■ Samantha Maloney Background information

Born         : December 11, 1975. New York, New York, United States
Genres      : Heavy metal, Hard Rock, Electronic Music
Instrument : Drums
Acts          : Hole, Mötley Crüe, Scarling, Eagles of Death Metal,    Peaches


Samantha Maloney is an American musician born in New York City on December 11, 1975.
She is best known for playing in the bands Hole, Mötley Crüe, Eagles of Death Metal and Peaches.


▶ Early career
Samantha first discovered her passion for music in her upper middle class neighborhood in Queens, New York, receiving her first drum-kit at the age of five. Drumming immediately became the central focus of her life.

At the age of fourteen, the young musician enrolled at the High School of Music, Art and Performing Arts, F.A.M.E. in New York City, and for the next three years she studied percussion extensively. At the age of sixteen, she auditioned for the post-hardcore band Shift as a replacement drummer, but so impressed the band her position became permanent.

While playing in Shift, Samantha was also the star of her school's basketball team, and in 1993, had to decide whether or not to pursue a serious basketball career with college scholarship offers or to continue drumming in her band Shift. Samantha chose to stick with Shift who released two independent records on Equal Vision Records in 1994 and 1995. Two years later, Shift signed to Columbia Records and made their major-label debut album titled, Get In. Following the album's release the band toured diligently, gaining attention because of their star female drummer, a portent of what was to come.


▶ High profile career
In 1998, Maloney was offered an audition in Los Angeles for the role of drummer in Hole, a position vacated by Patty Schemel. She aced the audition, was accepted by the band and so officially joined up with Courtney Love, leaving Shift behind to join Hole. At 22, Maloney was on the road with Hole at the height of their popularity, playing sold out arenas and touring extensively in the U.S., Australia, Japan, and the United Kingdom whilst also appearing on television and in magazines, as well as Hole's recordings and videos. In 2000, Hole went on hiatus and Maloney was offered the drum chair for Mötley Crüe to fill in for then drummer Randy Castillo, who was ill at the time. She gave the aging rock band a refreshed boost to their live shows, having previously learned to drum by practicing along to their records such as Shout At The Devil and Theatre Of Pain. The band's longtime fans were surprisingly receptive to the drummer's inclusion.

As her rigorous touring schedule with Mötley Crüe came to a close in January of 2001, Maloney made the move from New York to Los Angeles, California where she continued her musical career. In February, she contributed to music for Daryl Hannah's documentary about a stripper called Stripnotes. In May, she worked on The Desert Sessions Vol. 7 & 8 with Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) , Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees) , and Chris Goss (Masters of Reality). In June, she and Scott Ian from Anthrax composed music for the Mr. Show movie Run Ronnie Run as "Titanica". During this time Maloney also added live drums to the score for the film Black Hawk Down. In 2002, Maloney, alongside Melissa Auf Der Maur (Smashing Pumpkins/Hole), Paz Lenchantin (A Perfect Circle), and Radio Sloan (The Need) created a new band called The Chelsea. Sadly, the powerful all-female supergroup only played one show before quickly going their separate ways.

Following this non-stop whirlwind career of working with and for others on their music, the drummer decided to start composing her own album, and in mid-2003 she began to turn down high-profile gigs in order to start her solo project, pausing only to briefly fill in as the drummer for the band Scarling. In 2004, just as she had completed her first batch of songs, Maloney received a call from former Hole frontwoman Courtney Love. Love asked Maloney to fly to France (after drummer Patty Schemel departed for the second time) and add drums to Love's otherwise complete [solo debut], America's Sweetheart.

Returning to the States, Maloney was put in charge of assembling Love's live band, reconnecting with guitarist Radio Sloan, finding guitarist Lisa Leveridge and bassist Dvin to form the core of the fierce female band. After playing with the band for a few weeks Love decided to call her new band “The Chelsea” after Maloney’s previous endeavour, yet the band was put on permanent hiatus after a small number of gigs. However, Maloney was soon approached by old friend Josh Homme to drum for his side-project Eagles of Death Metal. Maloney accepted the gig and toured successfully with Eagles of Death Metal opening for Queens of the Stone Age all over the world. Samantha is currently on tour with Electroclash punk artist Peaches' live band, The Herms along with JD Samson and Radio Sloan in support of her 2006 release Impeach My Bush.

※ Impressed after watching "Motley Crue's  Lewd Crued and Tattooed (2001)"