Blog Archives

November 23, 2011

A Doe Bay Sessions Screening & Fundraiser

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Columbia City Theater The Doe Bay Sessions Sound on the Sound Presents
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On a week of Thanksgiving, we are most certainly feeling thankful for those of you who stopped by the site every Tuesday to see what band we’d be sharing each week and where at Doe Bay they’d be singing. We loved reading your comments and seeing you share the Sessions, every Tuesday was a little like watching a friend unwrap a present you couldn’t wait for them to open.

With Pickwick singing down the sun yesterday (and our most watched video on day one EVER!) the 2011 Doe Bay sessions have officially come to an end and the Sound on the Sound video crew is starting to think ahead to 2012′s sessions and new video series. But not without one last celebration … a special screening of the Doe Bay Sessions on the big screen at Columbia City Theater on December 11th. Not only will you get to see your favorite sessions like you’ve never seen them before, we’ll also be debuting some new never before seen sessions from 2011 and a few of our favorite Doe Bay Session alumnus will reprise their sessions on stage. Plus, we have some other fun surprises in the works.

All proceeds from the evening, which we’re asking for a $5 donation, will go to funding 2012′s Doe Bay Sessions and maybe paying our incredible crew (Tyler Kalberg behind the camera, Chris Proff behind the mic and Claire Yucker corraling everyone) a tiny bit for all their incredible hard work and dedication. Without them, the Doe Bay Sessions would just be a dream. If you’ve enjoyed the sessions, we’d love to see you and say thanks for watching on Sunday December 11th.

p.s. Out-of-State Doe Bay Session fans, we’re SO excited (and mind-blown) you want to donate to help fund next year’s Sessions. We’re in the process of setting up a pay-pal so you can and we’ll share that info here shortly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

October 28, 2011

Suzzallo Study Break with Pickwick

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Pickwick – Blackout (Suzzallo Reading Room) from Tyler Kalberg on Vimeo.

 

 

Some lucky UW students were treated to a guerrilla Pickwick performance this week as the band snuck into Suzzallo Reading Room recorded an a capella rendition of “Blackout” and left before the campus police could come. For those Huskies not studying in the grand gothic library at the time and for the rest of us for whom college is a distant memory, Pickwick (along with Campfire OK) will be playing The Neptune theater on December 8th just a few blocks away from Suzzallo.

Tickets went on sale for the all-ages show today.

July 28, 2011

Written Here: Bryan John Appleby

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Bryan John Appleby ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

After getting a glimpse at Pickwick’s practice space last year, we got to thinking. About the mundane places magic is made. The bedrooms, cafes, break-rooms, buses and park benches where songs are written. The everyday places where inspiration strikes.

Such is the premise of our new video series “Written Here,” where we film artists in the space they create, songs in the room they were written. We wanted to hear the stories of our favorite songs and to share their story with you, to give a glimpse into a side of song-writing and the song-writers that even band-mates might not be privy to.

Our first subject for the series is local singer-songwriter, Bryan John Appleby whose debut album Fire on the Vine comes out this Saturday. We couldn’t wait to see the space that inspired Bryan’s twisting tales, what had made a young man so death obsessed and to talk about the process with one of Seattle’s most gifted story-tellers. We never thought Bryan, or anyone, would tell us the space itself and the things that filled it, were his muse. That his wellspring of inspiration comes not from lost love or his stunning girlfriend, but a painting on his wall, the books on his window shelf, the photographs that are pinned to an old American flag. He was a perfect first subject. Bryan wrote virtually all of Fire on the Vine in the low-ceilinged basement apartment we crammed into on that cold February morning, but we focused on the process and inspiration behind two stand-outs from the album: “Honey Jars” and “Noah’s Nameless Wife.”

 

 

 

 

Bryan has moved from his quirky basement apartment since we shot the video this winter. But we have no doubt his songs have made a tangible imprint on the space, like young couples carving their their initials into tree trunks. Bryan’s songs linger in the space now occupied by someone else and in the items that made the move with him to his new home. They cling to the space that made them, as if written on the walls “Bryan John Appleby was here.”

Stream Performances of “Honey Jar” and “Noah’s Nameless Wife” from the rooms they were written:

Honey Jar (live)

Noah’s Nameless Wife (live):

Huge thanks to Bryan John Appleby for welcoming us into his home and his songs. To Tyler Kalberg our videographer, editor and series director, for taking our idea and again making it more than we imagined and to Chris Proff, sound guy extraordinaire.

November 10, 2010

A Doe Bay Session Wrap Up & Sincere Thank Yous

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Black Whales Curtains For You Drew Grow & The Pastor’s Wives Fences Grand Hallway Hey Marseilles Kelli Schaefer Ravenna Woods The Head and the Heart The Maldives Doe Bay Resort Doe Bay Fest The Doe Bay Sessions
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The Doe Bay Sessions Team ::: portrait by Hilary Harris

 

Another Tuesday has passed with no new video, which means I’m sitting here missing The Doe Bay Sessions and reflecting in wonder that they happened at all.

For the folks involved with the technical side Doe Bay Sessions, they have another nickname: the serendipity sessions. Everything that could possibly go wrong did, but so did everything that could go right. Despite months of planning, the only thing that made the Doe Bay Sessions go as beautifully as they did was the kindness of strangers, phenomenal timing and two very talented men behind the scenes: videographer Tyler Kalberg and sound guy Chris Proff. While mine and Josh’s work with the sessions was all but done in August (other than sharing them with you) both Tyler and Chris spent hours upon hours the past couple months, editing, mixing and perfecting the videos and their sound. It is only due to their hard work and talents that the videos turned out as wonderfully as they did. If you enjoyed the videos, these are the people you should offer your gratitude to.

But it took more than Josh, Tyler, Chris and me to make the sessions happen. It took the support and approval of the folks who run the Doe Bay Resort and the Doe Bay Festival. No one has been bigger fans or supporters of the sessions than Joe Brotherton, Kevin Sur and Chad Clibborn both before, during and after the filming. And then of course, there was the serendipity and the hefty dose of Doe Bay magic that made the videos possible. When our brand new generator broke before our first session, the head of the Doe Bay grounds not only lent us his infinitely quieter generator for the entire weekend, but he delivered it to our distant campsite with a smile. The next day, when our “mobile” 80 plus pound soundboard died, a stranger who happened to be walking down the trail as we lamented our terrible luck, turned around and offered his mobile recording system for the entire weekend to total strangers. Not only did this allow the project to continue, it gave us more flexibility where we could record sessions. What could’ve been terrible, turned out to be totally for the better. From day one, though we’d never done anything of the sort before, everyone who came in contact with the project believed it could be done, put their whole heart into it and did everything in their power to make sure it happened. It would not be overstating to say, its the kind of thing that restores your faith in humanity.

And of course there was the bands who took the time to hike down the trails and share themselves and their songs with us. We could not have dreamed of a more talented (or pleasant) group of musicians to work with. Our sincerest thanks goes out to:

The Maldives Drew Grow and the Pastors’ Wives Kelli Schaefer The Head and The Heart Hey Marseilles Fences Ravenna Woods Curtains for You Tomo Nakayama Black Whales

Last and certainly not least, thanks to all of you for stopping by the site every Tuesday to check out the new videos, for sharing them with your friends and for all the kind words.

Stay tuned for two new video series coming soon from Sound on the Sound and the whole Doe Bay filming crew. And we’ll be back next summer with even more Doe Bay Sessions!

August 24, 2010

The Doe Bay Sessions: The Maldives

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The Maldives Doe Bay Resort Doe Bay Fest The Doe Bay Sessions
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The Maldives Doe Bay Session ::: Photo by Dylan Priest

There was only one way to properly begin The Doe Bay Sessions, with a band who helped Doe Bay Festival get its start: The Maldives. Seattle’s own wrangler headbangers are the only band to have played all three Doe Bay Festivals and they hold the only life-long invitation to play.

The Maldives are more than Doe Bay veterans, they also embody the spirit of community and fun that permeate the festival. Many of the most memorable moments of Doe Bay, be it the Donald Duck rap battles, slip’n'sides, or drinking tequila out of sippy cups, were organized or led by a Maldive. Thanks to their sunny afternoon session, perched atop a mossy knoll off the trail, the Maldives were certainly responsible for some of our favorite Doe Bay memories. And we are so happy we get to share them with you today.

Be sure to check back every Tuesday from now through October to see whose Doe Bay Session we share next.

 

 

The Doe Bay Sessions – The Maldives “I’m Gonna Try” from Sound on the Sound on Vimeo.

 

Doe Bay Sessions – The Maldives “Go Back to Virginia” from Sound on the Sound on Vimeo.

August 19, 2010

The Doe Bay Sessions

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The Head and The Heart Sunset Session ::: photo by Abbey Simmons

As you will soon read here on Sound on the Sound, Doe Bay 2010 was one of the most magical experiences of our lives. (Narrowly edging out last years’ Doe Bay Fest for “best weekend ever.”) Not only were we surrounded by friends, family and incredible local music in one of the most idyllic and jaw-droppingly beautiful places you’ll ever see, we also spent the weekend working on an exciting project we’ve spent much of 2010 organizing: The Doe Bay Sessions.

The initial idea was to rent a yurt during the Doe Bay Festival and record acoustic sets with a couple of our favorite bands who were playing. We pitched the idea to the fine folks who organize and who own Doe Bay and from day one to the last day of shooting, they all bent over backwards to make sure the project could happen. What started as a typical DIY Sound on the Sound project turned into a professional video shoot inspired by the work of Vincent Moon and Yours Truly, complete with videographer Tyler Kalberg on the camera and sound guy extraordinaire Chris Proff manning our “mobile” sound set up. What we thought would be a couple yurt bound sessions, turned into 10 different video shoots all over Doe Bay with some of the best bands in Seattle.

For those of us who were a part of it and those of you who stumbled on to our sessions while hiking the trails or following the sound of the songs, The Doe Bay Sessions felt like a festival within the festival. Over the next 10 weeks we will be releasing videos featuring a candlelit session from Fences, The Head and the Heart (and the Doe Bay All-Stars) singing down the sun, Ravenna Woods using trees for percussion, a mid-trail serenade from Drew Grow and the Pastors’ Wives, The Maldives on a mossy knoll, picnic table perching with Hey Marseilles and many more.

We are so excited to share these videos with you and to usher in a new chapter of Sound on the Sound content. For now, we wanted to share a few stills from the sessions, as well as offer our sincerest thanks to Tyler, Chris, the bands, Doe Bay staff and maintenance crew, Artist Home, Bob from The Ballard Mine and the Doe Bay magic that made these sessions not just possible, but also so much more than we would have ever dared imagine.

Check back here on August 24th to see whose session we’ll share first!

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Fences Candle Lit Session ::: by Tyler Kalberg

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The Maldives on “Hobbit Hill” ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

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Chris Proff ::: photo by Abbey Simmons

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Ravenna Woods Session ::: photo by Abbey Simmons

See more photos from The Doe Bay Sessions on our Flickr