Strumbellas’ drummer releases new track ‘Pour Another’: Listen here

No matter how hard you work, Jeremy Drury works harder. Very few people have worked so single mindedly towards a career in music than the drummer of the Strumbellas. If most of us have dreamed of the life of a rock star, since he was a kid growing up in Lindsay, Jeremy put his nose down and worked.

In high school, as a student of LCVI, Jeremy was the driving rhythm of the punk band “Fat Chance,” signing to a label and moving to BC in an attempt to make it.

When Fat Chance disbanded he jumped from band to band, always surrounding himself with people who came out of the Lindsay music scene. He played and toured in Jay Spectre (Hip Hop), Sunlit Ambush (Hard Rock), Cedar (Rock) until he settled on The Strumbellas. A few Junos and one of the biggest singles in Canadian music history later, Jeremy has reached what he has been working for since he was a young teen. He’s making a living playing music.

The Strumbellas took a much-deserved break after winning the Juno for “Spirits” and the success of the last album ‘Hope.’ But Jeremy didn’t stop working. He took the time to release his own music. Success breeds a certain level of freedom and Jeremy is taking this time to share who he is beyond the Strumbellas. Speaking to The Lindsay Advocate Drury explains: “The Strums experience has provided me with the ability to explore other opportunities, and it’s quite freeing from a creative standpoint.”

“This project started as a bit of a bucket list challenge to myself. I’ve been writing songs since I was in high school, but I’ve always felt like a much more proficient drummer than songwriter, so drums were always the role I focused on. What initially started as three songs to keep me busy during some downtime from the road has turned into a full album — I hope to have everything released over the next few months.”

Remember what I said about how hard he works? Jeremy plays every instrument on this album (with the exception of “some guitar solos that are currently outside” of his ability.)

“Doing as much as I could myself was a bit part of the “challenge,” Drury says.

The track is called Pour Another and The Lindsay Advocate is pleased to have the premiere for the video here. Drury quotes Homer Simpson while explaining: “The song is about alcohol, the cause of and solution to, all of life’s problems.”

As the Strumbellas grew, Jeremy needed to adapt to the reality of being in a band full time, which gave cause for some serious internal reflection. This song was a part of that. “It definitely parallels my own life in the sense that so many of my problems and challenges were ultimately due to my own behaviour.  In a lot of ways, the song is a bit of a signal to myself that it was time for a change.”

‘Pour Another’ started as a song pitched to the Strumbellas but eventually moved away from its roots sound and into the pure rock sound it has now.  Jeremy cites the Weakerthans and the Traveling Wilburys as influences in the sound.  “I’m very influenced by the bands I’ve played in and the songwriters I’ve worked with.” he says.

The music industry is a fickle place.  The days of million selling albums and mansions on the hill have been replaced with endless touring, promotion and work.  Being a rock star is more of a blue collar job than it ever was before.   Laying out the industry as he sees it, Drury explains: “I think one thing I’ve learned over the years is that the music biz is not an industry with any guarantees whatsoever, and if making money is your primary motivator, chances are you’ll have a bad time.”

He started as a 14-year-old from LCVI playing in a piano punk band called “Fat Chance” and has gone on to tour the world and win awards as a member of the Strumbellas. Now with a the freedom to explore his own voice musically, Jeremy reflects on the path that brought him here.

“If everything went sideways tomorrow, I’d still be proud of the effort I put in, the experiences I had and the music I was part of. I recognize how extremely fortunate I’ve been to have crossed paths with so many people over the years, that helped me grow musically, and those on the business end that make it all feasible… the old “takes a village” saying runs very true. I like my village, life is good here.”