The Mother Superior – Created By Thomas Truax

A celebrity mechanical drummer that never turns up late…or wasted

Thomas Truax makes his living a musician with a bunch of archaic Victorian looking instruments after years of exasperated rehearsals with real musicians.

Do you basically want to give a biography of yourself? You as a unique instrument maker.

I realized about 12 years ago that I’d been going through notices of drummers in New York members to get together in the same rehearsal room a time or two a week was becoming a challenge and drummers were particular problem. I decided at one point I would build my own drummer, mechanically so I wouldn’t have to deal with them not showing up for rehearsal. That was when I made Cadillac Beats Spinner-Wheel, somewhat like Mother Superior, but a lot larger and barely functional. I basically did an open-mic, playing an acoustic guitar and singing; and the guy that was running it, offered me a gig. I never had an ambition to be a solo performer or an acoustic singer/songwriter. Hesitant to take it, I mentioned I had been building this mechanical drummer and he said, “bring that in and we’ll do a show with that.” I did and all my friends that showed up for the gig said “you gotta stop doing your band and do this; this is fantastic,” haven’t looked back since.

How many instruments have you built since then?

Probably over 2 dozens; A lot of those have ended up in the backroom or in storage somewhere.

Can you just run through some of you more notable instruments, what you call them, and what they actually did?

I built one that would sort of fold up and fit into a giant suitcase with some other things and that was called Sister Spinster. She’s stands about 2ft tall and has these wheels that are about 10inches wide. I made another one that was in between the sizes of the two previous ones: Mother Superior, which sounds bigger, is bigger and has a lot more functionality than the ones prior. The Hornicator is built on an old gramophone horn; I sang into the big side of the horn; it had a good reverb to it, so I decided to mic that. I had this thing called the ‘space phone’; I found this spring that hangs off the end (of Hornicator); it makes this strange reverb sound when plucked. From there, I added strings, other springs stretched kind of like a harp between the round end of the horn and the stem of the horn and pluck guitar pickups on that; then, put some frets on it so it’s tunable. I run that through a loop pedal and build up layers of vainness and sing on top of it all. The String-a-Ling: made on a bongo drum that I got from Mexico. I started looking for as many things where you pull a string; it winds back in, and makes a noise at some point. I’ve kind of attached all these to the drum head and also a stretch of dryer tubing which is expands and contracts; there’s one string that stretches from it that I can attach to something in the venue or have somebody hold it and stretch it and pluck it like a guitar string; I’ve got that directly connected to a context microphone

Could you describe how Mother Superior mechanically works?

With Mother Superior, she has a motor and you know most basic rhythms, they are circular; Three wheels on her, they all have expendable mallets on them, color coded and various arrangements of these mallets will make her hit different drums at different times; there’s a variable speed control so essentially between songs I have to run back to the machine and manually readjust the setup for the next song; each time I make a new song, I often add new mallets and drum bits.

Was Mother Superior’s shape inspired by anything? Was it just purely functional the way she worked out?

Well an aesthetic, keeping in mind that’s going to be featured on a stage for live performances and should look nice.

As far as drummers go, what can it do that other drummers can’t?

It’s more what she doesn’t do that other drummers do, like over play or fill holes or playing too sloppy she can keep a steady beat forever.

Can you tell me a bit about the construction process (of Mother Superior) and any mishaps or lovely accidents that happened?

When I decide it’s time to start a new song, I often will add new bits to the drum machine to create something different or a new rhythm, very trail and error. Initially my idea was to have this big wheel playing a card; in fact, I did use that for a while just expanded on it.

How easy is it to program her?

It’s as simple as moving the levers in and out and changing the speed controls. I’ve got a foot controller to “say” stop and “start” and that’s basically really easy as long as you know where you’re going.

How would you describe her personality?

Silent but strong, she doesn’t fart in the van; she doesn’t eat the rider or drink all the beer from the rider in the back of the van.

Why does she rock?

Because she doesn’t like classical.

Why is she flawed?

She’s heavy to carry.

Which musical legend would she best collaborate with?

I’ve got her on contract for life.

What songs can we check out that showcase her talent?

‘It’s All Happening Now’ from my ‘Sonic Dreamer’ album of last year up on Youtube and ‘Joe Meek Warns Buddy Holly’.

What did Mother Superior teach you the most about yourself as a musician?

My timing isn’t as good that I’m best working with a metronome. I can’t blame any flaws in the rhythm on her actually.

Does it surprise you that so few musicians make their own instruments?

I think it surprises me. Initially when I first started doing this, I kind of expected to find a whole theme of performers who did this kind of thing.

Watch the Mother Superior in action in the video for Thomas Truax’s ‘It’s All Happening Now’.


Thomas Truax 'It's All Happening Now' by WowtownTV

Find out about more ‘Inimitable Instruments ‘ on ClashMusic.com HERE.

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