PHOTO BY PETER JANSE
PHOTO BY MATTHEW MCSHEEHEY
Hard Rock/Funk/Pop drummer Clementine adds her powerfully passionate style to every project. As a founding member of the road-dog metal band BOTTOM, she developed a heavy-hitting, dynamic sound. As Phyllis Rudd in AC/DSHE, her athletic and exciting playing helped garner the band top-grossing status in the Bay Area, and throughout the States and the UK.
Clementine is the founding member of ZEPPARELLA. She tackles the best rock drumming ever written with her own emotionally powerful style, bringing the Motown influence of the Bonham groove to the forefront. The musical connection established with Gretchen (guitar) in AC/DSHE creates the bond required to do this great music justice.
This connection seeded another project, THE HOUSE OF MORE, an original music project with all four original members of ZEPPARELLA. Compared to Pink Floyd, Tom Waits and Fiona Apple, Clementine contributed not only the drumset and songwriting collaboration, but also most of the lyrics to the debut album.
When THE HOUSE OF MORE paused, Clementine continued writing and ended up with a solo project, FRANCIS BAKIN. Writing the words and collaborating on the music with Gretchen Menn, a 10-song debut album was released in 2009. The songs are a combination of live and electronic drumming, slide guitar (Gretchen Menn and Ted Savarese), fretless bass (Robert Preston) and things that go “Boing.” The song “Cold Snap” won second place in the 2008 International Songwriting Competition in the Lyrics category.
Feeling the need to take advantage of the Bonham education in an original project, Clementine started another band in 2009, this a hard-rock machine ala The Cult and Black Crowes called THE SOLID. With guitarist Justin Caucutt (Baker’s Dozen), bassist Greg Randolph (Greenhouse Effect) and vocalist Brian Hagman (Black Lamb), the debut 5-song EP features the heavy groove that Clem has become known for.
When The Solid ended, Clem and Justin started STARS TURN ME ON, a songwriting collaboration that draws on country, soul and rock influences. The 11-song record was released January 1, 2012, and features Clementine on vocals, Justin on guitar, and Jim Bove, Judah Collins, Robert Preston and William Cameron filling out the other instruments. Clem and Justin perform the songs both as an acoustic duo and a full band.
In 2014, Clementine released The Collection, a compilation disc of various songwriting endeavors with guitarists Gretchen Menn, Jude Gold and Justin Caucutt.
TOURING/SHOWS: From the beginning of her musical career, Clementine’s goal has been to be onstage every night. BOTTOM was a touring machine, playing 320 shows in 2000 (8x around the States), the Warped Tour in 2001 alongside an evening club tour, 8 weeks and 10 countries in Europe in 2002, and a nearly continual live existence from the beginning of the band to the end. In AC/DSHE, Clementine flew and drove to events around the country and to the UK. ZEPPARELLA plays constant club shows and private events throughout the US. STARS TURN ME ON is playing regularly throughout the Bay Area.
DISCOGRAPHY:
BOTTOM
Made In Voyage (Mudflap Records 2000)
Feels So Good When You’re Gone (Mans Ruin Records, 2001)
You’rNext (Smallstone Records, 2004)
ZEPPARELLA
Live at 19 Broadway (Bonny Boy Records, 2005)
A Pleasing Pounding (What Are Records?, 2008)
THE HOUSE OF MORE
The House of More (self-released, 2006)
FRANCIS BAKIN
Conversation with Francis Bakin (self-released, 2009)
THE SOLID
Arrivals and Departures (self-released, 2009)
STARS TURN ME ON
GoldRush (self-released, 2012)
CLEMENTINE
The Collection (self-released, 2014)
Clementine is often hired for session recordings, and her drumming appears on many releases. For a partial list of such projects, see clemthegreat.com.
Clementine plays Ludwig drums and Paiste cymbals.
