Gemma Clarke
Encyclopedia
Gemma Clarke is a professional musician who was previously the drummer for The Suffrajets
The Suffrajets
The Suffrajets were a British all girl four-piece rock band formed in a school playground by childhood friends Alex Gillings and Gemma Clarke...

, The Krak and Babyshambles
Babyshambles
Babyshambles are an English indie rock band established in London. The band was formed by Pete Doherty during a hiatus from his former band The Libertines, but Babyshambles has since become his main project . Babyshambles has released two albums, three EPs and a number of singles...

.

Babyshambles

For a year, Clarke played drums for the ex-Libertine Pete Doherty
Pete Doherty
Peter Doherty is an English musician, writer, actor, poet and artist. He is best known musically for being co-frontman of The Libertines, which he reformed with Carl Barât in 2010. His other musical project is indie band Babyshambles...

's band Babyshambles. She left in January 2005 citing disagreements with the management.

After leaving the band, she wrote an open letter which read as follows:

“Dear Peter,
I would like to make it very clear about my reasons for making the stand that I have.
I will not continue to work under the management that you have chosen for the band as I could no longer be part of a machine that I feel is destroying you. I love you, the music, Patrick, Dru and Babyshambles.
Please be safe and be careful. You are a great artist and have been a massive inspiration to me.
Thanks for the experience and for a great time – keep safe and don't forget to call me...good luck for the future.
xxxgemmaxxxx”


Clarke drummed on early Babyshambles tracks including the single version of "Killamangiro
Killamangiro
"Killamangiro" is a song by English band, Babyshambles, released in November 2004 through Rough Trade Records. It achieved respectable chart success, peaking at #8 on the UK singles chart....

" and its b-side "The Man Who Came To Stay". She also attended the band's XFM
Xfm
Xfm is a brand of two commercial radio stations focused on alternative music, primarily indie pop, and owned by Global Radio.-History:Xfm was created in London in 1992 by Sammy Jacob, who later co-founded NME Radio in 2008. Xfm subsequently expanded to a network of four stations; there are...

 session in December 2004, played on the Zane Lowe
Zane Lowe
Zane Lowe also known as 'Zipper', is a radio DJ and television presenter. He was born in New Zealand and grew up in Auckland, where he was a presenter on the local music station Max TV, before moving to England...

 recordings of 27 October 2004 ("Fuck Forever", "Do You Know Me" and "My Darling Clementine") and made a few television appearances with the band including Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...

, CD:UK
CD:UK
CD:UK was a British music television programme. Originally run in conjunction with SMTV Live, the programme was first aired on ITV on 29 August 1998 to rival the BBC's Live & Kicking and was the replacement for The Chart Show, which had been airing on the network for nine and a half years.In...

, Hero2Hero and on Tim Lovejoy
Tim Lovejoy
Timothy Paul Lovejoy is a British television presenter most famous for hosting Saturday morning football programme Soccer AM alongside Helen Chamberlain for over a decade.- Career :...

's Allstars show.

The Suffrajets

Before and after her time in Babyshambles, Clarke toured incessantly with The Suffrajets. They released four singles in 2005/2006. "Sold" was released in May 2005, with "Everything You Do" following in October. "Going Nowhere" was released on 27 March 2006. Their next single "Worthy" was released on 26 June 2006. Their album Crooked Mile went on release in September 2006, only available via their website. However, after spending 12 years with the Suffrajets, and co-founding the band; the group eventually split in 2007.

The Krak

She then played drums in a band called The Krak, touring London, England and most of Europe including Belgium, France and Luxembourg. They released two singles 'Madame Riviere' (available through militant entertainment) in June 2008 and double A side 'School Disco (the kazoo song)/Estate Dwelling' in June 2009 – available via notonyourradio records. The Krak also had extensive press and media coverage, playing guerilla gigs in shops, in London Zoo Gorilla enclosure, Space-hopping on the millennium bridge(!) and the Orient Express... They played at Glastonbury 2008 and made a collaboration with Inde/rock band The Sea, doing a cover version of well known 'Out Of Space' by The Prodigy. They also made a video for this track, which includes footage of the Glastonbury performance. They also headlined London venue The Scala in January 2009. All videos of these events and songs can be found on most main websites.

Spitfire

Clarke ended The Krak in October 2009 and put together new project Spitfire in January 2010 (with 2 previous members of The Krak; Tom Lattimer and Tom Keane). The band did a week tour in Ireland and are now touring England. www.thisisspitfire.co.uk or www.myspace.com/thisisspitfire

Her family own rehearsal studios in Old street called Rooz Studios (www.rooz studios.com) and newly refurbished pub/venue in Holloway Road Nambucca.

Her ex-boyfriend is Snell, the ex-drummer from the punk band Towers of London
Towers of London
Towers of London are a Punk Rock n Roll band, fromLondon, England, who formed in 2004. Their music mixes elements of rock and heavy metal music with 1977 style British punk...

.

Gemma has also taken up writing, and has an article entitled "For the love of music" here : http://louderthanbombsmagazine.com/
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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