In the recent issue of AnOther Magazine, drummer and actor Graylen Eastwood speaks about the “pure catharsis” of music, and how it can transcend the written or spoken word
This story is taken from the Spring/Summer 2024 issue of AnOther Magazine:
“Much to my mother’s chagrin, I chose the drums. I was drawn to them. When I’m behind the kit it’s pure catharsis, and in a world of noise, suddenly everything falls silent. The drummer has so much control and responsibility, they’re the timekeeper. As a kid I toured Europe with my dad, an electric jazz bassist, helping him carry his equipment. There were a lot of trains, planes and automobiles. If he wasn’t touring, I’d be in his studio. It gave me a good sense of what this career looks like. It wasn’t always easy to comprehend a parent’s desire to constantly be on the road and away from home, but the older I got the more I understood the sacrifices he made. Rhythm is my focus and music is how I communicate – it always has been. At home, that was the language we spoke and through it I’ve connected with pockets of people across the world. Genres are elements of this language, the language of music and rhythm. Sometimes, rather than texting, my friends and I will just send songs back and forth and, from this, we can decipher exactly how the other is feeling. Somehow music encapsulates and articulates sentiments and feelings far better than a sentence ever can.”
Graylen Eastwood first felt the allure of the drums at the age of 13. Where the New York/Paris-raised and Los Angeles-based drummer and actor should have perhaps focused on the front man, her father Kyle Eastwood, whom she was following on tour, she was distracted, besotted even, by his drummer. Soon after taking up the instrument she realised the responsibility that came with its inherent role of timekeeping – and yet it was instinctive. As she found her beat, she revelled in the risk. Eastwood hasn’t put her drumsticks down since and, last year, she and her bandmates debuted the Egos – an alternative pop-rock group finding its foothold on the LA gig scene. Her work spans music, modelling and acting, demonstrating a dramatic dexterity that was perhaps dormant but, for the granddaughter of Clint Eastwood, very much ingrained in her DNA.
Photographic assistant: George Wolf. Production co-ordinator: Lino Meoli. Post-production: Samy’s Camera
This story features in the Spring/Summer 2024 issue of AnOther Magazine, which is on sale internationally now. Order here.