If You Like It, Go Deeper

It’s hard to know where to even start when it comes to Drew Walker.

When I first met Walker, he was an outgoing stoner (he’s proven it’s possible!) who would play guitar from the porch of his former Flop Haus digs on H Street and mercilessly push you to support local music and have fun doing it. From there, I remember always seeing him sitting behind a drumset with a handful of local bands or involved in the production of a local show in one way or another. Other times, he would be walking around the city for hours, posting fliers for shows, snapping film photos and stopping at what seemed like every other house to catch up with friends.

A few years have passed, and lots of things in this town have changed. However, it is comforting to see Walker as one who remains consistently motivated when it comes to his craft and his commitment to the Sacramento music scene. And just as when I first met him, Walker still has that seemingly never-ending desire to create.

Fresh off tour with his band, Gentleman Surfer, Walker has rolled out his current labor of love through his solo project, DoofyDoo. This current endeavor is a collection of 15 EPs of edited live recordings that pay homage to every city he has toured in over the past year. He has called this collection of recordings, “The Tourist: The West Coast In Audio”, which he describes as an album, “Spanning both Western borders, part beats, part guitars, part anthropological adventure, a collection of tracks from, for, and about 17 different cities and towns between Tijuana and Vancouver.” He says that the album was made, “Using tapes, samples, fx and found instruments. Each track on the album represents a unique unrepeatable experience in the city it was recorded in including Sacramento, Davis, San Francisco, Reno, Oakland, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Mexicali, Tijuana, Long Beach, Portland, Olympia, Seattle, Anacortes, Eugene, Port Townsend and Vancouver.”

The Tourist is a long, freaky musical trip. There is song after song of looping soundbites and melodic story lines that almost play like subliminal messages. Drew did hours of research on each place he visited, and collected sound snippets from different sources, using them as grounds for improvising in live performances. He then recorded and edited the raw performances and turned them into albums. This process continued over the course of a year, blossoming into a glimpse of the hyper world of Drew’s brain.

“My desire to go on tour, meet new people, and travel really left me with the idea that I wanted to know the people and places on a more personal level,” says Walker. “I would go up on stage with a semi-planned idea of what I would be performing, but it was all with the idea that it would all organically unfold onstage.” In other words, he would reach out to his surroundings for creative motivation.

Each song is accompanied by writings and pictures. “I like to capture the snapshot of an experience,” says Walker, “Every song incorporates a different experience.”

Every EP was recorded in a different venue in a different place and with a completely different audience, and there are even instances where Drew has used the equipment of other acts. “Sometimes I’ll ask other bands playing the same gig if I can use their instruments. It’s what gives it that nice tweak or something different. So a lot of the songs even use entirely different equipment.” All factors have helped create something aesthetically different every single time. In the end, a total of 18 varying live shows were edited to create The Tourist.

“This work definitely takes a third eye to take in,” says Drew, “In fact, I hope some people are high when they first listen.” He gave me permission to oust his reefer influences, saying, “One of those songs is titled ‘4/20/2015’ and was recorded in San Francisco at this crazy bar that was also a performance venue and laundromat. That was crazy, but also one of my favorites.”

Walker sees this project as a huge artistic piece that couples many concepts that go beyond the musical. Every song has photographs, writings and art he has personally created specifically for each album and its tracks.

“It is a huge piece of performance art in my eyes,” he says, “Essentially the collaging of images from my life on tour. Its takes on a personal and unique form with each performance.”

The tracks take the listener on a sonically animated roller coaster ride, with little to no actual singing. Most vocals are limited to sound snippets and people talking about stuff like racism, parking tickets, Sac history and Birkenstocks. A lot of these sounds are rhythmically repeated and paired with Walker’s live drumming and other instrumentals. One notable thing about Walker’s style, is that he has managed to master the art of being spontaneous and free. It genuinely feels like his unedited subconscious unapologetically seeps through in every song. It is wacky and weird and sometimes dizzying, but it is never boring or trying to imitate anything else. The Tourist feels personal and authentic without any pretentious connotations.

On Dec. 6, 2015 The Tourist will officially be released in its entirety at the renewed Blackbird Kitchen + Beer Gallery. In fact, the recently renovated (re-re-renovated?) venue is opening its digs early just for Walker’s show. Since the community raised over $800 through Indiegogo to help make Drew’s touring project possible, Blackbird is hosting a dinner as a thanks for everyone before the show.

This reception will be something entirely new for Walker and his music. Rather than being planned and rehearsed, Walker hopes to follow suit with The Tourist, and let things unfold organically. There will be a gallery reception, with a music video premier that he is really excited about. “The music video is made to go with the Sac song,” he says, “It’s going to be 12 awesome minutes directed by my friend Gabe, aka Tiger’s Blood.” A live performance will follow, that will surely be wildly improvised; something that will be utilized to make another improvised album that was based on his previous improvised albums.

When asked about his motivation for this work, Walker says, “If you like it, go deeper. It’s an experience that involves all of these people and all of this information and it’s all part of it here. It’s not about just music, but it is verging on fine art/outsider art. Essentially, my show will be about sharing, celebrating and then moving on to something else.”

Grab your copy of DoofyDoo’s The Tourist Dec. 6, 2015, at Blackbird Kitchen + Beer Gallery at 1015 9th Street in Sacramento. The all-ages show will include a live performance, video premiere and gallery reception and is free with purchase of the album. For more info, go to Facebook.com/doofydoojams

It’s safe to say that with her fourth full-length album, Abyss, set to be released August 7, 2015, on Sargent House, ex-Sacramentan Chelsea Wolfe has reached a whole new level in her already impressive career. Having always been known for her dark, hypnotizing sound and aesthetic, Abyss is easily Wolfe’s heaviest and most personal album to date. According to a statement by Wolfe, “Abyss is meant to have the feeling of when you’re dreaming, and you briefly wake up, but then fall back asleep into the same dream, diving quickly into your own subconscious”. The last couple of years have been crazy for Wolfe. She’s toured with Queens of the Stone Age, landed on the covers of magazines all over the world, and has even had songs featured in trailers for the popular HBO show Game of Thrones as well as the upcoming feature film Dark Places, which is based on the book by the best-selling author of Gone Girl. On Abyss, Wolfe continued her ongoing collaboration with co-writer and multi-instrumentalist Ben Chisholm and drummer Dylan Fujioka. Ezra Buchla was brought on board to play viola and Mike Sullivan of the band Russian Circles contributed his guitar wizardry. The group recorded in Dallas, Texas with producer/engineer John Congleton (Swans, St. Vincent). The first single off the album “Iron Moon” was recently debuted on Rolling Stone’s website, and the second single “Carrion Flowers” was debuted by NPR’s All Songs Considered, so to say Wolfe is already receiving good press would be an understatement. Abyss is available for pre-order now. Visit Chelseawolfe.net for more details. A tour in support of the new album has also been announced and the closest she’ll get to Sacramento is on Saturday, Sept. 26, 2015, when Wolfe and her band will play at San Francisco’s The Regency Ballroom.

After a lifetime in Sacramento, Matt Sertich is taking his solo act to L.A.

A healthy crowd gathers in Midtown for an early show in celebration of Matt Sertich’s first solo record, The Only Way Out is Through, a collection of stripped down, powerful pop songs that speak to love, pain, loss and all the other weird shit that creates the human experience. The vibe is mellow in Harlow’s, a room that can transform from an intimate singer-songwriter cave into a Latin dance extravaganza in the blink of an eye. The bartender is nowhere to be seen. Security guards stand leisurely, making jokes. Toward the back of the club, a table full of dedicated fans who have been following Sertich for decades, from his time in the pop-punk outfit Pocket Change to his 10-year stint in The Generals (with drummer/keyboardist/programmer Kirk Janowiak) to his present day solo career, let out a collective scream when the 37-year-old musician finally sits at the piano.

Sertich wastes no time. He breaks into “I Won’t Let You Down”—a strong, earnest ballad with an atmospheric background—and the room falls silent. His voice is loud and confident, with a thin string of pain that runs deep through his soaring melodies. Sertich is an interesting musician in that the songs he crafts are not exactly what count as popular today. In an era when singers either emulate rustic Americana or stare at the ground feigning disinterest in the world, Sertich chooses to face emotion head-on and write songs that celebrate life’s loftiest themes—pop-y ballads about love and hope. And what he creates comes from an almost childlike approach to music. “As a kid your dream is to write stuff like U2 or Whitney Houston … or what makes you feel so good inside,” he explains. “And as you get older you start getting into scenes and you start reverting backwards, kind of.”

After some soul searching, Sertich realized that he doesn’t have to cater to a scene or a trend. He’s going to make the kind of music that he wanted to make as a kid. And he does it well up there on that stage, singing like he’s trying to win back the girl of his dreams. The crowd, of course, is transfixed.

But Sertich hasn’t always had such good fortune with his music. In fact, much of what he’s faced is enough to make a weaker-willed musician smash his guitar, get a state job, crank out a litter of children and exit without so much as a whimper into the eternal bucket of KFC in the sky. But some of the stories he tells of his frustrating misfortunes are actually pretty funny. You know, once the heartbreak settles in.

For instance, there was a run-in with a Sacramento radio guy a few years back after he wrote “Keep the City Alive,” an ode to the the Sacramento Kings. Naturally, Sertich was excited about debuting his song on-air, but the radio guy played the song and immediately said it was horrible, that it sounded like Say Anything or Peter Gabriel. For Sertich, it was a confusing put down. After all, in his mind, a Peter Gabriel comparison isn’t quite the end of the world. But, still, it was a slight. And it was meant to be harsh.

Or there was one time he went to Los Angeles to be on the popular Heidi and Frank Show (95.5 KLOS). He was super excited about the appearance. That is until he arrived at the studio and found out he was booked for a “love it or hate it” episode, where the hosts would play your song and critique it (along with random callers) live on the air. They played The Generals’ “Just Because,” a fast-paced pop ballad about hope in the midst of darkness. The calls came in. One-after-another. Heidi hated it. Mike said it sounded like a Cure cover band. The song played through and Sertich sat through scathing, seemingly endless criticism. “It was so painful,” he says. “They were just ripping it.”

Anyway, Sertich somehow ended up garnering six votes, enough to sit for the rest of the show. Still, he was discouraged. But that situation—the uncomfortable, nearly unbearable awkwardness—made him stronger, more determined than ever to succeed.

“But I never want to play ‘Just Because’ again,” he admits. “I hate that song.”

Finally, after a weird run-in with The Jim Rose Circus Sideshow, where he was promised thousands of dollars to go on tour, which turned out to be a scam, The Generals decided to amicably call it quits, and Sertich decided to get his solo career off the ground. “I think with Kirk that was the last straw,” Sertich says. “It just depleted him.”

So, as The Generals winded down, Sertich worked as hard as he could on music in between his full-time job waiting tables at Tower Café. He practiced literally every day for a year—no matter how tired he was or how uninspired he felt—and came up with six tracks of piano-based ballads that became The Only Way Out is Through that he performs by himself with a synthesizer and drum machine. In the spirit of The Generals, Sertich’s solo songs are powerful, ’80s-tinged melodies that stand out, especially in 2014’s musical landscape of throwaway pop songs that rely more on tricky production than emotion.

“I grew up loving ballad singers,” Sertich says. “Like cheesy love songs that people make fun of.”

But oftentimes, people make fun of things that are memorable. And popular. Sertich’s obsession for ballads and his ear for powerful, larger-than-life arrangement results in a cinematic vibe, songs you might hear at the end of a movie where the protagonist screams triumphantly in the rain, even though all his friends are dead.

Since Sacramento might not be the best place for an artist like Sertich, he’s packing up his belongings, leaving Sacramento, the only home he’s known for the past 37 years, and taking his movie-ready songs down to Los Angeles, just to see what happens.

When I ask what he’s going to do down there, Sertich points to his CD. “There’s my business card,” he says. “There’s a lot of stuff going on out there. Just to reach out to as many avenues as I can when I’m out there, whether it’s playing as much as possible, networking, going to see a show.”

It’s not going to be an easy road. Sertich knows that. He’ll probably rent a room in Silver Lake, work as a parking valet and do his best to get his music into the hands of the right people. A scary prospect, but for someone who obsesses over melodies and arrangements, it makes perfect sense.

“I’m going to be full of fear because I’ve lived here all my life. There’s a lot of ups and downs. I get it, but it’s just going out there focused,” he says. “I’m not going out there because I’m trying to run away from anything, I’m going out there because I want to make it happen. It’s what I want to do. I don’t have a choice in the matter anymore.”

At Harlow’s, Sertich sits at the piano in the middle of the dark stage, red lights casting an eerie glow against his pale skin. He plays the song “In the End,” written as a letter from his father who passed away in 2005. It begins, “Son, I’m leaving now/ My time has come/ to say goodbye/ Son, I hope you know/ I’ve done the best/ that I could. I never meant to do you wrong/ Never meant to leave you there/ Leave you all alone.”

When Sertich sings, it’s not just the voice. It’s every atom in his body. In his muscles. His skin. Emotions stir in an aura that surrounds him, both joyful and dark. “And I only meant to be your friend,” he sings. “Hope you knew me better in … better in the end.”

Catch Matt Sertich on Thursday, July 10 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. during the Hot Lunch Concert Series at Fremont Park: 16th and Q Streets, across from Hot Italian. To buy The Only Way Out is Through, go to Mattsertich.bandcamp.com.

Ex-Cuesta Drive’s Dane Drewis Takes His Music Solo”¦
Well, Sort of”¦

With the disbanding of Cuesta Drive last year, lead guitarist and vocalist Dane Drewis refused to go quietly into obscurity. Drewis’ work ethic speaks for itself as he’s already completed his solo record, Rock & Soul, and scheduled a release party April 30, 2010 at Harlow’s. The album may bear his name, but it’s largely a product of a strong family bond woven by generations of musicians.

Honestly, the connection is there. While discussing the minor details of composing the drums on the record, Drewis said he listened to a lot of modern music, including sampling drum sounds from N.E.R.D. and The Neptunes. “We definitely studied modern production, even if they were not our style, to listen to the tones they were getting on guitars and drums,” he said. “The music itself still has the classic rock, bluesy, funk and soul edge to it.” He even listened to Lenny Kravitz, admitting he was not a fan of the musician, but an admirer of his production value. “We listened just to understand that if we could put my playing with that tone it would be awesome,” he said. “No one will ever know. It still sounds like our jazzy jam band sound.”

Let’s talk about your family’s involvement in the production of the album.
I guess I’ll start from the beginning. My parents were jazz musicians. They played in cover bands throughout ’70s and ’80s. That’s what they did full time, until they had their second kid, my sister Deena, then they had to get real jobs.

Both my sisters are very musically inclined. I tapped them on the shoulder for the album to come out and sing. Actually, my whole family came out to sing in the studio for the song “Friday Night,” which is the single we’re pushing. We did group vocals and individual vocals. My little sister Janel and I have written a couple songs and Deena is a really good writer. She works for a publishing company called Flatmancrooked. So she’ll shoot me lyrics all the time. We’ve done a couple gigs together, just fooling around. We definitely rehearse at home, but we’ve never got a full, official band going. But, it’s always been a possibility in the back of my mind.
 
Since you’ve got your family involved in the recording, do you think you’ll invite them on stage to sing with you at your release show or one of your local gigs?
Well, my little sister is opening for me at Harlow’s for my record release party. She’s 18 and she has no idea how good she is. I always joke that someday I’ll be opening for her. My dad plays bass for me now. But, we’ve talked about doing a couple songs together live. At the Cuesta Drive CD release show two years ago I had both my sisters and my mom come sing backup on a couple songs, but it was so loud. They’re not used to loud rock stuff. They had a hard time hearing themselves through the monitors.

Definitely a possibility. It would be really great to capture on video since we’re filming the whole show. I’ll leave it undecided to surprise people if we do it.
 
How has music being the family business strengthened the bond between your parents and your siblings?
It’s come to fruition more so lately than it has in the past. All through high school I was anti-jazz and rock ‘n’ roll. I was into hip-hop. My parents couldn’t stand it. I didn’t touch a guitar until I was 19. I got one in college.

My parents own a restaurant, Strings Pizzeria on Bradshaw, so we’re all working there, but music is our outlet. It’s a way to relax, let loose and de-stress. It’s the number one activity we all participate in, besides working at the restaurant. We do an open mic [at Strings] every Tuesday. When Janel is home, she comes and sings. My dad and I are always there, so it’s our new thing we do.
 
So it was never a family tradition to sit and have a drum circle after dinner?
No. When I moved home from college about four years ago, it changed. We’d be sitting around and after a couple glasses of wine that’s when it would start happening. My parents’ friends would make us play or something.
 
One of the write-ups on you said that because you were raised in a musical family it was inevitable that you’d be a musician. That notion struck me as strange, and I wanted to know if it felt that way.
It is kind of strange. It was a huge compliment, but so much of it is behind the scenes grinding and self-promotion that takes a strong personal drive. A lot of my friends are incredible musicians and I look up to them, but they don’t have the motivation beyond singing a couple songs around a campfire.
 
With the idea of inevitability toward music in mind, did you have a rebellious stretch where you didn’t want to go into the family business? Maybe during your hip-hop days?
I did. My parents joke that all Asian kids play piano, and my parents made me play when I was a kid. I played for two years, and I was pretty good. The day they said I didn’t have to take lessons anymore, I was 14 and I stopped that day.

I couldn’t stand all the stuff they listened to when I was growing up; all the Motown, lots of bossa nova and Latin jazz. I heard it millions of times, but went out of my way to block it out of my mind. Now that I’m older it’s coming back in waves I would never have imagined. They never really pushed it on me. When I asked for a guitar for Christmas, while I was in college, it took them both by surprise.

I heard Led Zeppelin for the first time when I was a senior in high school. That’s how into hip-hop I was. I used to be able to go through whole DMX and Tupac albums word for word. In hindsight, I listen to those records now and there’s a lot of musical stuff going on there. It was my way of rebelling, but it led me here. Couldn’t have been that bad.
 
Since your dad is a seasoned musician, has he given you any tips for the road of touring?
He tricked out my van, gave me his amps and some of his guitars. My mom is worried because he’s going out on the road with me.
 
She knows what the road is like, too.
She’s having a heart attack. She knows how much we drink and smoke. She’s like, “Keep an eye on your dad.” But, I’m thinking, “Keep an eye on my dad? He’s supposed to keep an eye on me.”
 
What’s the status of Cuesta Drive?
I think we’ll do a couple of reunion shows here and there. Thank God we’re still on great terms. It got to a state of the union last year about this time. We sat down in the back of Sweetwater and had a huge talk. We’d just finished that music video for “Rollin’.” We’d been a band for five or six years and we discussed what it exactly it was we were doing. I was pushing for buying a van, getting on the road, quitting your day jobs, be prepared. Originally that was the plan, but you know how guys are, they don’t talk about their feelings and shit.

We’re all gung ho as far as playing music, but our bass player Timmy got into grad school in Idaho on a long shot. We just kind of went our separate ways. I can always see us getting back together to play and jam, but right now I’m trying to make this my career. I have the drummer from Cuesta Drive still; he plays with me live. Timmy is coming home in May and is already talking about doing a couple shows. Why wouldn’t we? I’m sure we’ll always do a couple reunion shows—kind of like The Police [laughs], but on a small scale.

Dane Drewis will celebrate the release of Rock & Soul at Harlow’s April 30, 2010.

Autumn Sky Charms Fans With Her Upcoming Album

Whether crooning about a budding romance or a broken heart, Autumn Sky’s sparkling melodies resonate long after the final notes die down. Like an intimate conversation, Sky’s confessional narratives are blended with twinkling instrumentals. Her music leaves you with a warm feeling—like reading a book on a rainy day. Most of her songs sparkle with hopefulness and celebration, but there is also the occasional haunting gray lullaby.

Surprisingly, this precocious singer/songwriter is just 20 years old. “I do things early. I don’t really wait around for everyone else,” Sky explains. “I’m not going to be one of those people who sits back and regrets wasting my life on drinking and partying in college.” But, she is looking forward to turning 21 in October—most of the venues she plays are 21-and-over, which means she has to leave the building the second she finishes her set.

Music was something Sky fell into naturally. She already had the name—her first name is actually Autumn, and Sky is her middle name—and she was born into a musical family. “My family is very big and my mom is very musical and she always had us learning instruments or singing,” Sky says. “We were just constantly surrounded by it.”

Being part of a musical family meant early exposure to various instruments, such as the piano at age 6 and the violin at age 12. She had a guitar as a teenager, but admits that it just sat around in her room because she wasn’t motivated enough to learn how to play. “I wanted to go do cool things, and learn the guitar was not one of them. Until it got cool to play guitar, it just sat in my room and looked pretty, like a prop.” Then came the deciding factor: boys. “I went to summer camp and all the cute boys played guitar,” she laughs. “There was a talent show and I was like, I’d better learn a song or something.”

Being home-schooled and graduating at age 17 left Sky with lots of time to spend on herself and figuring out what she wanted to do. “I ended up getting into the scene pretty early on because I had extra time and there wasn’t anything else to do. I had my driver’s license and I had a guitar,” she says.

Like other budding musicians in the Sacramento area, Sky started out playing at local coffee shops and open mic nights and worked her way up to paying gigs. She used to play as many as five nights a week, until someone told her, “slow down, you’re going to kill yourself. You’re not even 20 yet.” Now, she’s discovered that by playing less shows per month in the Sacramento area, she gets a better turnout and a better crowd with much more energy. It also allows her more time for touring and playing in other cities.

Attend one of Sky’s shows and expect a diverse mix of instruments and sounds. Many call her eclectic, to which she modestly responds, “I think I just don’t make up my mind.”

Her shows generally include two to three instruments—usually the guitar, the ukulele and the autoharp. Also in her musical repertoire are piano, organ, tambourine, drums, flute, recorder, accordion and classical violin.

Her sets differ from night to night. “Depending on what the mood is in the set, I’ll be like, ‘well we could use something light and airy.’ So we’ll throw in a ukulele song.” This gives her a lot of control and flexibility, and also ensures that she doesn’t get tired of her sets.

Even though Sky uses a wide array of instruments and writes songs in many different styles, she still strives to create a signature sound. While she is constantly experimenting with the songs she writes at home, these may not make it into her sets. Like some of her favorite musicians—think Regina Spektor and M. Ward—her “sound” has a simple and folk-like appeal. “I really appreciate just plain old stripped-down acoustic songs,” she says. “I really love careful finger-picking and light, jingly sounds accompanying.”

An avid reader, Sky places a lot of emphasis on her lyrics, which are often narratives. “The music I tend to write always tends to be slightly upbeat and happier, hopeful or celebratory. Or at the very least, with a message of goodwill at the end of a very sad song.” Above all, she writes about love in its many forms.

Sky’s EP, Diminutive Petite, was released this past November. The title refers to a line from the Madeline theme song: “She may be teeny-tiny, diminutive petite, but that has never stopped her from being pretty neat.” Her full-length album comes out on April 24, 2009 and is called All Which Isn’t Singing. The title is from the ee cummings poem, “all which isn’t singing is mere talking.”

Someday, she thinks it would be nice to be backed by a band, but for now she is content working as a solo act. “Until you get signed it’s really not practical to go out and hire all these musicians. Unless I’m making enough money to give it back to the musicians, it’s not really worth their while.”

School is still on the back burner, and includes plans to study child development and music therapy. Her little brothers are autistic, and she wants to specialize in autism. But at the moment, music is her main focus. In her optimistic way, she says simply, “I’ve been really blessed lately.”