Your Iconic Image : When Women Rock : From Skillet to Cancer and Beyond

Lori Peters

Ocean Studios

Emerald Escape (music)

Previously a member of Multi-Platinum & Gold selling, two-time GRAMMY® Award-nominated artist, Skillet. Performed on several #1 hit singles. Over 30 years of drumming experience including studio recording, live performance, worldwide touring, & drum instruction. My husband, Chris, and I own and operate Ocean Studios. It's here where we have the capability to professionally record & edit my live drum sessions. We use Pro Tools Studio and have mixing capabilities using analog hardware and plugins. We also write, produce, and record our own music available on Spotify under the name Emerald Escape. I also enjoy volunteering for the non-profit organization called Breast Cancer Can Stick It! Foundation. I'm a 4 year breast cancer survivor, drummer, and rocker!

https://soundbetter.com/profiles/69296-lori-peters

https://soundbetter.com/profiles/138884-ocean-studios

https://open.spotify.com/artist/700jGfxWCVeMtJ0yYXX9R8?si=qBOMgt0MTYasQz-seeNqrg

https://www.breastcancercanstickit.org/

https://tiltify.com/@lori-peters/loripeters4yearsurvivor

www.marlanasemenza.com

Audio : Ariza Music Productions

Transcript : Vision In Word

Marlana  

Lori Peters is a four-year breast cancer survivor drummer and rocker. previously a member of the multi-platinum and gold selling two-time Grammy Award nominated artists skillet. She has over 30 years of drumming experience, including studio recording live performance, worldwide touring and drum instruction. Now with her husband, Chris, she owns and operates ocean studios, while also volunteering for the nonprofit organization called breast cancer can stick it Foundation. Welcome, Laurie.

Lori  

Hi, how are you?

Marlana  

I'm doing well. So, tell us how did you get into music in the first place?

Lori  

Oh gosh, well, I was my first drum kit was probably age four or five. So, I feel like right out of the gate. I was already into music. And then I really didn't get into like school band and stuff probably until junior high. And so, I begged my parents you know, can I they tried me on you know, piano guitar, everything else. I just really wanted to play drums. So, I just had to beg them for a drum set and finally got into school band probably like ninth grade, which is a little bit later. Just bought my own drum set from a neighbor. You know, I saved up my money. And I think that kind of showed my parents that I was really serious and watch MTV nonstop. But I think that's that was my biggest teacher was just watching videos like seriously. headbangers ball, all that stuff.

Marlana  

So, what was it about the drums though?

Lori  

I don't know. I think I just have this internal clock. Internal just beat always going at I don't know, I even before MTV was a thing. I'm know I'm kind of dating myself, but I just was interested in so wherever I would see drums no matter what kind of if it was rock music, anything. I was just always glued to it. So that's kind of how I ever since I can remember really. So how were you able to

Marlana  

make the leap into doing it as a career? Oh, man. Well,

Lori  

it took a lot of work. But I think my story might be a little bit different than maybe the typical stories that you hear. So, I played a lot. In church, I played a lot with a friend of mine, like we'd had local bands probably had two or three local bands and a lot of worship team, you know, playing on Sunday mornings. And then a friend of mine that I grew up with Cory, she started to date this guy. And he was from Memphis. And fast forward. You know, he, he was in a band called skillet, and they got signed really young. And I got to be in their wedding, which is kind of nice. But you know, again, fast forward, they were already two albums into their career. And then Cory they got married, and they and she, you know, join them on the road and eventually join the band. And then I was working one day, and I came across their website. And it just happened to say that Trey McClurkin was leaving the band and I think shout out to Trey because I think people forget about him. He was the original drummer of skillet. It started with three guys. So, and Ken Stuart's and John Cooper, so I, I just couldn't believe that the door was even cracked that much. And not that it was like a gimme, or, like a freebie. Like I had to audition. I did talk to like; I knew John and Cory very well at that at that point. So, I just asked John, you know, what do you think, you know, could you give me a shot? And it's like, well, you know, let's, let's go over buy your drum kit and let's play a little bit. And he was like, well, at the end of it, he's like, Well, I think I think he kind of did better than I thought you would, which was kind of a backhanded compliment, or, you know, it was still a compliment, but I knew

Marlana  

somewhere in there. You just had to look for it a little bit. Yeah,

Lori  

I knew him well enough that I didn't take offense or anything but, and they said, well, let's fly down to Memphis and you know, have you because this was we were up in Wisconsin at the time was fly down and have you play for our manager and the other member Ever since stuff probably about a week later, he called me he's like, Would you like to be our new drummer? And I was like, Heck yeah.

Marlana  

So, what was that, like performing with them?

Lori  

Amazing. Again, a lot of a lot of hard work. So, I guess, you know, the easy part was, was kind of over it. Now the hard, the hard practicing, you know, I practiced for a month, straight eight hours a day. And we are hitting the road. It was their second album called invincible. And that tour hadn't even started yet. The album had just released, it was done. So, I was going to do the invincible tour. So, practice by my by myself pretty much every day for a month. And I know, your question was, how was it playing with him, which was amazing. But I, I have to touch on some of the work that went into please do because I

Marlana  

don't I don't know that people realize that just because you get the gig doesn't mean that the work stops?

Lori  

Oh, yeah, yeah. Um, so a lot. It's not, you know, unknown that a lot of bands play with tracks, and, you know, backing tracks and might have, you know, some strings in there, or background vocals and that kind of thing. But at the time, skillets didn't want to do that. They, they wanted to have the tracks because the invincible album was a lot of electronic key kind of influence. And Korea could only do so much even though she had like a whole city of keyboards and like probably 10 keyboards going on stage. So, he wanted me to learn how to trigger every single like drum loop or whatever was going on. So that meant hitting an electronic trigger, like every measure, literally, literally while I was playing. So, I had like a six pad, Roland active pad on the side, I had multiple triggers throughout my drum kit. So, I'd be playing the regular parts, and the verse, I'd be constantly hitting a trigger on than a, another trigger, I'd have whatever was going on the course. And then to not to not accidentally hit those triggers, or a vibration sometimes from my drum kit would trigger that, especially if I was not on my own drum kit, like, like at a festival or something. If two if two drum stands are touching, it would trigger it. Oh my, well, yeah, it was very nerve racking. So, I had to, I had to learn all the music, and learn how to play on the drums and learn how to trigger all that at the same time. Which was pretty overwhelming for somebody who had been playing for a while but didn't have, you know, quote unquote, professional experience at that point. But that threw me into the deep end. But everything like all those things make you better in the in the end. So

Marlana  

do you think you thrive in the deep end?

Lori  

I've come to learn. Yeah, I think most people do because that adrenaline and that nervousness, I think it's always healthy to have a little bit of nerves. Because if, if you don't, you might be teetering on the side of overconfidence. And that, I think that's when mistakes can happen. Yeah. You just plow through it. And if you do make a mistake, just act like you didn't.

Marlana  

Do you still get nervous? Yeah,

Lori  

definitely. I, I had the pleasure the last month or so of sitting in with a band called dig Nissim, which they're from the Chicago area. And they, they were waiting for their full-time drummer to come on. And they had a few festivals booked. And so, they reached out to me and they're like, Well, can you, you know, would you be interested in doing some live shows with me? I'm like, okay, and that threw me right into the deep end because I'd never heard their music. Sorry, guys. Sorry, Jen. But I'm a fan now. But it's very evanescent skillet, that type of genre. So, I think I meshed very well with that. But I had to me had to hit the kid, you know, for a few weeks of pretty good practice just on my own with their tracks. And get that down pat. And that threw me into the deep end because it's a lot of double kick work, which I'm decent at but everybody's got everybody's gotta practice when you go into something new. Yeah, yeah.

Marlana  

So, tell us a little bit too about what touring was like.

Lori  

Um, you get to see a lot of cool places.

Marlana  

The shows

Lori  

I guess the shows are kind of like, at the end of the day, that's, that's what you're there to do. So that's kind of, especially on a tour you kind of get an automatic mode a little bit. But then you hit the stage. And it's like, it's all brand new again, like a new city, a new set of fans, you know, new venue. So that's really cool. Some days you don't get to see even where you are, it's, you know, maybe it's been a long drive you get in, especially for the drummer you need, you need to be set up and, on the stage, first, because everything kind of gets built around you on, you know, sometimes it's a smaller stage or whatever. But some that sometimes you have a day off on the road, and you get to see some really cool things like I've been in Australia and New Zealand, and we've toured the UK, I think I've been to every state at least twice, Texas, probably 25 times,

Marlana  

does it all blend together after a while, um,

Lori  

a little bit, I mean, some of the scenery, as far as like driving down the highway, that all looks the same. But then once you get off and then into the city, you're like, oh, like, Oh, this is cool. You know, I've never seen this right. And then I always like to see the different venues because sometimes you play a high school gym, and those all look the same. But then sometimes you roll into like, you know, a House of Blues. I'm like, oh, you know, this is cool, or some old theater that a town has renovated and it's really, I guess, cool characteristics and unique. So that's pretty cool. I'm always a sucker for like an old, cool, weird theater that you have never seen before.

Marlana  

And now I hear you what's taught us a little bit about the difference between the different kind of energy between working in a studio and working on stage. Completely different

Lori  

worlds. You get that energy from the fans, and the stage and the lights and the sound is like, you know, bump in. And that's like a whole thing in and of itself. And I love that. And, but then you kind of switch gears when you get into the studio. Because you might have, you know, you have more than more than one take or more than one chance, I guess, to create something. Whereas on stage, it's, this is what we're doing that set, you know it, you're, you know, you're just in that moment of the studio, it's a little bit more creative, and you're coming up with new parts, or you're, you know, hashing things out and, and then you get to go over to the control room and hear it right away. And like, oh, you know, I heard that in my head, and I played it, but now like you hear it coming at you. And it's like, that's a whole nother experience. You're like, wow, I didn't I didn't think that would sound like that. Or, yeah, it's really fun. What is it

Marlana  

like to hear something that you have played on? On the radio?

Lori  

I remember, I think every musician probably remembers that. That first moment actually, was not with skill it was with one of our local bands. Cory started a band called alchemy, which I think somebody's put the whole album up on YouTube, if you want to look it up. But um, John actually played there dating during that time. So, he actually played guitar in that and he's, he's, uh, he plays every instrument, but he played guitar in that, but we just, it was this was before, you know, social media, any of that stuff. So, we kind of just had to grassroots, you know, play where we could in the area. And I can't even remember how we got on the radio, but somebody grabbed it, and they put it on their show, like, late at night out. I want to say it was 95 will rock which is one of the predominant stations in the Chicago area. But that yeah, so long ago, but I remember it was it was planned, and I turned it up. I didn't have any means to record it or take a picture or like I didn't I just say you didn't think of it you just asked one of the things I think sometimes is missing in in the music industry today. I was just in that moment by myself with the radio on. And that moment is just in my head forever. It's not posted anywhere. It's not there's not a picture of it anywhere. It's just that I experienced that by myself. And I think I think sometimes these days, if you went to a show and nobody had a phone or a camera, it'd be a different experience.

Marlana  

Yeah. And you know, I say this as a photographer, I think so much of that is missing to just be present in a moment. And enjoy the moment for the moment. And because if you lose a photo or if you lose your phone or any of those kinds of things You know, you may lose that memory so to speak. But if you sit there and you absorb it and let it in, it's with you forever.

Lori  

Yeah. I mean, thank the Lord for photographers who, you know, professional who have captured those moments over the years. I mean, thank God for that. But I have heard stories, like on, you know, late night talk shows where, like Jimmy Fallon has said, you know, I went to such and such concert. And they were they required that everybody leave their phone like, and it was a whole other experience. Yeah.

Marlana  

Next, I remember those days going to concerts before phones. Now. I'm dating myself.

Lori  

Yeah, me too. I remember. But, well, there's pros and cons.

Marlana  

Yeah. You know, I read online that you talked about, saying that when you hear something that you can add value to you can just feel it talk to me about that little bit. Ah,

Lori  

I remember writing that. I think it was mainly I was talking in the studio setting. You know, if someone wants me to play drums on their song, I think I could say this about Ignis it when I was practicing their music, I felt like it meshed. correctly, it was the style that I enjoyed the style of my playing, you know, went, what? It's like I was in the pocket. So, some styles of music. I'm just I'm just saying that they're not right for this. Yeah, I could do my best. And I definitely can play something very good. But I don't know if I if I added the value that you were looking for. I think some of it's just my own satisfaction. Like do I feel like I did the best I could I met? So, I'll tell I'll just tell people upfront. I don't think I'm right for this.

Marlana  

Yeah. Which I think is huge. Because when it's less about you and more about the outcome for all those involved it because I do the same thing. Yes, I can take photos of someone, but just because I have the ability to doesn't make me the best fit for you and your story.

Lori  

Exactly. Yeah.

Marlana  

So, tell us a little bit about ocean studios and we'll escape. Well,

Lori  

it's kind of me and my husband's baby. It's, we've been married, it'll be 10 years, in a month or so. And so, I feel like it's been a journey through our whole marriage. Because he, he grew up in Seattle, so he's always been interested in music. His name is Chris, by the way. And so, he plays piano guitar. His main instrument is piano, and he taught himself how to play guitar and he sings and so he's always wanted to he's always dabbled in recording. And just over the course of the last decade, you know, it's always about the next piece of gear, or this is going to make me sound better, oh, we need this, or we need that. And, and I went to Columbia College in Chicago for studio recording before I joined skillet, that was what