vocalist before.

BM: Not really follow the vocals, but just accent them.  Stewart Copeland was one of my influences, and he was classic for that.  He cued vocals and did a lot of things around vocals.

SDM: Are you familiar with extreme metal drumming at all?

BM: Yes and no.  I have some friends who are into pretty extreme metal, but as far as names go and stuff like that, not really.

SDM: How did you get hooked up with Revolution Mother?

BM: I was in a band called the Twilight Transmission with the bass player.  We pretty much broke up, the guitar player was in another band, and there was a little bit of a break.  I got a call saying he had this thing fall right into his lap, and they needed a drummer for touring after they recorded their album.  That was it, really.  We jammed, then I recorded about four more songs for the album, and I’ve been in ever since.

SDM: Your other band Divinorum, tell us about it?

BM: That’s with my brother and I.  I grew up wanting to be a guitar player, because he was a guitar player.  Him and I still write music and record as much as possible.  It’s his writing, he’s the main guy behind that.  It’s dark, heavy, groove-oriented metal.  I love his writing and everything he does.  We still record and stuff.  That band is kind of centered on mythological to psychedelic kind of lyrics and influences.  I think it’s a mix of Sabbath and Pink Floyd.  Definitely a different approach to Revolution Mother.

SDM: What other bands have you been in in the past?

BM: Divinorum, The Twilight Transmission, Magdelin; that’s pretty much about it, other than jamming with friends and recording with friends.

SDM: You’ve been on a lot of tours with Revolution Mother now.  Which one was your favorite?

BM: The European tour with Funeral for a Friend, that was a great time!  Toured throughout all of Scandinavia, mainland Europe, went down to Italy.  Looking forward to going out there again, that’s for sure.

SDM: You have a tour coming up with Clutch soon.  Tell us how you guys got hooked up on that tour, what touring plans beyond that do you guys have?

BM: To be honest, I don’t know how we got hooked up with that.  Every place we played, everyone said, “man, you’ve got to play with Clutch!”.  It was a good match, they’re one of our favorite bands.  I don’t know how it happened, I just got an email one day saying, “can you do this tour with Clutch?”.  I said, “Hell yeah!”.  We are all looking forward to it.

SDM: Is it hard at all being in a band with Mike Vallely, since he’s also a pro skater and has a lot on his plate?

BM: It’s not hard whatsoever.  It’s the most professional, straight-forward band I’ve ever been in.  Mike is one of the most professional and hilarious dudes I’ve met in my life.  It’s the best experience ever.  We get a little time off here and there because he is doing his skateboarding thing or his movie thing, which is cool, and it’s the best band experience I’ve ever had in my life.