Patty Schemel is an American drummer, songwriter, and comedian best known for her work with the platinum-selling band Hole. She is on the board of the Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls in California, a non-profit organization that teaches girls all over the world that it's okay to be loud. She continues to perform, teach, and tour, currently with the band Upset, and lives in Los Angeles with her wife and daughter.
"Though Hit So Hard is ultimately a deeply personal story, it's
also the story of one of the most successful bands of the '90s:
Hole...Schemel describes her years with the band with the same
unflinching honesty and eye for telling detail that she brings to
all parts of her life."--LA Weekly, -
"Hit So Hard is a compulsive read about the best worst times
of a music scene torn apart by darkness and overshadowed by myth.
Schemel writes with clear-eyed bravery about the chronic disease of
addiction and offers hope for anyone still struggling to survive
the '90s."--Jillian Lauren, author of Some Girls and Everything
You Ever Wanted, -
"Unlike most insider grunge manifestos related to Hole or
Nirvana, the centerpiece of Hit So Hard is not the rise and fall of
the Cobains, though Schemel's time with both Kurt and Courtney is
documented tenderly...The takeaway that Hit So Hard leaves you with
is that being an addict is forever. You get clean and fight for
your life, or you die. This is a story about needing to fill the
void so badly that you end up, barely alive, coiled at the pit of
it...Never have I read a more honest memoir about
addiction."--Mish Way of White Lung, via Pitchfork, -
"Hit So Hard is an engrossing read which offers an inside
glimpse into the world of addiction and the horrific effects it has
not only on the addict but on all those around them. With the
opioid crisis in America continuing to grow, Schemel's story is the
harsh reality that so many people are living right now. The book
also gives some great insight into the inner workings of the
Seattle music scene at the onset of grunge making it a must read
not only for those who know someone struggling with addiction but
for music fans as well."
--BackstageAxxess, -
"Hit So Hard is the story of Patty's life yes, and the
journey into her addiction and her way out of it, yes, but it's
also the story of survival-of being a daughter to divorced parents,
of being gay, of being in a seminal band and then not being in it.
It's a look from the inside of the Seattle rock scene in the early
90s."--BARB Magazine, -
"[A] heartbreaking memoir...Schemel's recounting is bluntly
terrifying and provides invaluable insight into the ravages of
addiction-and just as importantly, the possibility of recovery...A
must-read for any grunge fan."
--Publishers Weekly, -
"[In] Hit So Hard, [Schemel is] a de facto historian of
1990s Seattle, a notably visible gay female musician, and a
clear-eyed observer of the hell she's been through."
--Flood, -
"[Schemel's] book is the very definition of a cautionary
tale...[It] not only affirms [her] as a musician, it also speaks to
the healing power of a creative life."--The Creative
Independent, -
"[Schemel] gives readers an intimate look into her experience as a
member of Hole, one of the most iconic bands of the
'90s."--Nylon, -
"[Schemel] was one of the first female drummers to make it onto a
major label...Hit So Hard offers a woman's view of a tumultuous
era. It's an often harrowing but ultimately triumphant story, and
Schemel tells it unflinchingly."
--Buffalo News, -
"A candid story of a life in rock...Schemel writes with wit and
easy humor."--Bust, -
"A clear-eyed account of her myriad failures and successes in and
out of the band that made her famous...Ms. Schemel pulls no
punches. As a new perspective on an already storied era, Hit So
Hard doesn't disappoint...[It] arrives at a moment when the
prevalence of opioid abuse has been dubbed a health crisis, an
epidemic whose implications affect every strata of the social
order. In this context, it sheds light on the interpersonal aspects
of addiction and recovery."--Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, -
"A harrowing account of [Schemel's] rise, fall and ultimate
redemption...A cautionary tale, to be sure. But it's one that
Schemel relates with a forthright lack of self-pity, even leavening
some of the darker moments with humor."--Seattle Times,
-
"A smart, clear-eyed look back at the 1990s alt-rock
scene...[Schemel] writes with humor and insight."--Philadelphia
Inquirer, -
"An intimate, brazen account of [Schemel's] battle with drugs and
alcohol, as well as the volatile years she spent drumming for one
of the 1990s' most infamous rock bands-and she spared none of the
harrowing details."
--Magnet, -
"An unflinching look at her life and the role drug and alcohol
addiction played in it...Hard to read at times, Schemel's staunchly
frank examination of her life, the good and bad...is a fascinating
read."--Innocent Words, -
"As much a memoir as it is both a cautionary tale and a work
designed to help lift the stigma of being an addict...Engaging and
unflinchingly honest...It's also an account of being in a famous
band and working in the music business, as well as what Courtney
Love and Kurt Cobain were like in private."--Spectrum
Culture, -
"As the drummer for Hole during the band's heyday in the early to
mid-'90s, Patty Schemel is one of the era's most well-recognized
and respected percussionists...Hit So Hard details her life leading
up to her becoming a professional musician in some of the world's
most famous bands...[and] the experience of being on the road, in
the studio and at home with her generation's most lauded
artists-herself included...Readers will find themselves transfixed
by Schemel's tales of life as an addict, but also a working
musician during one of the industry's most tumultuous yet exciting
times."--Billboard.com, -
"Both an insider's look at the '90s grunge scene in Seattle and a
personal portrait of addiction."
--Peach Atlanta, -
"Explores her struggles with addiction, her departure from Hole,
being homeless in LA, and her inspiring road to
recovery...Schemel's memoir is as jaw-dropping as it is
heart-breaking."--The Fix, -
"Frank reflections on how being in a band fuels
addiction."--Pitchfork, -
"Gripping...There's a commendable lack of celebrity kiss-and-tell
here...Hit So Hard is really the story of a woman who got horribly
lost and found herself only when she got back behind the trap
set."--Portland Oregonian, -
"Hit So Hard is one of the most honest-but moreover, one of the
most useful-addiction memoirs in recent history...There simply
aren't that many books like this where the rockstar is
female...Schemel is not only an apt explainer of drug culture,
she's also a gifted humorist in that fine tradition of blackness
that can really only emerge from the depths of such despairing
pursuit of death by overdose. Her description of the nature of the
highs is much clearer than any of Lou Reed's compositions. Her
explication of how to buy hard drugs from strangers in strange
cities and get them on the airplane is reported with a level of
detail that does more to examine junky psychology than any
straightforward testimonial could. Her analysis of the comparative
merits of various rehab and detox procedures is deeply wise to the
nuances of how best to kick, and why these programs are not one
size fits all. Hit So Hard pulls no punches. It's an unvarnished
and unsensational account of how Schemel survived-how she outlasted
her addiction, but also how she coped with coming out, with the
sudden fame and chaotic demands of Hole, with the prolonged agony
of Cobain's legacy, and so on...Schemel's memoir is proof...that
through a committed combination of clarity and wit, even the most
enabled and damaged rockstar might get a second chance at both love
and music."--PopMatters, -
"Not a book one should approach lightly or 'just' for the behind
the scenes tales. If you want them, you'll certainly get them, but
they're not why you should read...[Schemel's] voice is an engaging
one throughout, honest but not tendentious, often vivid in her
sense of exact detail."
--The Quietus, -
"Often harrowing, frequently heartrending, and always insightful,
Hit So Hard is far more than rock myth-making or a
redemption story. In looking back unflinchingly at the literal
highs and crushing lows of her life, Schemel's yielded a complex,
compellingly readable memoir that possesses a truth and humanity
few books of its kind ever truly capture."--Bob Mehr, New York
Times bestselling author of Trouble Boys: The True Story of the
Replacements, -
"Patty Schemel has lived a million lives and come out the other
side. An amazing story, amazing book."--Mark Lanegan, -
"Patty Schemel is a woman who survives to fight and fought to
survive, and her memoir is a recommended read for anyone that's
ever felt just that little bit different."--Inspirer
Magazine, -
"Patty Schemel's drums have always been a wake-up call, the
punctuation that makes serious the wild streams of punk
consciousness her bands have expressed. This book is a wake-up
call, too: a clearly considered, deeply honest look back at a rock
scene that's often been mourned but rarely truly understood.
Schemel writes most honestly about herself: she spares nothing and
no one as she traces the path of addiction as it intersects with
the privileges and costs of young fame. A must-read about rock 'n'
roll realities."--Ann Powers, NPR Music Critic and author of
Good Booty: Love and Sex, Black and White, Body and Soul in
American Music, -
"Readers for the first time get the behind the scenes, first-hand
account of what made Hole such a great/dysfunctional band...The
book is a roller-coaster ride of angst and self-reflection. From
her first meeting with a pre-Nirvana Kurt Cobain to sharing a house
with him and Courtney Love at the height of Nirvana's success
Schemel is candid with her accounts."--Media Mikes, -
"Reading about the myriad ways Hole drummer Patty Schemel--'the
best musician in that band' as her pal Kurt Cobain put
it--brutalized herself with addiction can feel like a kind of
sadistic experience. And yet, Hit So Hard feels ultimately
uplifting and hopeful, in part because its author so fully and
completely appreciates what she's survived in order to have written
it. Hit So Hard is a harrowing but heartwarming read.
Schemel's made the years she got that others didn't count. And it
shows."--Lizzy Goodman, author of Meet Me in the Bathroom:
Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City 2001-2011, -
"Revisit the '90s as Schemel recounts the rise and rise of her
band, as well as the devastating effects of her drug and alcohol
addictions...[and] the music that taught her 'how to feel so much
it hurt.'"--Elle.com, -
"Schemel recounts her ultimately hopeful story of how an alt-rock
feminist, lesbian and recovering addict survived what so many of
her peers did not."--Billboard, -
"Schemel writes about life in the limelight and in the shadows with
the kind of biting honesty that comes with surviving a period in
rock history with an exceptionally high body count...While Hit So
Hard is predominantly a story about recovery, it is also a rock
memoir, and Schemel is an excellent
storyteller."--Stereogum, -
"Schemel's story is one of dramatic extremes, navigating the world
as a queer woman from a family of recovering
alcoholics."--Out.com, -
"The anecdotes and stories are painfully vivid...but all of it
flows gracefully in the same way Schemel, 50, attacked the drums
with an assertive sense of melody that made her one of rock's
greatest timekeepers. You should read this."--Creative Loafing
Tampa, -
"The book speaks to having survived a veritable Hell on Earth and
somehow coming out the other side intact and that's something worth
celebrating."--Soundblab, -
"The book...is much more than a drummer's eye view of that era.
Schemel starts at the beginning from being a young girl, feeling
awkward and out of place to finding the drums, which as a preteen
she played until her hands bled."
--Whalebone, -
"The ex-Hole drummer lifts the veil on the punk mythos with an
unsparing memoir, in which she chronicles industry sexism, her
teenage coming out, her struggle with addiction, and her years on
the road with Kurt and Courtney."
--Village Voice, -
"This memoir by Hole's former drummer...is a no-holds-barred look
at her musical career and harrowing, decades-long path she took to
achieve sobriety."--Salon.com, ?The 30 must-read music books of
Fall 2017?, -
"Understated and affecting anecdotes...make up the brunt of Patty's
new memoir, Hit So Hard."--Vice, -
"With surprising candor and wit, Schemel intimately documents the
events surrounding her dramatic exit from the band in 1998 that led
to a dark descent into a life of homelessness and crime on the
streets of Los Angeles, and the difficult but rewarding path to
lasting sobriety after more than twenty serious attempts to get
clean. 'Hit So Hard' is a testament not only to the enduring power
of the music Schemel helped create but an important document of the
drug culture that threatened to destroy it."--Rock N Roll
Librarian
"Gripping reading...[Schemel's] tales of life in HOLE, from
auditioning, recording and touring are laden with insight...She
describes with clarity her all-encompassing need for drugs...It's
frank, brutal and disturbing yet eloquently written and free from
any form of egotism...There is no pretension in her words, no
eulogizing or self-aggrandizing her status as someone who has been
part of a platinum selling band and toured the world...She writes
in a conversational yet brave tone and, without a doubt, is
inimitably likeable. There's a lot to absorb from this
memoir...It's a damn good book!"--Scanner Zine
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