'How I Got the Beat' (Book Excerpt)
GUEST POST: Laura Bethita Neptuna on Gina Schock
Hard to believe it has been a year since the release of Forbidden Beat: Perspectives on Punk Drumming.
To call this essay collection a “labor of love” would be a huge understatement. I mean, talk about your niche topics for a book!
I privately dismissed the idea several times while considering it, certain that it was way too specific for any publisher to take a chance. But in the back of my mind I always knew that if anybody was going to embrace this concept, it would be Tyson Cornell at Rare Bird Books.
Tyson’s belief in the project gave me the confidence to put the feelers out with some of my punk rock and writing heroes. Once again, the response was overwhelmingly positive—often enthusiastic. Other punk fans agreed that drummers are the thrashing, crashing heart of our favorite bands and deserved more appreciation.
“Much has been written about the music style, politics, and attitude of late-seventies bands, but interestingly little gets said about the drumming. The machine-gun guitars and guttural vocals are endlessly detailed, but this was also an era when there were many great drummers creating their own beat narrative.”
— John Robb, Music Journalist/Musician
That’s how I ended up with the most amazing table of contents for Forbidden Beat:
MUSICIANS: Lucky Lehrer, Tré Cool, Lori Barbero, Jon Wurster, D.H. Peligro, Phanie Diaz, Mike Watt, Lynn Perko-Truell, Ira Elliot, Bon Von Wheelie, Joey Shithead, Pete Finestone, Joey Cape, Marko DeSantis, Steven McDonald, Kye Smith, Benny Horowitz, Shari Page, Urian Hackney & Rat Scabies.
WRITERS: John Robb, Curt Weiss, Hudley Flipside, Matt Diehl, Jan Radder, Jim Ruland, Eric Beetner, Ian Winwood & Mindy Abovitz
“The drummer is not the expendable guy, he’s the fucking heart in the center of the rock and roll universe.”
— Mike Watt, Minutemen/fIREHOSE
In celebration of Forbidden Beat’s first birthday, I wanted to share one of my favorite essays from the collection.
Laura Bethita Neptuna, drummer for the Neptunas, is an old friend of mine from the Southern California punk scene. She’s somebody that I wanted to include in this collection from the moment it came together, so I was thrilled when she agreed to write about one of her biggest drumming influences—Gina Schock of the Go-Go’s.
Without further ado, enjoy this very personal and insightful essay by my friend Laura.
How I Got The Beat
By Laura Bethita Neptuna
(Full chapter excerpt form Forbidden Beat: Perspectives on Punk Drumming)
It’s not always obvious who has had the greatest influence on a musician. I’m a drummer in an all-girl surf band called the Neptunas with some not-so-obvious drumming heroes.
Bill Stevenson of the Descendents and Black Flag, Keith Moon of the Who, and Clem Burke of Blondie are a few of my major influences. But the drummer who stands out most for me is Gina Schock of the Go-Go’s. We come from different worlds and our playing styles are different, but her impact on my path as a drummer is massive.
The Go-Go’s first record, Beauty and The Beat, came out in spring of 1981. I was fifteen years old and it became a Go-Go’s year for me. I wore the grooves out on my copy of that record and saw the Go-Go’s live at the Greek Theater in October and at my high school in Palos Verdes, California, in December. It was at those live shows that I came to understand girls could, and did, play rock music. My soul was imprinted with the dream of doing what Gina did. The obsession with playing music was lodged in my spirit, though it would take a decade before it manifested itself. There are so many things about the Go-Go’s and Gina that are at the core of how and why I’ve played drums in two all-girl bands, Ballgagger and the Neptunas.
I’ve always thought of Gina Schock as a warrior. Her brother took her to her first rock show—the Who and Led Zeppelin— when she was eleven. It was then and there she knew exactly what she was going to do with her life. She wasn’t sure what instrument she’d play but she knew she would play rock and roll. Gina became part of the Fells Point scene in Baltimore, joining her first band at thirteen. Her first drum kit was a Japanese Lido Supreme. She was in Baltimore’s first punk rock/new wave band, Scratch-n-Sniff. She hung out at John Waters’ protégé Edith Massey’s thrift store on Broadway, playing drums for Edie & the Eggs. When Gina was twenty-one, after Edie & the Eggs shows in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, Gina packed everything she owned into her father’s pick-up truck and left for Los Angeles because it was what felt right to her.
I was always inspired by Gina’s drive. She saw the Go-Go’s play at a party and thought they were great. Shortly thereafter, she became their drummer. When Gina first joined, they only practiced once every couple of weeks. Gina brought focus, drive, discipline, and determination to the Go-Go’s and demanded they practice four or five nights a week. The band quickly got better through all their practicing together and their music evolved into the great pop songs I came to love.
I’ve always thought Gina’s drum hooks were a key part of Go-Go’s songs. She doesn’t read drum music, instead writing her parts based on what she feels the song is asking for. Every note in each song is figured out during the songwriting process with her bandmates. I love that she doesn’t like to mess with what works and never improvises when playing live. Gina eventually upgraded her kit, recording all the Go-Go’s records on (and touring with) a Rodger’s kit with the same WFL 1957 snare she found in a Boston pawn shop. She also developed a habit of feeling the sticks before playing live, using a heavier stick for her left hand.
As a lifelong fan, these are details I find compelling about her playing. She is such a physical drummer, with every part of her body playing the song (I noticed this about Keith Moon and Clem Burke, too). Her mouth is usually moving, and it looks like she’s counting the beats, but she’s not. She’s just in it, deep.
I began dreaming of playing drums in my own band after I saw the Go-Go’s twice in 1981. Knowing they wrote and played their own songs was a huge influence on me, and I loved that the drummer was a girl! I thought maybe I could do it, too.
—Laura Bethita Neptuna, The Neptunas
The first rock and roll show I attended was AC/DC’s Back In Black tour. After that, I became fascinated with rock and pop music. I quickly developed my everlasting attraction to melody and hooks in music, which led me to the love of surf and other upbeat music like the Ventures and the Go-Go’s. I looked everywhere for biographical information about rock musicians—especially the female ones—reading press and listening to the radio. The Go-Go’s were an LA band, and since I grew up there, I heard about them early and often. Their popularity provided me with lots of access to information about them and about Gina.
As a teenager, I listened feverishly to Rodney Bingenheimer’s Sunday night radio show on KROQ. The Go-Go’s were one of the bands Rodney talked about, which thrilled and inspired me. I began dreaming of playing drums in my own band after I saw the Go-Go’s twice in 1981. Knowing they wrote and played their own songs was a huge influence on me, and I loved that the drummer was a girl! I thought maybe I could do it, too.
It wasn’t until the nineties that my sister, Julie, and I created our first band, Ballgagger. I started with a Tama Rock Star kit (a Japanese kit, like Gina started with) and played with my sticks inverted using the butt ends, leveraging the weight of the sticks to hit harder (similar to Gina’s favoring a heavier stick for her snare hand). Using Gina as my role model, I played with all my might, using my entire body. My drum parts were completely invented out of feel and what the song needed.
Our band, Ballgagger, was the first all-girl band to hail from LA’s legendary South Bay punk rock scene. It was the same scene where I’d gotten to see countless Descendents, Black Flag, Minutemen, the Last, and Redd Kross shows while growing up. I was focused and determined, pushing my band to bring music to people’s lives like other bands had done for me, bands like the Go-Go’s. We played a lot of shows, put out a record on Theologian Records—the same Hermosa Beach record label that launched Pennywise—and we toured all over the United States.
That experience later led me to joining one of my favorite surf bands, an all-girl trio called the Neptunas. I have played in the Neptunas ever since, recording many records and performing across the US, Europe, and Mexico. Playing drums has given me the most amazing experiences of my life, in many ways thanks to seeing Gina Schock play with the Go-Go’s when I was a teenager.
I play drums with the sole purpose of making people feel great because that’s how Gina makes me feel when I see her play. She works her ass off to bring the beat, and I strive to do the same.
—Laura Bethita Neptuna, The Neptunas
Gina Schock, a tiny, mighty gal from Baltimore has influenced this six-foot-tall chick from across the country in all the best ways. While our stories are vastly different, her impact on me has loomed large. Learning about Gina’s early start in punk rock and her vision for her band gave me the confidence to fiercely push my own female punk rock band to achieve everything we could. The hooks Gina brought to the Go-Go’s songs informed my playing and still do.
The first surf song I ever saw played live was in 1981 when the Go-Go’s played “Surfing and Spying.” That performance hugely influenced my love of surf music, the music I have now played for decades with the Neptunas. The way Gina pours herself into every song and performance pushes me to employ my own brute, physical force when I play drums. Gina’s desire to have a blast, combined with her tough work ethic and openness to allowing drum parts to evolve organically, have all contributed to my evolution as a drummer. I play drums with the sole purpose of making people feel great because that’s how Gina makes me feel when I see her play. She works her ass off to bring the beat, and I strive to do the same. Just feeling the song and giving it what it needs—nothing more, nothing less.
I met Gina at a show she played at a club in Orange County, California, in the mid-nineties. I watched her play from behind the stage so I could see everything she did up close. It was really mind blowing, but even better was talking with her after the set. I told her that I play in an all-girl surf band and that I’m hugely inspired by her. She was incredibly humble.
She asked me, “Are ya havin’ fun?”
My answer was, and remains, “Yes, Gina. I sure am.”
Laura Bethita Neptuna is a member of the Southern California female surf/garage/punk trio, the Neptunas. Laura played drums and contributed vocals on many of the Neptunas releases over the last two decades including two full length releases, Mermaid A Go Go (on Altered State of Reverb) and Let Them Eat Tuna (on Sympathy For the Record Industry).
Five Favorite Quotes From Forbidden Beat
A Handful Of Selected Quotes From S.W. Lauden
“I always felt like we were doomed to failure, but what did I know? I loved playing with Brian, and I loved Dave and the Captain and being in a band with them, but, you know, I thought it was going to last about three months.” — Rat Scabies, The Damned
“I always watch the drummer, since I was young and saw bands play at music festivals. Of course, I’d watch the singer and guitar player, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the drummer — to me that was the coolest thing I’d ever seen.” — Lori Barbero, Babes in Toyland
“Some kids thought it was cute to jump onstage, skank around, and try to steal my spare sticks. I was playing fast, but it was nothing for me to reach out, grab the sticks out of their hands, and not miss a beat.” — D.H. Peligro (Rest In Peace)
“I will always be evolving as a drummer. You can be happy, but never satisfied. ” — Phanie Diaz, Fea
“I knew exactly what I wanted to do in life. There was never any ‘Cover your bases. Learn a trade.’ Fuck that. Just play drums. I didn’t even graduate high school. I was like ‘I’m not playing drums enough right now because I’m wasting time at school.’” — Tré Cool, Green Day
THANK YOU…
To all the incredible Forbidden Beat contributors for sharing their talents, thoughts and experience; Rare Bird Books for taking a chance on a crazy idea; and Planetary Group for their promotional support.
And to every reader, punk fan and musician who picked up a copy of Forbidden Beat, helped spread the word on social and/or wrote a review (those ⭐️s matter!).
Maybe one of these days we’ll get around to creating a second volume…
Can't believe it's been a year already! This book is killer & a fun read. A follow up edition would be awesome.