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

 

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.

August 30, 2011

Lemolo: In Black and White [video]

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In Black & White

On a crisp February morning we boarded the ferry bound for Poulsbo. A white winter sun broke through low-hanging fog, the smell of salt water and sea kelp filled our noses, the winter wind mussed up our hair. We stood on the deck, clutching hot, strong ferry coffee and looked in wonder at the city on the shore we were leaving behind and toward the expanse of Sound and islands that greeted us. To the ladies of Lemolo, who ride this ferry between gigs on the mainland and their quieter life, this is an every day journey, a routine. To us and the rest of the world, it is an adventure.

Once we made it to the Peninsula, we drove small, wooded, curvy roads with quaint names, the sea air still ever-present, huffing lung-fulls like addicts. According to the band, we would know we were close to our destination, the childhood home of Lemolo’s lead singer Meagan Grandall, when we reached Lemolo Drive. It was every bit as picture perfect as we imagined: coves strewn with drift-wood, the winter sun peeking through evergreen branches, an old gas station, long-closed with bold type-set on the awning, in all-caps: LEMOLO. We were very near.

Turning towards the Sound, we arrived in a small neighborhood of family homes, where Grandall grew-up and where Lemolo, the band, was born. Grandall and drummer Kendra Cox, stood like children, faces pressed against the windows awaiting our arrival, and ran to greet us like old friends. They grabbed gear from the car, chattered excitedly about us making it out to Poulsbo, pointed out the neighbors homes, the scenery, the little girl playing outside who was the inspiration to “Whale Song” with the pride of parents. On the kitchen table, a spread of hummus and veggies, crackers and fruit were carefully laid out, “Are you guys hungry?” they asked. We weren’t, that ferry coffee was burning holes in our stomach and we were giddy to get filming. The girls looked crest-fallen at our response before Kendra blurted out, “Someone, please just eat something … a carrot, anything. We’re starving.” Ever the gracious hostesses, the girls had been waiting hours, eyeing food ravenously waiting for us to take the first bite. On the walls there were family photos, prom pictures, baby photos … these are the glimpses of real life and real people off-stage that we are allowed to see when band’s welcome us into their homes and practice spaces.

Lemolo, a band now taking Seattle by storm with their sensual melancholy, practice in Grandall’s basement bedroom. It is neither sensual nor sad. The carpet is plush and beige. Photos from vacation hang beside gig posters. A brand new drum kit is placed next to an organ. Bay windows let the sun stream in and their songs stream out to the neighborhood. A bed pushed against the far wall. It is basic, a bedroom like any other bedroom, yet, this is where magic is made.

Sitting there on the plush carpet as the band banged barefoot through new songs “On Again Off Again” and “Fort Warden” you could still smell the sea air. Neighbors came and pressed their faces against the window, listening intently. There are no nasty notes here, just appreciation, because Poulsbo knew long before Seattle caught on, Lemolo is something is special.

This weekend Lemolo will take that ferry from Poulsbo to play the biggest shows of their lives: opening the Dave Matthews Caravan on Friday at the Gorge and playing Bumbershoot on Monday at 4:30 pm at the EMP Level 3.

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Lemolo ::: photo by Dianna Potter

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Lemolo ::: photo by Dianna Potter

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Lemolo ::: photo by Dianna Potter

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Lemolo ::: photo by Dianna Potter

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Lemolo ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

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Ferry Home ::: photo by Dianna Potter

p.s. Why if this is in a basement and in black and white just like the Pickwick video is this not “From the Basement?” Well, you see, it turns out there’s already a “From the Basement” and it’s a music series in the UK run by Nigel from Radiohead. We had no idea when we named the Pickwick video, so from here on out, these practice space videos will be called “In Black & White” not only because of the treatment of the video, but because we feel these sessions, shot in homes and practice spaces, show bands at their barest and most basic. Whatever the name, we hope you enjoy!

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.

June 3, 2011

A Bonus Doe Bay Session with The Head and The Heart – “Sounds Like Hallelujah”

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Drew Grow & The Pastor’s Wives Kelli Schaefer The Head and the Heart Doe Bay Resort Doe Bay Fest The Doe Bay Sessions

 

The Head and The Heart & the Doe Bay All-Star Choir

 

 

Last night 300 lucky Doe Bay ticket holders were told who they’d be seeing on Orcas Island in August and the last name announced was of this year’s headliners, The Head and The Heart. As the evening’s emcee Hannah Levin pointed out, the band is currently on their way to play Bonnaroo, a festival attended by 80,000 people, while this August Doe Bay Fest attendees will get to see the band with 800 friends.

Last year, as the sun set on the festival and the San Juans, we were lucky to be treated to a performance by The Head and The Heart and an All-Star chorus of Doe Bay guests including Drew Grow & the Pastors Wives and Kelli Schaefer, with about 20 people and we’re so excited to have one last video to share with you from that meant-to-be moment.

 

 

 

 

We’ll be sharing two more Doe Bay bonus sessions in the coming weeks from Hey Marseilles and Drew Grow and the Pastors’ Wives, as we prepare to shoot another round of sessions this August!

March 23, 2011

Live From the Basement: Pickwick and friends do “The Round”

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Pickwick on Film ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

This week Pickwick releases their third Myths ’45 at the Tractor Tavern, and for us it’s the perfect opportunity to drop a third song from the basement session that was such a hit earlier this year. With a choir made up of members of Concours D’Elegance, Fort Union, and Ivan & Alyosha, and a voiceless Barry on shaker, “The Round” off Myth’s Vol. 2 was the song the band worked the most on that afternoon, getting the high harmonies in sync and all the timing just right with their new members. As this video shows, all that practice really paid off. Though when all your friends are around, it hardly seems like practice at all, and much more like a big group hug. An admittedly unwieldy hug, where everyone is furiously keeping the beat with a shaker in one hand.

Pickwick is at the Tractor Tavern this Friday March 25th, with BOAT who is also releasing a record that night, and Concours D’Elegance. Tickets are $8 advanced at TicketWeb. Snag them now as methinks this show will sell out.

 

Pickwick on Video ::: By Tyler Kalberg for Sound on the Sound

February 15, 2011

Kelli Schaefer – “Better Idea” [video]

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Kelli Schaefer – Better Idea (Live at Ripcord Studio) from amigo amiga on Vimeo.

Each experience I’ve had with Portland’s Kelli Schaefer has been different and notable in it’s own regard. As a whole, taken from over the period of not even a year, they reveal an artist in the process of realizing her possibilities. Often in the company of the Pastors’ Wives whom she lives and collaborates with, in truth the voice is the true focus of her performance. Her naked emotion so tangible as to have a melody of it’s own, an ebb and flow with grace notes and themes that somehow communicate heartbreak deeper than anything a guitar, or even an orchestra, might ever be capable of.

The invite-only night to Ripcord Studios in Vancouver B.C. captured above and attended by Kickstarter supporters and supporters otherwise to the making of Kelli Schaefer’s first full-length Ghost of the Beast, was in my mind a defining experience in so many ways, and more than that, a moment I will never forget. Defining for the prospect of models like Kickstarter for musicians with relatively small but fervent fan bases, and also for the notion that Schaefer could be defined at all. Usually shying away from the acoustic guitar, she made use of her mother’s classical guitar for most of the set, bringing the focus to her vocals and that bare expression. She set the guitar aside as her drummer and Amigo/Amiga honcho Jeremiah Hayden sat in on piano, and the unrestrained performance of “Better Idea” wasn’t simply the latest case of my arm hair standing on end. For those in the room, “intense” and “heart-rending” are only the two most immediate adjectives to come to mind. “Jaw-dropping” was the active verb in the room. And maybe some jaw quivering.

As you can see for yourself in the latest production by Tyler Kalberg and Dylan Priest and Amigo/Amiga, this night, this moment, was confirmation that Schaefer is truly in a class of her own.

Kelli Schaefer celebrates the release of Ghost of the Beast – February 25th at Columbia City Theater. Buy your tickets HERE.

February 1, 2011

Why You Should Support Your Favorite Artists Via Kickstarter

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Because if you did, you, like me and 39 other donors, would have had a chance to witness this magnificent performance live.

We drove six hours round-trip in biblical rains to Vancouver, WA for five songs with Kelli Schaefer and as you can see, it was absolutely worth it.

Captured by Sound on the Sound’s own Tyler Kalberg and Dylan Priest, there will be two more videos from this sincerely spine-tingling session before Schaefer celebrates her vinyl release February 25th at Columbia City Theater with Joseph Giants and Ships. We’ll be there in the crowd, proud to know we’ve played some small role in helping it all happen.

January 19, 2011

Live From the Basement: Pickwick

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Pickwick In Black & White

 

This recording with Pickwick that happened one Sunday afternoon in early December is the first in our 2011 video sessions. This first new series hopes to capture each band in their own practice spot, be it a basement, garage or abandoned warehouse, giving us a sense of how they operate and interact in a comfortable space, providing context to help us understand where the music is actually coming from. Pickwick and our Doe Bay Session videographer Tyler Kalberg had actually already been planning this particular event for some time, and in the process of coinciding with our idea, it became an opportunity to kick off our efforts with a bang, with one of our new favorite bands and with the guy behind the camera who we’re proud to have as part of Sound on the Sound.

Much of the cultural conversation around a band these days is generally focused on how each individual is special in their own contribution. Secondary is how the entire band works together to make something even more special. Pickwick is focused firmly in the second kind of thinking when supporting the momentum of Galen Disston’s fearless croon, and it’s this that ultimately produces a convincing modern take on soul that’s cohesive and fun. Injecting exuberance and the element of audience participation into songs that can be as vocally complicated as any Bill Withers tune and as musically pop as any Quincy Jones hook, if you can resist this band’s pull on your feet you might need to get your rhythm checked.

The filming of this first session was actually my first opportunity to properly take measure of this band, a group that I’d been glued to two songs from that were available only on bandcamp as a part of the first of their series of vinyl 45s titled Myths Vol. 1. I’d met the band randomly at a few venues around town and had their name dropped to me by people I trust, but was still admittedly in the dark about them. Over the course of a few hours, the effort of many takes on six different songs, and a fistful of PBRs, my time in the basement with the band and their effusive comrades confirmed my hopes: that Pickwick’s first 7″ was not a one-off special or even their best songs. Despite tearing through take after take of the same song when they had probably delivered it great on the first effort and having never heard any of it live before, I was still happy listening to those songs over and over and over again. Aside from any discussion about aesthetic, it’s that very idea that’s the crux of what defines “good” pop for a person is it not? In truth, the band that can do that is the band that we’re all in search of. Right?

Pickwick recorded Myths Vol. 3 just this last weekend at Kory Kruckenbergs studio, and will be back on stage March 25th at the Tractor Tavern with BOAT and Concours D’Elegance. Until then please enjoy our first video session of 2011, Live from Pickwick’s basement.

 

Pickwick ::: Photo Hilary Harris

 

Pickwick’s choir ::: Photo Hilary Harris

Pickwick ::: Photo Hilary Harris

Pickwick ::: Photo Hilary Harris

Pickwick ::: Photo Hilary Harris

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!