Rock and Pop: Interview with Sara Leigh from Kentish Town band Jarmean?
Published: 11 February 2010
by ROISIN GADELRAB
MENSWEAR designer by day, drummer by night – hands up if you’re picturing a man.
We are in fact talking about Sara Leigh, Kentish Town-based drummer with vaudeville punk ensemble Jarmean? and all-girl rock ’n’ roll band The Berettas.
Naturally Jarmean? began in a Whitechapel warehouse, where Sara lived with a bunch of musicians.
The name came from their self-styled mockney roots – Jarmean? – a mash-up amalgam of speedily spoken doyaknowwhatimean? Geddit?
Their next single Bad Penny, is released in March.
Sara said: “It’s our first video – about the Bank of England and how the economy increases and decreases like what’s happened with the recession. Everyone was getting lots of money and now all of a sudden they want it back – like a bad penny.” Shooting the video, she said “was really fun, we picked the coldest day for 30 years”.
“We were out there for 15 hours. We wanted it to look Dickensian and there was snow and it worked out really well.”
Many of their songs centre on London. Sara said: “A lot of our lyrics are quite political. A lot of bands are produced at the moment, they’re pushed out there, there’s been a lack of message within songs.”
And you’ll be lucky to find her with her feet up. Up until the night before this interview, Sara had had four hours sleep in 40 hours. She tours, designs, created the band’s artwork, is a session musician, and has just returned from a trip to Cyprus with Noise Ensemble, a drumming group similar to Stomp – without the bins.
But despite the mixed reaction from people when they realise she’s a drummer, Sara enjoys every second.
“I’ve been playing for about 12 years,” she said. “In teenage years people would look at me and think I was somebody’s girlfriend. It’s not as bad now because I’m a bit more confident. Sometimes you get asked if you’re the singer. It’s the last thing they’d expect but there’s more female drummers now.”
And there’s little prospect of her resting soon: “There’s so much I want to do. As a drummer I’m just getting to the stage where I’m earning money and that’s where my passion lies, more than design, even though I love both. I just love creating things, I always have to be doing something, I can’t keep still.”