FAUSTINE HUDSON: DRUMMER GIRL'S GOT IT

Faustine Hudson is one of those drummers you can't take your eyes off of. A dead-on lead foot wearing a floppy hat, a tattered sundress, and heels. She's like Van Gogh's Irises-there are other paintings in the museum, but something about the movement in Van Gogh's lines won't let you go. Faustine's drum motion is circulatory, furtive, and blurring. She's the bombastic, hair-tossed K Records Iris. There's a wily, jutting sense about her timekeeping, and she usually drums with a big smile plastered wide across her face. Faustine plays beats like a giant plays with a bus. The bus is huge to normal people, a toy to the giant. She intimidates me for multiple reasons.

What bands do you play with?

Pearly Gate Music, Chain and the Gang, Eugene Wendell & the Demon Rind, John Totten, and Whalebones.

What is it like being a kick-ass female drummer? There are so few women drummers. Do you experience sexism?

I have this mentality that I can accomplish whatever the fuck I want. My sex doesn't ever cross my mind as being an advantage or disadvantage. I'm a musician and have put 20 years into it. I was in San Francisco about five years ago, at an old blues joint watching old blues dudes do their thing. I pulled out an old, shitty tape recorder to record the show. When the singer/ guitar player saw it, he started freaking out. He was saying he was gonna sue me and have me eighty-sixed from the place. I told him he could have the tape, that I was a musician, and that I respected what he was doing. He wasn't having it, saying I was no musician, which made me snap a bit. My response was something like, "I can shuffle better than anyone in this town. Here is the fucking tape." He said, "Why don't you sit in with us then?" So I did. And by the end of the night, I went from the asshole who was trying to bootleg a blues jam to the friend from Seattle, drummer girl, who can shuffle like no other around them parts.

What do you think of men who wear Utilikilts?

Burning Man.

I'm sure you intimidate dudes all the time. You intimidate me, but mainly because you're wearing a Utilikilt.

I'm the person on the side of the stage checking out the players' style and learning from it. I have a very strong personality, but by no means do I think I'm better than anyone. My mind frame is more of "What can I learn from people?" Trent, what's your deal with Utilikilts?...

Read the rest of this interview at thestranger.com/music. Faustine's Birthday Bash: Sat Aug 28, Sunset Tavern, with Whalebones, the Quiet Ones, Low Hums.