Keep up with Jamie here:
http://www.ulcerate-official.com
I started drumming my first year of high school after figuring out I could play ‘Wipeout’ pretty convincingly. Took a year or so of lessons at school, then figured out the rest on my own from sheet music and videos etc. Heard bands like Obituary and Bolt Thrower very early on and decided that this style of music might just be the best thing in the world. So, Ulcerate guitarist Mike H and I started jamming around with all sorts of bizarre attempts at music throughout high school, I joined a hardcore band for a couple of years at age 16 and started to get a feel for live shows. Towards the end of high school, started really hearing funk and jazz drummers for the first time, and had my mind blown – and ever since then been I’ve playing catch-up on feel and dynamics.
Ulcerate kicked into gear end of 2000 when we started to find a common sound that we were aiming for, taking cues from the darker, dissonant end of the musical spectrum. 9 years later, we’re finally starting to get comfortable with where we’re headed and what we want to achieve musically.
Jamie Saint Merat Interview:
SDM: How old were you when you started playing?
Jamie: Started actually hitting things at high school, age 13/14, but had air-drummed for a couple of years before then.
SDM: Did you play in a school band or any drum corps?
Jamie: Nope. Drum Corps don’t really exist in New Zealand, and the high school bands over here are pretty embarrassing. Jammed with Ulcerate guitarist Mike all through high school though, we have cassette tapes of shit so awful you would not believe.
SDM: Who are your top 5 metal influences?
Jamie:
Alex Hernandez, ex-Immolation
Kai Hahto – ex-Rotten Sound, Wintersun etc
Tony Laureano – ex-Angelcorpse
John Longstreth – Origin
Romain Goulon – ex-Disavowed, Necrophagist
SDM: Who are some other of your favorites?
Jamie: I don’t find too many metal drummers to be that inspiring – fast/tight yes, but in terms of actual melodic ideas on a kit, there’s only a handful who I find actually creative. So asides from the influences I mentioned above, Derek Roddy comes up with some nice stuff, and has easily the best feel for blast beats around. Big Dave Haley is a beast, and of course when Cryptopsy actually sounded like Cryptopsy, Flo Mounier was a real pleasure to listen to. My favourites are guys like Benny Greb, Jojo Mayer, Carter Beauford, Marco Minneman, Thomas Lang, Aaron Spears, Jeff Porcaro, Gavin Harrison…
SDM: Let us know 5 CD’s that are in your current rotation
Jamie:
Deathspell Omega – Fas – Ite, Maledicti, In Ignem Aeternum
Exmortem – Funeral Phantoms
Immolation – Close to a World
Sigur Rós – ()
Bohren und der Club of Gore – Dolores
SDM: What do you do to warm up before a show?
Jamie: Just have a tap around on a pad, the usual singles/doubles/rudiments, and mimic playing double kick on the floor. Nothing exciting, mostly just hitting as hard as possible to get the blood flowing. A few stretches here and there. The first song is always gonna be a little stiff, so that ends up being the actual warm-up for the set.
SDM: Do you read music? Regardless of answering yes or no, please tell us how it might have effected your playing?
Jamie: Well I can’t claim to sight-read but I know my way around drum notation no problem. I used to have a better handle on melodic theory when I was studying it at school, but a lot of that has faded away!
In terms of affecting my playing, I’m not convinced that having learnt melodic notation has really changed me at all. But percussive notation, of course! It provides an awesome way of visualizing patterns and phrases – if you can’t figure out a part by ear, seeing it written down clears the smoke away and you’ll be able to see how each beat affects everything else around it. This is especially helpful for anything remotely polyrhythmic, because you can see in isolation what each limb is up to.
SDM: Can you tell us about the gear you use?
Jamie: Well, at the moment I’m using PDP LXE shells, maple with Kurillian Birch finish. 10″, 12″, 14″, 16″ toms, 2x 22″ Kicks, 14″ snare. I’m using the shallow depth on the toms, which is fucking great. Cymbals – I use mostly Sabian, HH and HHX, the occasional AAX, but I prefer the gentler sounds of the hand hammered ranges, just a lot more musical sounding. But I’ve got a couple of Zil-bels, an Alchemy ride. I also use the standard Axis AL-2 pedals, Axis E-kits and Alesis-DM5 module.
SDM: If you could give one piece of advice to young drummers, it would be…
Jamie: Buy a metronome, get a teacher and get them to show you the standard rudiments from day one.
SDM: Who gave the best live performance you’ve ever seen?
Jamie: Drumming-wise, any of the clinics I’ve been to have been phenomenal – Lang, Mayer, Greb, Smith, Weckl. Metal-wise, Romain Goulon with Necrophagist, Derek Roddy with Hate Eternal, Dave Haley with Psycroptic/The Amenta. And can’t forget NZ’s best band Jakob, Jason Johnston is a fucking great player.
SDM: Aside from drumming, what else do you like to do?
Jamie: I’m a web designer by trade, have been in the industry since I got my degree in Media Arts. So I have pretty broad skills in web, print and motion mediums. I look after all of Ulcerate’s art direction and visual material. I also dabble in audio engineering, guitarist Mike and I have got a modest setup, and we produce all of Ulcerate’s albums (as well as other bands we like working with here and there). Basically, we like to keep the entire creative process as self-contained as possible.
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