Lia Braswell spent years behind the drum kit for artists including A Place to Bury Strangers, Le Butcherettes, Sextile and She Wants Revenge. On The Hang!, she talks about why making her solo album Rising meant finally creating something that was completely hers.
Her relationship with music started before she really understood what music was. As a five-year-old in Van Nuys, Lia remembers feeling the vibrations of her older brother playing music in the family garage. After he died from cancer, drums became part of how she processed the loss. By seven she was taking lessons, eventually moving through jazz, alternative rock and the Southern California DIY scene before touring internationally.
That career took Lia to Coachella and stages around the world, but there was another side to it. She tells Scott that after years of putting her own ideas on the back burner to play for other artists, she began feeling isolated and inauthentic. The pandemic stopped the touring cycle. Getting sober pushed things further. Instead of immediately going back on the road, she sat down and finished the record she had kept putting off.
That record became Rising, released by Waxwork Records.
Lia gets into several songs during the conversation. “Romantic Comedy” came from the fantasies and emotional rush that can follow an unexpected connection. “Entitlement” grew out of the uncertainty of 2020, a band breakup and her tendency to turn blame back on herself. “Carve My Name” is tied directly to her late brother and an old family video she didn't see until decades after it was recorded.
Then there’s “Gloomy Gazebo,” the song Lia calls her favorite on the album. Its roots go back to a lonely night on tour in Brighton when she found herself dancing alone by the water and confronted a surprisingly difficult idea: what would it actually mean to fall in love with herself?
Lia also talks about femininity in music, being labeled a “female drummer,” jazz greats Elvin Jones and Max Roach, Ringo Starr, the musicians who shaped her playing, and why her dream studio collaboration would be Kate Bush.
We also get into her new single “If Not for the Chaos,” her work with Derek Coburn, life after getting sober, and the challenge of supporting independent musicians in a world where creating the music is only part of the job.
Watch the episode, tell us which part of Lia’s story connected with you, and subscribe to The Hang! for more conversations with artists about how the music actually gets made.
#LiaBraswell #rising #womeninmusic #femaledrummer #dreampop #musicinterview #TheHangPodcast
Instagram
Bandcamp
CHAPTERS
00:00 Lia Braswell: Drummer, Songwriter and Solo Artist
02:30 Feeling Music Before Understanding It
05:12 Losing Her Brother and Discovering the Drums
12:26 Ringo, Jazz, Bowie and Lia’s Musical Influences
17:30 Women, Femininity and Inequality in Music
26:30 Why Lia Braswell Finally Made Music for Herself
33:54 The Sound and Emotion Behind Rising
37:48 Romantic Comedy, Entitlement and Carve My Name
48:06 Gloomy Gazebo and Learning to Love Herself
58:43 Why Lia Braswell Wants to Work With Kate Bush
The Hang! Podcast – Presented by Almost Famous Magazine
https://www.almostfamousmagazine.com
