Jess Gowrie is a Sacramento-scene drummer and vocalist whose career threads through a long list of local and touring rock projects, including Red Host, The Drama, I'm Dirty Too, Horseneck, and the touring band of Chelsea Wolfe.[1][2][3] A fixture of the Sacramento music community, she is repeatedly framed as a longtime local insider whose collaborations connect several of the city's notable acts.[4][1][2]
At a glance
- Drummer (and, in some projects, vocalist) rooted in the Sacramento scene.[1][2]
- Member of the "now-defunct rock group" Red Host[4] and also played in The Drama.[1]
- Co-founded the two-piece I'm Dirty Too with Zac Brown in 2009.[1]
- Joined San Francisco Bay Area band Happy Fangs for their album Capricorn (recorded Jan. 2015).[5]
- Drummer for Sacramento-area band Horseneck.[2]
- Toured and recorded with Chelsea Wolfe, whose album Hiss Spun (2017) grew out of their renewed collaboration.[2][3]
- Co-founded the two-piece Mrs. Piss with Chelsea Wolfe in 2017, signed to Sargent House.[6]
Early life and musical background
Gowrie began playing drums around age six or seven and was largely self-taught, spending extensive time learning by playing along to her favourite drummers.[7] Her first band formed at approximately age 14.[7] She also took band class in high school, but had a negative experience because an older drummer in the class prevented her from playing.[7]
Role in the scene
Gowrie is consistently described as a drummer embedded in the Sacramento music community. By 2012 she and Zac Brown had been "acquainted through the local scene for seven years," placing her active involvement at least as far back as the mid-2000s.[1] Across the sources she appears as a connective figure who moves between projects and collaborators rather than as a single-band performer.[1][2][3]
Bands and projects
Red Host and The Drama
Gowrie drummed in Red Host, described in 2009 as a "now-defunct rock group."[4] Chelsea Wolfe later recounted that she and Gowrie "had a band in Sacramento years ago called Red Host," and credited Gowrie with teaching her "a lot about being in a band, being a good front-person," and introducing her to "great, heavy music."[3] According to Gowrie, their circle during those mid-2000s Red Host years was listening to bands like Marilyn Manson and Queens of the Stone Age, which by extension introduced Wolfe to that heavier sound.[7][8] Gowrie was also a member of The Drama.[1]
I'm Dirty Too
In 2009, Gowrie formed the two-piece I'm Dirty Too with Zac Brown to explore rawer, stoner-rock and grunge styles they could not express in their other bands; at the time Brown was performing with Doom Bird, Dusty Brown, and Tycho.[1] Neither had previously fronted a band, and the duo handled their own vocals.[1] The band funded its first full-length, The Downhill Dive, through a Kickstarter campaign that reached its goal with 39 backers (one notable donor was Matthew Woods Wilhoit of Prieta and Nine of Swords), and recorded 12 songs in April, splitting time between The Hangar and Dusty Brown's home studio, with Kris Anaya of Doom Bird producing and Robert Cheek engineering.[1] In the project Gowrie sang while drumming and contributed guitar riffs to the writing.[1] The CD release show was at The Townhouse Lounge on Aug. 3, 2012.[1]
Gowrie also appeared as a guest drummer at Dusty Brown's Club Pow performance at The Press Club on Jan. 25, 2009, sitting in for a couple of songs on her Rocket Shell drum set.[4]
Happy Fangs
Gowrie joined the San Francisco Bay Area band Happy Fangs — built around vocalist Rebecca Bortman and guitarist Mike Cobra — recording the album Capricorn with them in January (released 2015).[5] She replaced the drum machine used on the band's first album, and her addition was credited with broadening the band's sound; she met the band through mutual friends.[5] Happy Fangs played Blue Lamp in Sacramento on Nov. 20, 2015.[5]
Horseneck
Gowrie was the drummer for Horseneck, alongside guitarist/vocalist Anthony "Pag" Paganelli (also of Will Haven), guitarist Lance Jackman, and bassist Lennon Hudson.[2] The band self-released its debut full-length Heavy Trip (out Feb. 17, 2017, at Harlow's), recorded at Jackman's studio The Dock, expanding their sludgy, riff-forward metal with keyboards and horns.[2] Because of Gowrie's touring commitments with Chelsea Wolfe and Paganelli's duties in Will Haven, Horseneck was expected to keep things regional.[2]
Chelsea Wolfe
Gowrie drummed for Chelsea Wolfe, a musician raised in Roseville and Sacramento.[2][3] Wolfe described the pair as friends who had a band together in Sacramento (Red Host), separated for about seven years after Wolfe left to pursue her own project, and were "pulled back together about two-and-a-half years ago"; their renewed songwriting became the basis of Wolfe's sixth studio album Hiss Spun (released Sept. 22, 2017).[3] Their writing sessions, with guitarist Ben Tulao, took place at Wolfe's home.[3] Wolfe and Gowrie's reunion is named as the catalyst for that album.[3]
Mrs. Piss
In 2017, while touring in support of Wolfe's Hiss Spun album, Gowrie and Chelsea Wolfe co-founded the two-piece rock band Mrs. Piss.[6] The duo signed to Sargent House Records.[6] In Mrs. Piss, Gowrie plays drums, guitar, bass, and programming.[8] The band released their debut studio album Self-Surgery on May 29, 2020 via Sargent House.[9]
Equipment
Gowrie holds a TAMA drums endorsement and plays a custom Bubinga kit on loan.[7] She has a long-standing relationship with Rocket Shells, a custom drum company; according to Gowrie, it is also where she works.[7][10]
Local status
Gowrie is treated throughout the sources as a Sacramento-scene local. Red Host is described as a band she and Chelsea Wolfe "had in Sacramento,"[3] and she had been part of the local scene for at least seven years by 2012.[1] Her collaborators and bands (Dusty Brown, Doom Bird, The Drama, Horseneck, Will Haven) are all anchored in Sacramento.[4][1][2] (Confidence: high.)