Warpaint is an all-female indie rock band based in Los Angeles continuing to prove that girls rock. The band formed in 2004 but didn’t release its debut album until 2010. Since then, Warpaint has received rave reviews from the Guardian, Rolling Stone and Pitchfork for its dream-like yet intense music.
Warpaint: Undertow
The Frame interviewed Stella Mozgawa, Warpaint’s drummer, about how Hanson helped her start drumming, what she’s thinking on stage and how she’s living her teenage fantasy.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS:
When did you first know you wanted to play the drums?
I remember this boy in primary school who was the school drummer and he never let me sit at the drum kit. As soon as I got to high school, which was the following year, it was kind of like if someone tells you that you can’t do something, you want to do it a million times more.
What did your parents think about you playing the drums?
My parents weren’t too keen on the idea of me choosing the drums after piano, and guitar and bass. They made me prove to them that I really wanted to do it. So I took lessons, and I would set up a little drum kit on the couch with different pillows, and I’d have these really big sticks and just learned how to play to records. I was just desperate to learn how to play Hanson songs.
That was my first drumming inspiration, ’cause I saw this kid who was my age playing the drums in this band and I thought, ‘Well, I could do that as well.’ When my dad bought me the drum kit, I felt that was the– I got parental approval.