Paddy Boom Official Site
According to Wikipedia, drummer Paddy Boom (a.k.a. Patrick Seacor) was born in Singapore. “Last time I checked” said Paddy , “I was actually born in Boston, Masachussetts in 1968. I have no idea who started that Wikipedia page, but regardless, I haven’t gotten around to changing it.”.
I am Paddy Boom and art has been in my family blood for ages but I’m not sure where my musical genes came from. I used to joke with my mom that there was a musical ‘mail man’ who must have dropped by the house sometime. Wink wink.
My earliest memory of sitting behind the drums is when I was about 10 years old. My parents were bringing our family to a party at their friends’ house, the Morelli’s, who lived across town in Chappaqua, NY. This was a “grown-ups” house party, late 70’s style, when parents got smashed, smoked cigarettes and drove home.
My mom said the Morelli’s son was a drummer in a band called Tuff Darts in New York City. His name was Johnny ‘Bullet’ Morelli. I thought that was cool plus he had the rock and roll look to go along with it (funky hair style and a shirt with the collar up). Johnny would later become the drummer in Blue Angel, a band lead by (then unknown) Cyndi Lauper. During the party, Johnny brought me downstairs to show me his drum kit . It seemed gigantic and I was excited wondering how it all worked. I picked up the sticks and gave a few whacks. The cymbals seemed really loud and I didn’t realize you needed to use your feet.
Somewhere around that same time period, a high school band came to my elementary school and put on a ‘rock’ show for all the kids in the cafeteria auditorium. They played Wings ‘Band on the Run’ and I got mesmerized watching the drummer. I wanted to do that too. After the gig, the band sat on top of fold-out tables and all the kids got autographs from the band. This was big time.
In 1980, after repeatedly watching my older sister’s Betamax tape (yes, I said it) of Clem Burke (from Blondie) bang out ‘Dreaming’ on Saturday Night Live, I was convinced I was going to be a drummer. He made it look so cool and animated, his passion and style were infectious. Shortly thereafter, I did, indeed, make my first drum ‘sticks from wooden curtain rod holders and play the cushions of the couch with visions of grandeur. Oddly enough, I met Clem while on tour with Scissor Sisters in 2005 and I told him that story. I felt like a dork but he was totally cool.
lnitially self-taught, I bought my first Slingerland drum kit in 1984 from a neighbor for a whopping $500 (a ton of money for me at the time) and I got busy learning to play all my favorite rock radio drum beats of the day. Any song with a big drum intro ruled; Zeppelin, The Clash, U2, Steve Miller, Areosmith AC/DC, J.Geils , Judas Priest and Blondie. When a good friend turned me onto drummer Stewart Copleland of the Police, that changed my whole game.
In 1985, a bunch of friends and I started a band in senior year of high school and did a total of 2 public performances; one at our local high school and one at a graduation house party, where an ill-placed bass speaker fell onto someone’s head during the show.
In September 1986, I moved into the Sloane House YMCA on 34st in Manhattan to attend the School of Visual Arts where I immediately got into the live music scene at clubs like the Ritz, CBGB and Danceteria. I saw skate-punk band J.F.A. (Jody Fosters Army) at CBGB on my first day of ‘college life’. After a few months of hanging out in the hallways I started playing with The Sloane Rangers, an ‘art’ band in my dorm, Our sound was Killing Joke meets Neil Young and our first proper gig was at CBGB in April of 1987.
We recorded several independent records (one produced by Mark Spencer guitarist/producer-Blood Oranges/Freedy Johnston/Lisa Loeb) and a few close calls with major labels. We lived and rehearsed in a house in Brooklyn for a year, then moved to the Lower East Side of Manhattan and slugged it out for a few more years in the clubs. Our biggest shows were played with some of the seminal acts of the day; Lemonheads, Meat Puppets, 7 Seconds, Dumptruck, Bob Mould, Grant Hart, New Model Army and Live Skull to name a few. I left the Sloane Rangers in 1992 to join the popular NYC group Faith.
Faith, led by Felice Rosser, had been gaining popularity and receiving tons of critical acclaim with an unprecedented 7-page feature story in the Village Voice. In addition to be being a leading component of the Black Rock Coalition, Faith was being courted by several labels. My first gig with Faith was opening for Joan Osborne on New Years Eve 1992 at the Wetlands Club in downtown Manhattan. After several studio sessions with various producers including Fred Smith (Television/Blondie) Andy Cox (English Beat/Fine Young Cannibals), Albert Bouchard (Blue Oyster Cult) and Sal Principato (Liquid Liquid) we released the “Time to Fall in Love Again” cd in 1997 and gained national attention on both college and local radio.
Faith played constantly and highlights were shows with: Toots and the Maytals, Joey Ramone, Vernon Redi, Me’Shell N’degeocello, Skunk Anansie, Luscious Jackson, Youssou N’Dour, Special Beat and War.
At this time I was also studying a lot of African percussion, mainly djembe and sabar drumming for dance classes at The Djoniba Dance and Drum Center and also at Fareta, both in Manhattan. I studied under African drumming legends Ladji Camara, Mamady Keita, Lansana Diabate and Cheikh M’Bye. In the mid 90’s I journeyed to West Africa on two separate occasssions to Guinea and Senegal to further my rhythmic studies. African rhythms opened up my mind to a whole new form of expression and musical thinking.
After auditioning for a ‘drummer wanted’ ad on the Craigslist web site in early 2003, I joined the Scissor Sisters. We were virtually unknown except for a buzz in the UK Dj world. After a few months of rehearsal we were looking to get onstage with our newly-completed band line-up. Scissor Sisters were previously an electronic act and had never had a drummer. My first gig was at the club Centrofly in Manhattan. We got signed to Polydor UK later that spring. The success of Scissor Sisters in 2004 was evidenced by the band having the number-one selling UK record at 2.5 million copies. We toured relentlessly for almost two years, graced the cover of many magazines, had countless t.v appearances and played festivals world wide.
On the heels of the success of our debut album, Scissor Sisters followed-up with the album “Tah-Dah” and again toured extensively throughout the world in early 2006 and well into 2007. The following year 2008, the band took time off and with it came personal and creative changes. I left Scissor Sisters in an amicable split and since have been working with various projects both musical and artistic.
I’m extremely excited about the release of the new Bing Ji Ling album due out in the spring of 2011. Bing has got an exceptional voice and songwriting abilities to match. Bing Ji Ling means ‘ice cream’ in Chinese, and tt’s dripping with soulful and funky 70′s charm yet with a modern, dance floor sensibility. The new record features members of Antibalas, Phenomenal Handclap Band, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. I played various percussion instruments on the recording (produced by Daniel Collas/Sean Marquand of the Phenomenal Handclap Band) and the Bing Ji Ling band (from NYC) will be playing shows this summer.
Stay tuned and thanks for reading along!
Paddy