Music: She bangs the DRUM

You could probably say Kate McNulty is making up for lost time. That, or she's still fighting the gender stereotyping that she claims kept her from playing drums in the high school band.

"My dad told me, 'Drums are for boys,' and he wouldn't let me play them," McNulty recalled. Replacing her sneer with a smile, the 22-year-old Minneapolis native added, "I wound up playing the trombone instead. At least it wasn't the clarinet. That would've been too girly."

Nowadays, being a drummer isn't even the least "girly" thing in McNulty's life. She's also a semi-professional football player with the Minnesota Vixens and works a rugged job as a bike messenger by day.

But playing the drums is what McNulty seems to love doing best -- or at least playing rock 'n' roll is. She's currently a member of five different bands, ranging from the poppy nerd-core band Tough Tough Skin to the cow-punk quartet Hey There Cowboy to the folky duo the Laura Klinkerts.

As if she needs to prove her toughness any more, McNulty is hoping to pull off the most audacious musical endurance test since Mark Mallman's 54-hour concert next week. All five of her bands are performing Thursday night at Pi Bar -- her own five-hour-plus marathon.

"The hard thing has been figuring out the order of bands," McNulty said. "I'm picking the order based on which ones can play drunk and which can't."

Talking last Friday night after a rehearsal by one of her groups -- Fixed Gears Are for Jerks and Lesbians, a feisty punk quartet that can play drunk -- McNulty said she never meant to be in so many bands. "They just sort of came along," she said.

Her first was another punky band on Thursday's bill, C. Doty Run, which she formed her freshman year at Southwest High School (so much for not playing the drums). As she neared completion of a sociology degree at the University of Minnesota last year, she said, she kept climbing aboard other bands "because they all had something different to offer.

"At this point, I want to learn as much as I can as a musician," she said. "What better way to do that than to play with a bunch of different people?"

The differences are both musical and personal. Three of her bands are otherwise made up entirely of guys, and two have other women. Two of them are openly and proudly queer, like McNulty herself, and the rest are just open-minded.

Two of the acts also feature McNulty on guitar: Hey There Cowboy (an offshoot of Central Standard) and the Laura Klinkerts ("I'm the 's,' Laura is the rest," she said).

McNulty's bandmates don't seem to mind her workload.

"I can't believe she can pull it off, but she does," said Eric Frame, guitarist in Hey There Cowboy and Fixed Gears.

"She's certainly not the flakiest person I've been in bands with," added Fixed Gears bassist Marc Cohen.

McNulty hopes to go to graduate school in a year or two, and thus will have to lessen her band schedule. But only just a little, she said.

"Me and my mom were talking about how I was never the kind of kid who sat around," she said. "I don't know why, but I enjoy being busy."

Asked if she wanted to prove anything with her five-band marathon gig, she replied simply, "Nope, I don't think I have to do that anymore. I'm just hoping to have fun."

Zach attack

The Dinkytowner hosted an impromptu benefit Wednesday night for Kanser rapper Zach Combs, aka New MC, who needs about $4,000 worth of face surgery ASAP and doesn't have insurance. Combs said he was clothes-lined off a bike after getting into a dispute with two other guys over some $20 bills found on the ground in Uptown last weekend.

"Ya'll know how I like to woof up stories and tell them at shows, but this one might be the most nuts thing that ever happened to me," said Combs, who needs the surgery to breathe (and rap) right again.

The incident was oddly timed, too: Combs was headed to Fifth Element to drop off a copy of his upcoming solo album, which includes tracks produced by Ant and Unknown Prophets' Big Jess. Here's hoping he'll recover soon to promote it.

New albums

You gotta love a band that can sound like Soul Asylum in one song, the Replacements in another, Uncle Tupelo in another, and not come off as contrived. Plenty of people have indeed been loving the Evening Rig since it played its first gigs opening for the Hold Steady at First Avenue.

Led by Jason Miller, ex-frontman of the Crush, the Rig wears all those influences loudly on its debut album for the Heart of a Champion label, "Never Been'er." The quartet will promote the disc with an in-store at Treehouse Records on Saturday at 4 p.m. and a party that night at the Triple Rock. You'll love 'em, too.

Also, look for a new album from angel-voiced bluegrass/folk star Becky Schlegel, whom I'm happy to say my parents loved as much as I always have when they caught one of her recent "A Prairie Home Companion" appearances (I don't get to throw in props from Mom and Dad too often). Titled "For All the World to See," the all-original 12-track collection features veteran players such as Gordy Johnson, Marc Anderson and Bo Ramsey. However, many of its best cuts are the hushed and hallowed ballads with Schlegel and guitarist/co-producer Brian Fesler and little else, including Becky's finest tribute yet to her homeland, the CD's closer, "Hills of South Dakota."

Schlegel is performing Thursday at the Fine Line along with two burgeoning young songbirds, Chastity Brown and Allison Scott.

Random mix

Gary Louris' first solo CD since putting the Jayhawks to bed three years ago has been given a release date of Feb. 19 by his new label, Rykodisc. The date was announced by none other than Jeff Tweedy, who made a nice plug for the album after Louris plugged in to play "California Stars" with Wilco at the Northrop last week. ...

With countless fans turned away at his Bryant-Lake Bowl gigs earlier this week, Dan Wilson has decided to play a free in-store today at 7 p.m. at the Electric Fetus, 2000 4th Av. S., Mpls. He'll be signing copies of "Free Life" afterward. ...

Following its First Ave gig last weekend, Trampled by Turtles put tickets on sale for a New Year's Eve show at the Orpheum Theatre. In the meantime, look for TBT picker Dave Carrol's new side project, Two Many Banjos. ...

The day after his Bryant-Lake Bowl gig last week to promote his stellar new live DVD, Bob Mould was the subject of a press release from Anti-Records announcing he had signed to the label, also home to Tom Waits, Nick Cave and Neko Case. His latest album, "District Line," is due Feb. 5. ...

Led Zeppelin is finally giving in. The Sex Pistols are doing it, too. Maybe it's time for Mould and his former Hüsker Dü bandmates to also figure out a way to make their catalog available for digital downloading. As it is, a search for the band on iTunes will yield a bunch of unpronounceable Swedish acts. Oh, helvete!

chrisr@startribune.com • 612-673-4658