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August 29, 2011

The Doe Bay Sessions 2011

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Bryan John Appleby Champagne Champagne Damien Jurado Frank Fairfield John Vanderslice Kelli Schaefer Pickwick Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside Sera Cahoone The Head and the Heart The Builders & The Butchers Doe Bay Resort Doe Bay Fest The Doe Bay Sessions

 

Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside Doe Bay Session ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

It was 5pm on Saturday when we made our way down the trail to the point, the sunlight darting through tree branches, with Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside and a handful of their friends from Portland in tow to film their Doe Bay Session. We stopped at an uninhabited camp site, where the sounds of Campfire OK pouring their hearts out on the mainstage were muffled. As we began the rather painstaking process of setting up mics and getting the band situated for the best shot, a young family of three walked down the trail to their campsite, right next door to where we were shooting.

The little boy, Donovan, at all of five or six years old, got that wide-eyed look and smile that recalls Christmases past. When the present you wished for all year has suddenly appeared under the tree and you simply can’t believe your luck. Donovan, and his parents Adam & Eve, had returned to their campsite to break down their tent and head home. They’d come to see Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside, Donovan’s favorite band. and that was it. With Sallie’s mainstage set done, it was time for them to head on their way … but there we all were. Just a few feet away from their campsite, Donovan’s favorite band, playing a private show just for him on the trails of Doe Bay. He sat enrapt, elbows on his knee in the middle of the trail, watching intently, drinking in every moment quietly but with a huge smile.

It is our hope that these Sessions extend the magic of Doe Bay for all of you, the way the filming of the Sallie Ford Session did for Donovan and his family. Starting Tuesday September 6th, we’ll be sharing a Doe Bay Session every week for the next three months. We hope that they make the Festival last just a little longer, that you hear your favorite song once again or you’re introduced to a new one.

Huge thanks to the 12 bands who took time out of the relaxing and partying of Doe Bay to shoot with us: Bryan John Appleby, The Builders and The Butchers, Campfire OK, Champagne Champagne, Damien Jurado, Frank Fairfield, The Head and The Heart, John Vanderslice, Kelli Schaefer, Pickwick, Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside and Sera Cahoone. And thanks, of course, to our awesome crew: Tyler Kalberg, Chris Proff and Claire Yuckert, to the staff at Doe Bay Resort and Retreat and to the Festival organizers, Artist Home, for making this project possible.

We can’t wait to share 2011′s The Doe Bay Sessions with you very soon.

 

Pickwick Doe Bay Session ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

 

Bryan John Appleby + Band Doe Bay Session ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

 

Campfire OK Doe Bay Session ::: photo by Abbey Simmons

 

Champagne Champagne Doe Bay Session::: photo by Josh Lovseth

 

John Vanderslice Doe Bay Session ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

 

Damien Jurado Doe Bay Session ::: photo by Abbey Simmons

June 16, 2011

A Bonus Doe Bay Session with Hey Marseilles

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Hey Marseilles ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

 

 

Here it is friends, the final Doe Bay Session from 2010. We’ll have a whole new series of Sessions come fall from this August’s Doe Bay Fest, but we hope you’ve enjoyed our inaugural series as much as we have.

Last but certainly not least, our final session was actually one of our most memorable ones. After waiting impatiently on the picnic table outside of our yurt, Hey Marseilles decided they couldn’t wait any longer for late drummer Colin Richey to make his way down the trail and they began their session without him. Pulled down the trail by the strings and accordion swells of his bandmates, Colin bashfully joins the band using the picnic table as a drum, never missing a beat after his arrival.

You can see Hey Marseilles tomorrow at noon for Free at the Harbour Steps as part of the Out to Lunch concert series.

June 7, 2011

A Bonus Doe Bay Session with Drew Grow and the Pastors’ Wives

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Drew Grow and the Pastors’ Wives ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

 

 

Drew Grow and the Pastors’ Wives Doe Bay Session began under unexpected circumstances, which is par for the course for a band so creative and gifted, you never know what note is coming next. Setting up in the middle of the trail, Pastors Wife percussionist Jeremiah Hayden found a ladder in a nearby tool-shed and decided to play perched atop it for the bands first song. And just as the band began the wailing harmonies of “Bootstraps,” a small brass band began playing, the deep notes of a tuba reverberating off the Bay and trees. No matter the distractions, the band “played it loud and got it on,” resulting in one of our most unique sessions.

 

 

Drew Grow and the Pastors’ Wives play Chop Suey this Thursday with See Me River, Buffalo Deathbeam and The Foghorns as part of Noise for the Needy. You can buy your tickets here. And for our under 21 readers, the band is playing an all-ages show on Friday at Ground Zero Teen Center in Bellevue.

June 1, 2011

Doe Bay Fest Line-Up & New Doe Bay Sessions Debut Tomorrow!

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During a week chock full of festival announcements, it should come as no surprise the one we’re most excited about is Doe Bay Fest. The line-up for the sold out show will be announced tomorrow at Columbia City Theater in an event that is free to all festival ticket-holders who are older than 21.

As part of the evening’s festivities Sound on the Sound will be DJing some of our favorite 45s and Doe Bay Fest performers in the Bourbon Bar starting at 7pm and we’ll be debuting some brand new Doe Bay Sessions during the announcement party. We’ve been holding on to some of our favorite Sessions to share with you all and we can’t wait for you to see them!

For those of you not attending Doe Bay Fest, we’ll be sharing the new Doe Bay Sessions here on Sound on the Sound Friday and in the coming weeks and you’ll still hear about the full Doe Bay line-up here first tomorrow night! For those of you lucky ticket holders, be sure to get there early tomorrow and not just for our deilghtful DJing … space is limited to 300 ticket holders. And don’t forget to bring your photo ID, not just because it’s 21+, but to prove you were one of the lucky few who got tickets.

October 19, 2010

The Doe Bay Sessions: Hey Marseilles

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Hey Marseilles at the picnic table ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

Hey Marseilles weren’t just at Doe Bay to play another music festival. They’d made the trip up to the Islands for a second year in a row looking to double down on the fun they had last year, hopefully minus any broken limbs. Throughout the weekend one might see any one of these gentlemen throwing a frisbee, frolicking in the ocean, rushing headfirst down a slip n’ slide, or just enjoying the company of their fellow local musicians. For a band who’s spent plenty of time this year cooped up in a van, Hey Marseilles surely took advantage of the moment to maximize their relaxation. With the rest of the band leaving Seattle a day earlier than him for just that reason, frontman Matt Bishop was able to dispense with the band van entirely, opting to cruise the windy island roads on his scooter. I’ll bet he had no trouble getting right on the ferry with that ride!

As the festival went on, our picnic table at Doe Bay gradually earned a spot as a shadow stage and green room, only advertising the presence of something happening in the area to those passing by on the trail while that something was happening. In the case of Hey Marseilles, the picnic table became a literal stage, the center of gravity for three sublime songs from the band and an effort to squeeze all that we could out of our ‘mobile’ 8-track recording setup. Sans amplification with the full array of accordion, strings and a trumpet in hand, two of those songs are presented above, an old favorite and a brand new song, with “Rio” in particular the capturing the full spirit of the festival and the place. In a way, for four days, we’d made Doe Bay into our own northern beach paradise, one we’d have no trouble getting lost in for a while.

 

 

 

 

Saturday October 30th Hey Marseilles will be celebrating Halloween a day early at the Columbia City Theater with Fences. Tickets are $12 in advance.

October 18, 2010

Stream Sound on the Sound on KEXP + Playlist

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Lemolo ::: photo by Abbey Simmons

I was honored to be back in the booth with Hannah Levin this Saturday as a guest DJ on KEXP’s Audioasis. In case you missed my set, or if you happen to want to hear it again, you can stream it on KEXP’s website for the next two weeks. I’m on shortly after 7pm, just choose October 16th as the date.

Here’s what you can expect to hear, along with my charmingly nervous banter. And if you like what you hear, most all of these bands have upcoming shows in the Seattle/Tacoma area in the next few weeks. Check out the links provided to their various websites to see where.

Playlist:

Lemolo – “Open Air” Youth Rescue Mission – “Floor Plan” Dan Mangan – “Road Regrets” Joseph Giant – “Moonlit Drive” Drew Grow & the Pastors Wives – “It All Comes Right” (live from the Doe Bay Sessions) Kelli Schaefer – “Ghost of the Beast” Junkface – “Atamakatahizaashi” The Familiars – “Unzen” Watch It Sparkle – “A Last Chance”

October 12, 2010

The Doe Bay Sessions: Curtains for You

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Curtains for You at Coot’s Corner ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

All anyone can hope for is for their first time to be special and sweet.

That was certainly the case for us when it came to the first Doe Bay Session, which we filmed with the Gervais brothers of Curtains for You. Despite a comedy of errors that befell us before filming (our brand new generator broke before powering anything, then just as we were to start filming a marching band started serenading the Doe Bay grounds) Curtains for You rolled with the punches like pros, and their laid-back, easy-going attitude told us “everything is going to be okay,” even when we felt like the project was crumbling before our eyes.

What came from that comedy of errors and our first attempt at the Doe Bay Sessions is a sweet two-song set from some of Seattle’s cleverest pop-lyricists. Sometimes you’re lucky enough to get it just right on the first try and we think, thanks to Curtains for You, we were very lucky.

 

October 5, 2010

The Doe Bay Sessions: Ravenna Woods

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Ravenna Woods ::: photo by Abbey Simmons

The night they were hoping to arrive on Orcas Island, Ravenna Woods fell victim to the summer time San Juan ferry system. Waiting on standby for the last boat of the night, they were turned away from the dock after midnight to find a motel in Anacortes and return for the earliest morning ferry. The following afternoon, more than a few minutes apart, Chris, Brantley and Matt trickled down the trail for their Doe Bay Session, still waking up from the various quiet places in the shade they’d found to nap and forget about the main-land and lumpy motel pillows. Happily, Doe Bay has many places just for that.

Finally assembled and with the sleep wiped from their eyes, the threesome proceeded to beat on trees and kick up a furious dust cloud, their ooh-oh-oh’s echoing around the inlet. Like few other bands involved with this project, Ravenna Woods seem to be aware of the pulse and rhythms of nature, taking full advantage of the tree-verb and stump drums, making for one of our favorite filmings of the festival.

The Doe Bay Sessions – Ravenna Woods from Sound on the Sound on Vimeo.

You can see Ravenna Woods this Saturday at 11pm at The Tractor Tavern as part of Reverb Fest.

September 28, 2010

The Doe Bay Sessions: Grand Hallway

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grandhallway_db_session1

 

 

“Sometimes I am amazed. Sometimes I do forget. What a gift to be free. What a gift to be me. To hear music from the next room, to hear music from the next room…”

 

 

If any words or lyrics sum up Sound on the Sound’s experience at Doe Bay or our lives in general, its those sung by Tomo Nakayama in a brand new song we were lucky enough to capture on film one sunny Sunday in August. (As well as one hell of a Tom Waits cover.)

And if you wondered whether you might find another “Raindrops” caliber song on the next Grand Hallway record, I submit this yet-to-be-titled song as a worthy successor.

 

 

The Doe Bay Sessions – Grand Hallway from Sound on the Sound on Vimeo.

“Oh what a gift to be born, what a gift to be alive.”

September 22, 2010

The Head & The Heart: “Rivers and Roads” – A Doe Bay Session Bonus

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The Head and The Heart – Rivers & Roads (A Doe Bay Session Extra) from Sound on the Sound on Vimeo.

A month ago The Head and The Heart stood on a cliff-side at sunset and sang this song to us, tonight (and tomorrow) they’ll sing the same song on the stage of The Paramount. We couldn’t be more proud or less surprised.

After their Paramount shows it will be rivers and roads between Seattle and the band. They’re heading out on a West Coast tour this Friday with Fences. For our readers outside of Seattle, check out the full tour schedule below.

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