By Brett Ratner

Victor DeLorenzo lives the dream of many musicians.

How many of you aspiring recording artists have thought to yourself that it would be cool to get in a band, make a few hit records, live the rock and roll lifestyle for awhile and make enough money to build your own studio and do whatever you want? I know I have.

Whether he planned it that way or not, the former drummer for the Violent Femmes has done exactly that. After retiring from Femmedom three years ago, he has been hanging out at "Joe's," his personal recording studio. During that time, Joe's has produced demos by up and coming artists such as The Verve Pipe, who now dominate MTV airwaves. More importantly, DeLorenzo has assembled a vibrant group of musicians who also dig hangin' at Joe's. It's with the help of many of these artists that DeLorenzo has produced his second solo effort, the eclectic and highly innovative Pancake Day.

Released on July 1 on Almo Sounds, a new label by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the collection showcases many facets of DeLorenzo's musical personality not apparent on Violent Femmes records.

"I like to think that I'm finally coming into my own after all these years," DeLorenzo said. "In the Femmes, I was pretty much delegated the position of manic drummer and visually-stimulating person of the three of us. I had a lot of showmanship involved with the way I played with the Femmes. During my tenure with the Femmes, I was, on the percussion end of it, more involved with trying to get away with the 'extremely less is more.' I would usually play a snare drum and this device that I invented with a friend of mine called a 'tranceaphone.' What it was was a five-and-a-half -dollar tom-tom with a metal bushel basket on the top of it, mounted on a snare drum stand. At the time, I played it with metal brushes."

When asked what part of the instrument was struck to make a sound, DeLorenzo replied "I hit all of it. It was pretty much going along with my visual style, was that anything came into fair play that was close to me. Between the sound of that snare and the tranceaphone, there lies that sound of the Femmes, coupled with my bastardized version of a traditional approach to playing brushes."

So why didn't the Femmes bash out their pop on standard drums and electric instruments?

"That was our way of getting away with rehearsing and making it fun," DeLorenzo said. "Rather than sitting in some kind of a damp basement, and turn the amps up to ten and bash away, it made more sense to us to be outside on a nice, sunny summer day and just travel really light with acoustic guitar and acoustic bass and a snare drum, and go from all of our favorite corners here in the city of Milwaukee and play music for people. You knew right away what kind of reaction you were going to get just by the fact that if they stayed there to listen or if they kept on walking, or even went so far as to give you money. So it was a pretty easy indicator in that sense of whether or not we were going over. It also taught us a lot about working different crowds, different makeups of crowds."

While DeLorenzo credits the band's sound to bright, sunny days, Joe Pulice, his former instructor, gets kudos for Victor's innovative approach to drumming. According to DeLorenzo, Pulice gave him a strong foundation in fundamentals and rudiments and also hipped him to jazz. DeLorenzo, who has been playing drums since 1970, says he entered the realm of professional drumming with a solid foot in rock as well as "extreme" jazz. He has been trying to combine the two ever since.

"How can I apply what I've learned in the jazz world to what I think needs to happen in the rock world?" said DeLorenzo in reference to his goal as a drummer. "It was always kind of a torture for me trying to figure that out. But I think that I've finally learned that the old adage 'less is more' really applies to what I do. I try to keep things very simple, so when I'm to the point where I absolutely have to play a fill, I'll be more at ease with really bringing something in from the left field part of my playing style. I like that. I like surprises, not only in drumming, but in music in general."

In keeping with a musical interest that transcends drumming, DeLorenzo steps out behind the kit to try his hand as lead vocalists, guitarist, keyboard player and noisemaker.

"I'm fascinated with melodic instruments as well as those of the percussive variety, DeLorenzo said."

While DeLorenzo flexes his multi-instrumental muscles on Pancake Day, he also shares the spotlight with his fellow Milwaukee residents.

"It's like how can I showcase these songs to the best of my ability, using the people that I have at my disposal here in Milwaukee," DeLorenzo said, noting that a lot of the talent came to him. "I have more or less established a collective of people that gravitate around Joe's, my recording studio here in Milwaukee. Out of this pool of people, there is a core group of five people that made the record with me, then there's about 20 or 21 guest artists on the album. I had the ability to work with all my favorite musicians that are here in town."

DeLorenzo notes that session ace Hal Blaine and the legendary Herb Alpert also lend their talents to versions of "Blind" and "Rainwater." These songs were remixed from the album's original version (on DeLorenzo's bFr Recordings) for the Almo Sounds release.

In making the album, DeLorenzo didn't want to forget his Violent Femmes roots. Instead, he uses the Femmes as a launch pad to shoot off in a wide variety of directions.

"At the start of the record, there's a song called 'Peach.' That is my tip of the hat to my history, being the Femmes. Right from there, we move on to what I consider to be other facets of my makeup as a human being."

Obviously being a professional touring musician is part of DeLorenzo's makeup. While he has achieved this journalist's aforementioned dream, Victor wishes to get back in the game. "Blind" was released as the album's first single, the album is out and he plans to hit the road at the end of August. DeLorenzo says it's just his way of getting back to what's important to him.

"I just wanted to make sure that when I got around to the point of doing my own record, that I would really try to consider what was really important to me about music, and thereby highlight those things," DeLorenzo said. "Even though the record took me three years to make, it wasn't because I wasn't working on it all the time, it had more to do with other people's schedules, and writing newer songs that I liked better than one's that were already on there, blah, blah, blah. But I'm really happy with what I turned out with. It's as eclectic as I am as a person."