CMS 2008 Winner Amanda Viereck debuts her tap solo to "Let Go" by Frou Frou
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Tilly and the Wall's Percussive Power
Indie pop music and…tap dance? Omaha-based band Tilly and the Wall brings the two together, featuring 31-year-old tapper Jamie Williams on percussion rather than using a traditional drummer. Williams and her fellow band members Nick White, Neely Jenkins, Derek Presnall and Kianna Alarid have released two albums since 2004 and toured the U.S. and abroad, most recently traveling across Europe. Earlier this year, we caught up with Williams—who also plays the guitar and writes songs—to find out what it’s like tapping for a band.
DS: How did the group get together?
JW: Neely, Kianna and I are from Omaha, NE, and I met Nick and Derek on a tour for the band Bright Eyes—we had a friend in common. We kept in touch, and when they moved to Omaha from Atlanta we began writing songs together, just on guitar and keyboards. Then, we asked Kianna and Neely, who I’d been in bands with before, to come and start writing with us.
DS: Whose idea was it to have a tap dancer as a percussionist?
JW: I had tap danced in other bands (Park Ave. and Magic Kiss) alongside the drums as additional percussion. With Tilly, we were just writing songs and didn’t have a drummer yet, and I thought, I’ll just tap to keep a beat until we figure out what we’re going to do. It was honestly one of those magical moments—I still remember tapping on that song [“Sad For Days,” on Tilly’s self-recorded EP Woo!] really clearly. We never talked about looking for a drummer again after that.
DS: What made you start tap dancing? What’s your background?
JW: I’ve been dancing since I was about 3 years old. I grew up doing all the traditional stuff: tap, jazz and ballet. I was always drawn to tap and spent most of my free time studying it. Then, in my late teens and early twenties, I focused solely on ballet. After years of trying to fit that mold, I discovered that while I truly love ballet, I didn’t have the soul of a ballerina. I gave up dancing for several years, but I still taught ballet and beginning tap classes occasionally for fun. It was around this time that I started tapping in bands as additional percussion. I absolutely loved it and started to find my own voice as a dancer.
DS: What kind of practice goes into being a tap dancer in a band?
JW: When we’re on tour, I focus on performing. I warm up for about 45 minutes before we play, and then give the show my all. When we’re home, I try to tap a couple hours a day, to stay in shape and keep my cardio up. Now we’re working on our third record, so there are days I will just tap all day, trying to work out parts.
DS: Being the backbone/time keeper of a band is quite different from performing as a dancer. What are the differences, and what makes each enjoyable?
JW: Tapping as the main percussion for a band is extremely challenging. I’m such a perfectionist that it can take me more than a month to write a part for a song. My tapping within the band started out with more traditional steps. Now, after being with Tilly for four years, I write parts based on sound or creating the right rhythms. As far as tapping goes, it’s kind of its own style. Being in Tilly is honestly a dream come true. Tilly is now my career and I’ve been able to tour and see the world because of it. I create art that I love, and I’ve done it on my own terms.
Aaron Tolson is a tap dancer, director of the New England Tap Ensemble, associate producer and co-creator of Imagine Tap and a professor of tap at Plymouth State University. He also toured the world with Riverdance for six years.
