Lawrence Edward Mullins, also known as Toby Dammit, (born 13 December 1966 in
Knoxville, Tennessee)[1][2] is an American musician, record producer, and composer. A multi-instrumentalist (primarily drums, percussion, and keyboards), Mullins is best known as a member of the bands
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and
Swans, as well as a former member of
The Stooges and other incarnations of
Iggy Pop’s bands. He has also worked extensively in music for films and television, and had a performance role in the German cable series Babylon Berlin.
Music career
Mullins played drums in Iggy Pop’s band from 1990 to 1999, recording three albums and additional works created specifically for films. In 2011, he joined Iggy and The Stooges in England, and remained their live drummer until their final performance in 2013.[3][4][5]
Mullins joined
Swans in 1995 and continued working with Swans frontman
Michael Gira in
Angels of Light into 2001. He rejoined Swans in 2019 for the recording of their album Leaving Meaning, and remains a member as of 2023.[6][7][8]
Mullins's percussion work appeared throughout the score for
Johnny Depp's 1997 film The Brave, where he is credited as "Lawrence Mullins."[9] His original composition for the theme of director
Tom Tykwer's German cable series Babylon Berlin,[10] in which he had a screen role as big band drummer Willy Schuricke,[11] was published as sheet music in 2020.[12] In 2021, Mullins performed on drums for
Anna Calvi’s score for the 2022 Peaky Blinders cable series.[13][14]
In 2015, Mullins began performing live with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds as keyboardist,[15] and continued performing with them during their world tour for the album Skeleton Tree.[16] The tour for the album was documented in the film Distant Sky: Live in Copenhagen.[17] In October, 2018, he switched from playing keyboards to playing drums for the band.[18] Mullins drummed for the Ghosteen European tour in 2022, and afterwards joined
Nick Cave and
Warren Ellis for their Carnage tour of Australia.[19]