For more than two decades, Laura King has been one of the most in-demand drummers in North Carolina.
You can learn a lot about the evolution of indie rock in the Triangle just by tracing her career. Drumming brought her to North Carolina in 1999, and since then, she has played a major role in local underground scenes ranging from alt-country to punk. In 2023 she landed her biggest gig yet as the new drummer for North Carolina indie rock titans Superchunk after long-time drummer Jon Wurster left the group. These days she is also one quarter of the genre-defying noise project Speed Stick.
“I’ve been playing in this scene now for 25 years, and as it’s changed, I’ve changed,” she said. “Your town is kind of your chosen family, and there is definitely a closeness within our music community. There’s just so much talent coming out of here and there always has been.”
King gravitated towards the drums, and music in general, at an early age. Growing up in Baltimore, her earliest memories of drumming are from when she was nine years old. Her first kit came from Toys “R” Us and she remembers playing along with Micky Dolenz when reruns of The Monkees aired on MTV…