MY-LAH DRUM-KEY (Mila Drumke) (Kate content)

["Xenu's Sister" <vickie@miso.wwa.com>]

(This is cc'd to the Kate Bush list because of
Kate content - Mila covers a Kate song)



My-la Drum-key

That's how it's pronounced.

Mila Drumke

That's how it's spelled.

So, why oh why oh why hasn't there been a
major buzz about her in Ecto? She definitely
deserves all the buzz she can get, but as far
as I know, Charley is the only one who's mentioned
her. He's the one who encouraged me to go
see her in concert, even though he had to work
and couldn't go with me. THANK YOU CHARLEY!

She's absolutely wonderful! I saw her twice in
2 nights, the first show was at Schubas last Thursday,
and the 2nd show was at the Elbo Room on Friday.

On Thursday I went alone, because Chris had to do
some work too. I think it's possible that I was the
only person there who didn't know Mila personally.
See, she's from Chicago (Evanston) though she lives
in New York now, and this show was billed as a
"record release party" for her 2nd album (called,
appropriately enough, _Illinios_) and the place was
filled with her family and friends. Because of that,
she seemed very relaxed and was popping jokes
off left and right, as well as dedicating songs to
various members of the audience. I might have 
felt like an outsider, if not for the fact that she's
just so darn nice. And the music...! I hadn't heard 
one note from her before the concert, because
Charley hadn't brought her CD over yet, but I
ended up a bonafide fan, buying both her CDs
(first one is called _Gathering My Name_) and
a T-Shirt, not to mention seeing both shows
and videotaping both of them.

I also have to mention her wonderful band, who
deserve so much credit for bringing Mila's music
to life. Lyris Hung is an amazing "violin" player,
one I could listen to for hours, no matter whose
music she was playing. I put violin in quotes because
what she was playing at Mila's concerts was a most
unusual instrument. It was sort of like a violin, with
only the string part of the violin remaining intact,
with the rest just....gone. I've seen similar quasi-violins 
played by a member of Big Hat, Ben Mink, and a couple 
other people I can't remember at the moment. Whatever
it was, it sure sounded cool!

Elissa Moser is a bass player who sings backup too.
Her bass was so deep that I could *feel* it! Very very
good.

Mark Sacco is her ("token male" :-) drummer and since
the drumming parts are fairly straight ahead rock drums,
I didn't pay much attention to it the first night, but the
2nd night it sounded more complex and musical to me.
Maybe it was because at Schubas, I thought the drums
were a bit too overwhelming, maybe because I was
so enthralled with Mila's voice and music, I resented
anything that would distract me from listening to her.
At the Elbo Room, the sound seemed more in balance,
and it all came together as a whole. He is a good 
drummer, and he, Elissa and Lyris are all just as nice
and personable as Mila. They seem to get along so
well, in personality and sound.


Charley is much better at describing music than
I am, so maybe he can shed some light. One 
problem with trying to describe her is that she's
not so "out there" as to make it easy. I mean, it'd
be easy if she sounded like, say, Iva Bittova crossed
with Nina Hagen, but that's not the case. Her voice is
similar to Heidi Berry's, but with much more power and
clarity. It's not a voice that is overtly unique, but the
more you listen to it, the more it digs in to your
psyche. The same can be said of her music. There's
nothing overtly unique there, but the songs are all
solid, all very good, and they're like old friends even
the first time you hear them. (That's not a bad thing,
though it can be in some cases)

I think she'd appeal to just about all Ectophiles, but 
perhaps especially folks who like the more earthy, 
folk/rock/alternative spectrum of ecto music. (piquet, 
are you listening?)

Again, her 2 CDs are:

_Gathering My Name_
_Illinios_ (which includes a great cover of Kate's "Under The Ivy")

She has a web page with more information:

http://home.earthlink.net/~miladrumke/

Mila plays live in New York City often, and I highly
recommend the show to any NY-area folks. 

The cover of "Under The Ivy" is fantastic! It's not
"Kate-like" at all though. Wheras Kate sings it with
a (quite wonderful) little girl, trembly voice, Mila sings
it softly at first, then when the chorus comes, she
kicks in with a powerhouse vocal that knocks your
socks off. I would have thought that such a rendition
would ruin the song, but it's quite the opposite! The
power voice still brings out the vulnerability of the
character, like bravado masking fear and doubt. It's
definitely worthy.

Since Mila is, needless to say, a huge Kate Bush fan, I
made her up some sampler tapes of Happy's music, as
well as giving her a CD of Equipoise (the only one I had
a handy extra of) and she said they'd listen to the tapes
in the car on the way back to NY. I hope they like them.
I said what I always say when I give away Happy, "I hope
you like them, but if you don't, perhaps you could pass
them along to someone you know who might like them."
Besides hoping that Mila might like the music, I think
she'd feel a kinship with another struggling artist who
loves Kate Bush and who releases her own records.


Mila Drumke - remember the name.
(And the pronunciation: My-Lah Drum-key)

Vickie