In the late 1970s, Kate Schellenbach was just another trendy New Yorker who joined a talented group that valued funk and punk as the foundation of their sound. Their ears were attuned to the fresh noises coming from the South Bronx. Beastie Boys was the name of her band, and they had a big star. 

Schellenbach’s success was paved by her work with the Beastie Boys between 1981 and 1984. And she assisted the group’s continued growth till its dissolution in 2000 and subsequent reformation in 2011. Nothing could prevent them from succeeding, as evidenced by their performance and the presence of the best female drummer. She performed during their punk era and continued to do more.

Schellenbach took a vacation from performing, going out, and going to clubs. She attended Hunter College in New York and received a BFA in studio painting as her degree. She was employed by an archive as a picture researcher. She did not, however, spend much time away from the action.

She also joined the Lunachicks, a dependable punk band, for a brief period of time at the start of 1993, but departed when Chip English joined the group.

Time with the Beasties

From 1981 through 1984, Kate Schellenbach, a musician, was a founding member of the Beastie Boys as well as their Young Aborigines and Triple Sly Crew side projects. In addition, Schellenbach has played in a variety of her own bands, with Luscious Jackson being the most renowned.

Despite Schellenbach’s brief membership in the Beastie Boys, the band benefited much from her efforts. When the Beastie Boys were a hardcore band in their early years, Schellenbach was their drummer. She collaborated with Adam Yauch, Mike Diamond, and John Berry to record the songs for Polly Wog Stew (1982), Cooky Puss (1983), and Some Old Bullshit (1984).

Schellenbach was a member of the Carcinogens from 1978 to 1979, a group that existed before the Beastie Boys became a hardcore band. The Carcinogens split off into a group named Skiples in the latter half of 1979, then in 1980 they created Toxic Shock. She also belonged to the Nagasaki Newsboys and the X-Patriots.

Initially, Schellenbach was just a lover of the downtown music scene. She would go to almost all of the performances held downtown. She quickly transitioned from being a spectator in the audience to a performer on stage. As things started to get off, Schellenbach found herself travelling outside of New York with the Beastie Boys thanks to her unique blend of abilities that made her one of New York’s top drummers. Schellenbach continued to play in the band long into 1984 even after Adam Horovitz took over for Berry on guitar in 1983. The band’s image evolved as Rick Rubin’s influence grew, though, and this finally resulted in Schellenbach’s resignation.

Berry quit the Beastie Boys in 1982 when they transitioned from punk to hip-hop, and Horovitz, at sixteen, took his place. They requested Schellenbach to depart a few years later as they sought to establish, in Horovitz’s words, a new “tough-rapper-guy identity.” They could have relied a little too much on this persona.

Following her departure from the Beastie Boys, Schellenbach found success with the band Luscious Jackson, which played together from 1991 until 1999. Schellenbach played drums for Dusty Trails, the Indigo Girls, the Lunachicks, Ladies Who Lunch, and the Kostars after Luscious Jackson split up.

She then worked as a segment producer on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and won an Emmy Award. She then joined Ellen DeGeneres in playing the bongos. As if that weren’t enough, she continued on to often work as a producer.

Female on the drums

On January 5, 1966, Schellenbach was born in New York City. She became an American drummer and TV producer who has played in some of the greatest bands in history and has seen better days.

Blondie, The Clash, and The B-52s were some of the bands that Kate Schellenbach grew up with in New York City. She was a key member of a group of young people from different parts of the city who appeared to frequent the same concerts and record shops, such Dave Parsons’ Rat Cage Records. She spent her adolescence performing with these youngsters and attending as many shows in as many clubs as she could. Notably, she attended CBGB’s the summer before starting high school to see The Student Teachers. The drummer, Laura Davis, had gone to the same school as Schellenbach and was only a few years older. Jimmy Destri, a member of Blondie, established a female drummer-led band, which encouraged 13-year-old Kate to start playing the drums.

Kate is a multi-talented woman with a variety of abilities that help her advance in her work. She is more than simply a top drummer of the twenty-first century. Although Kate Schellenbach engaged in innovative, genre-defying work, her most notable pieces are connected to the 1990s artist Luscious Jackson. Her main success came from the alt.girl outfit band, which helped her advance her exceptional drumming abilities.