Joe Camarillo, an intuitive and potent drummer who played with dozens of Chicago bands for more than 30 years, died Sunday following a stroke. He was 52.
In 1993 he met John San Juan, a musician and kindred soul who was just starting to perform under the name Hushdrops. Camarillo joined the group that same year, a development San Juan likens to “when the Beatles got Ringo—everything was a lot better, instantly.”
San Juan likewise considers Camarillo a full collaborator, not simply a timekeeper. For “Summer People,” Hushdrops’ best-known tune, San Juan wrote the chorus and the melody, but he says that “the entire hook of the song is [Camarillo’s] drumming.” He was, San Juan says, “an alchemist who turned ideas into art.”
“He loved seeing what everyone was capable of,” says Schlabowske. “And he really loved that he could be part of the audience as much as he loved being onstage.”
The response was fitting, says Camarillo Bodie. For her brother, from the beginning of his life to the very end, “Everything was music.”
