Jord
Jord Samolesky is the drummer and a founding member of Propagandhi , whose latest record is 2017 ’ s Victory Lap . He also might have been the highest-ranked prospect in the Winnipeg beer league hockey entry draft in his draft year , if there ever was such a thing .
Samolesky Propagandhi
CM : What is the most recent piece added to your live set up and why did it earn that spot ?
JS : Considering the state of the environment , whenever possible , I try to purchase used gear . I ’ ve been successful in acquiring what we need for our band drum-wise via eBay and Kijiji . So , I bought a kit off of a guy on Kijiji here in Winnipeg who had it just sitting in his closet for a number of years . We picked it up last fall and recorded with them for the last record . It ’ s a very good condition used kit .
CM : What is the one thing you can ’ t go without behind the kit ?
JS : I think the one thing that drew us to the kit when we were doing pre-production stuff was that the kick sounded really good . If you ’ d asked me this question last year , it would ’ ve been the snare drums . We ’ ve been rolling with some snares that have kind of appeared on everything since [ Today ’ s Empires , Tomorrow ’ s Ashes ] until this record , but I went with the suggestions of the guys we were working with in the studio about allowing a little more space . The studio , Private Ear here in Winnipeg , has quite a bit of gear sitting around so we tried a few different snare drums … that fit into the relative balance a bit better .
The Gear
Pearl Masters Studio Birch Drums
• 10-in . Rack Tom
• 12-in . Rack Tom
• 13-in . Rack Tom
• 16-in . Floor Tom
• 22-in . Kick
Noble and Cooley Alloy Classic Snare Zildjian & Paiste Cymbals
• Zildjian 15-in . Hats ( two bottoms – one Mastersound & one New Beat )
• Zildjian 19-in . A Custom Medium Crash
• Zildjian 19-in . A Custom Projection Crash
• Zildjian 20-in . A Custom China
• Paiste 20 ” Power Ride
DW 9000 Series Kick Pedal Pearl Hardware
Jord Samolesky ( far back ) & Propagandhi in-studio
PHOTO : GREG GALLINGER
CM : You and Propagandhi frontman Chris Hannah have been playing together since at least 1986 . How has your approach to drumming changed over the years ?
JS : You know , when we first got into this stuff , the music wasn ’ t copying itself as much . It seemed like there was less attention to product and style , so we came at it as “ self-taught ” musicians . We were just trying to figure out how to get faster and do what we wanted to do at the time . Over the years , as we recorded , it was always a bit of a wakeup call when we ’ d go down to California to record in the ‘ 90s , like , “ Holy shit . We need to be more polished .” Then when we did Supporting Caste , we weren ’ t recording to analog anymore ; everything was digital and the Pro Tools method was ubiquitous . It was weird because you could get away with a lot more , but you ’ re also exposed a lot more with everything being under the microscope … The best thing that we did for this record was doing all of the tempo maps and pre-production well in advance .
CM : Speaking of tempo structures and changes for Victory Lap , what can you tell us about how songs such as “ Nigredo ” and “ Adventures in Zoochosis ” – songs that have multiple structural changes – came together ?
CANADIAN MUSICIAN • 51