Bio
Sara Neidorf (they/them, b. 1990, Philadelphia) is a Berlin-based drummer and film curator. Neidorf drums in the genre-expansive, heavy bands Mellowdeath, Sarattma, Mad Kate | The Tide, Soporose, and This Ungodly Hour, and also collaborates in improv-based projects such as Hypnodrone Ensemble and a duo with skronk guitarist Han-Earl Park. As a session musician, they’ve recorded and toured internationally with such artists as The Brian Jonestown Massacre (35-day European tour, studio album in 2019), Peaches (forthcoming album, 2026), Valerie Renay (Maxim Gorki Theater), Sometimes With Others (Grauzone Festival, Netherlands), and Tau and the Drones of Praise (Palp Festival, Switzerland). They formerly drummed in Aptera (2018-2024), with whom they released an LP via Ripple Music, toured Europe, and performed internationally at festivals such as Desertfest Berlin, Up in Smoke, FutureNow, and Stoned from the Underground.
From a Veil of Sound review of Sarattma’s Escape Velocity:
“Neidorf commandeers the controls and keeps the ship intact. She plays equally freely, making inventive use of the late half of measures, where you’ll hear her jumping ahead of the beat for impactful counterpunching and cymbal work. Dig how she initiates that blast beat over the last half-measure of the song’s slowest riff, ratcheting up the gears in advance, before stutter-step swaggering into the next grinding section and landing a perfect jump scare snare hit… Who else could maneuver that without capsizing?“
Interdisciplinary Work: theater, dance, performance art, live scoring
Neidorf loves to work in an interdisciplinary context with performance art, theater, and dance, and has worked with artists such as Billy John Bultheel (Workers In Song at KW, The Thief’s Journal at Berlin Atonal Festival, Amsterdam art week), Anne Duk Hee Jordan and Pauline Doutreluingne (A Handful of Dust), Mikatsiu (3hd Festival), dancers Ana Laura Lozza and Barbara Hang (Radialsystem), dancer Danilo Andres at (Sophiensaele, Tanztage), choreographer Ula Sickle (Holding Present / The Female Gaze at Schinkel Pavilion), dramaturg Bastian Zimmermann and composer Mauro Hertig (Sacrificial G.O.A.T. at Eclat Festival, MdJ Stuttgart), composer Mio Chareteau (Field Drum Monument, Consider Listening Festival), and the list continues to grow. They have also played drums for productions at the Volksbühne and Berliner Ensemble, and have performed improvised solo sets at The Roter Salon, at Sentimental Punk (live scoring experimental films), and at the launch party for Impressi0nen Magazine.
Neidorf has live-scored experimental short films and silent films with the group Pausa a Pausa at Cinematheque Leipzig, Loophole Berlin (RIP), and BEEK Hamburg. Their newest project, Pavone Cristallo, is a synths & drums trio which live scores horror films, with a particular focus on classic zombie films and giallo.
They are eager and open for further collaborations, and they are keen to contribute as a drummer, composer, writer, co-conceptualizer and co-conspirator.
As an instructor, Neidorf has focussed their teaching efforts on women, queer, and non-binary students and has formerly taught at organizations as diverse as BIMM University Berlin and Girls Rock Philly. When not drumming, Neidorf co-directs Final Girls Berlin Film Fest, which showcases horror made by women and NB filmmakers. Neidorf is most excited about projects which merge storytelling, particularly of a subversive and probing nature, and music in fresh and untrodden ways. Get in touch if you’d like to work together.