In the new video for the song “Test Yourself” off Sea of Bees’ latest musical effort, Build a Boat to the Sun—a 10-song voyage through the band’s singer-songwriter Julie Ann Baenziger reconnection with music after a brief hiatus—Baenziger and her musical cohort Amber Padgett channel their inner Girl Scouts and commune with nature in a playful romp with the snails and butterflies that inhabit a wooded glen nestled against the craggy cliffs lining a frothy, churning sea.
The video, shot by Padgett and fellow local creative Jyoti Alexander along the breezy trails and parks in Stinson Beach, channels that feeling of wide-eyed innocence that permeates much of the Bees’ musical catalogue and marks Baenziger’s return—not only to the 916 but to creating new music.
Coming off the heels of a successful musical residency at the Ace Hotel in New York, Baenziger is diving back into her Sacramento roots, heralded by a return to the stage in a homecoming of sorts with shows lined up this month at the Warehouse Artist Lofts and Sophia’s Thai Kitchen in the continuation of the musical journey that began as a teenager.
“When I was younger, about 15 or 16, that’s when I realized I could create things,” she explains. “I was existing to create things, I liked to draw a lot, but I was really introverted.”
It wasn’t until she stumbled across a musical duo at church and became transfixed by the lure of music that she began to emerge from her shell. It was then that her creative yearnings metamorphosed from pictures into harmonies.
“There was a boy and a girl; a sister and a brother, and they were playing guitar and singing,” she explains. “And I was just taken away by them [and thought] I could maybe do something like that. So that was kind of like an invitation. Also I was crushing on the gal a bunch.”
Following that transformative moment, Baenziger spent the remainder of her teenage years secreted away at home, teaching herself how to sing and play the one-stringed bass guitar that one of her brothers had cast away into the dark recesses of the family’s shed. Certainly, the road to tours along the West Coast, shows in the United Kingdom and residencies in some of New York’s top venues—she also played a stint at the Living Room in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn—didn’t come without its frustrations and long, grueling hours of learning how to master the intricacies of the bass.
“I’d pick [it] up in the mornings before I’d go to school and try to tune it. I didn’t know how to tune it so I’d just turn on some music and try I’d to emulate that and try to make the same sound,” she says. “So I was really trying, it took five years of misery—my fingers were callused, I didn’t know how to tune, but then it became just my life.”
If turning heartbreak and adversity into musical gold was a commodity, then Baenziger has cornered the market on making melodious magic from the treasure trove of instruments she continues to master as a self-taught musician. Now in her sixth year of fronting the Bees—a sometimes one-woman act that moonlights as a duo or full-fledged band—the songstress says that her music’s evolution isn’t an act of premeditation, but is rather a reflection of her experiences.
Sea of Bees’ first album, Songs for the Ravens, what Baenziger calls an explosion of delving into the pent-up emotions of feeling limited and restrained, was a way for the artist to discover the joys of the self. The second album, Orangefarben, was a much more personal piece of work and a catharsis of sorts. The album follows a time of turmoil, during which Baenziger came out, went on her first tour to promote her debut offering and ended a relationship with her first girlfriend.
“The second record was more of the experience of a break up. It was just very direct and in the place where I was at I was limited—I couldn’t explore, my feelings were walled up,” she admits.
With the release of Build a Boat to the Sun, which she recorded under the guidance of her longtime manager John Baccigaluppi at his new recording studio, General Produce in Sacramento and Panoramic Studios in Stinson Beach, she says she’s learning how to explore again, where there are no restraints—both in her life and in the way she approaches her music.
“It’s crazy, now I feel like I’m back. Not back to the beginning, but back to this place of like no limits, which is nice,” she says. “There’s no emotional limits, there’s nothing that can stop what I want to try, whether it be some Afro beat, or just anything, I can do Indian chants, it’s limitless, so it’s very refreshing to see what happens.”
As the songbird prepares to bring Sea of Bee’s back to the home stage, it’s clear that the “Test Yourself” video is truly a reflection of her eagerness to delve back into the waters of creating harmonies that convey her desire to wash away the limitations of her former selves. With every “la la la,” her voice soars with the confidence of her enthusiasm to create. But, for now, she’s looking forward to reconnecting with old friends and revisiting older tunes that she is ready to tap into again—and don’t be surprised if she throws in a few surprises too. She isn’t ashamed to admit an affinity for the musical stylings of pop royalty Katy Perry.
“Amber and I were talking about the upcoming shows. We’re going to keep it really lo-fi for the Sacto show, that’s going to be a super fun show, though,” Baenziger explains. “I think we want to do more of the older songs because I’ve strayed away from them for so long. I have to get to that place where I just enjoy playing them. Sometimes you’ve got to go back and revisit them and just kind of connect again and enjoy the process.”
As for the Davis show, Baenziger says that’s when she’ll pull the big guns out and employ the talents of a full band. Her excitement resonates throughout the coffeehouse where she reflectively sips on her caffeinated beverage of choice—a steaming cup of coffee.
“We’re going to have some good friends play with us,” she says. “Be expecting a big fat hug of music. Be prepared to be embraced by the sound.”
With just a few shows planned, Baenziger says that with the fall equinox she too is looking forward to a fresh start musically and personally. She calls it a rebirth of sorts and reconnecting with old friends has been a large part of her inspiration as she embarks on new musical exploits.
She is currently working on her fourth album, which she hopes to wrap up in December and release in the spring of 2016 and is embracing the feeling of her current mantra of casting away any limitations, of being limitless and finding happiness back among her friends and fellow musicians.
“You’ve got to feel good. I don’t want to feel shitty anymore, I’m so tired of it,” she says. “Everybody deserves to feel good and I’m excited for the future of things. I have been actually excited about making music. No limits that’s my thing.”
Give Julie Ann a warm welcome home at two upcoming shows: The first at Sophia’s Thai Kitchen in Davis on Oct. 22 (tickets are $8 in advance and the show starts at 9:30 p.m.), and the second is a special rooftop show at the WAL (1108 R Street in Sacramento) on Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. with Sunmonks and Jacob Golden.
As of last week Sophia’s Thai Kitchen in Davis is back at it again, hosting intimate live shows on their sweet little front porch. In the past I’ve seen some really amazing regional and touring indie and folk acts play on the tiny deck, out in the open air, under the stars on warm spring and summer nights. Their April lineup is looking pretty good, with the Bay Area’s Tumbleweed Wanderers (who have a new EP Worn Down Welcome out later in the month) playing on April 5 with openers The Matinee from Vancouver, British Columbia. Then on April 6, San Francisco band Social Studies, on Antenna Farm Records, will headline with local openers Cold Eskimo. April 12 will see Foxtails Brigade perform, also from San Francisco and also on Antenna Farm Records, along with openers Swansea, a trio from Portland, Ore. Roots/jazz collective The Dustbowl Revival from Venice, Calif., will play Sophia’s on April 13 with Davis’ The West Nile Ramblers opening the show. The calendar doesn’t stop there, so check out http://sophiasthaikitchen.com/ for more shows. Most concerts start at 9:30 p.m. and range from about $5 to $7, with those 21-and-over being welcome. Do yourself a favor and check out a show at Sophia’s this year, even if you’ve never heard of any of the bands playing, as they only bring top-notch talent through.
If you attended last Saturday night’s show at Luigi’s in Davis as part of Davis Music Fest, you would have never known you were witnessing the final show the venue would host. The very next day, Luigi’s quietly closed its doors for good. “It just didn’t resonate and never got better,” owner Linda Brida told Submerge of the all-ages venue and pizza joint, going on to say that Davis “is an interesting animal.” They wanted to tough it out to the one-year mark (they opened on January 21 of this year), but it just didn’t make sense financially to keep it going any longer. As of press time there was no indication as to what business would fill the location.
The closing of Luigi’s in Davis leaves the small college town with very few legit (i.e.: not house shows) all-ages venues for both touring and local bands to play. One remaining example is the ever-popular, long standing Sophia’s Thai Kitchen, which hosts all-ages shows on their patio during fair weather months.
“Unlike Sophia’s, Luigi’s didn’t have a clientele that treated the place like a local,” said musician Lauren Cole Norton, who plays in The Souterrain.
“If there was going to be anyone in the audience, they were going to be people you had invited out,” she said, as opposed to a built-in crowd that comes out no matter who is playing. Her band had played Luigi’s during the venue’s opening weekend and she remembers that the “place was hopping.” But, she added, “You could see already how it was going to be tricky to get people to pay to come down to the basement when they could hang out upstairs at the bar and listen for free.”
“We thought that was what Davis wanted,” Brida said. “It was not their cup of tea. It just didn’t take off.” She pointed out how hard it was to close the location knowing that their 15 employees would be out of work.
Luigi’s two Sacramento locations, 3800 Stockton Boulevard and 1050 20th Street in Midtown (which also holds all-ages shows) will both stay open. The Midtown location is scheduled to be remodeled later this year, something that Brida says they’ve been planning for a long time. It will include a kitchen expansion and a cleaning up of the “Fungarden,” the room adjacent to the eatery where countless touring and local bands have had the pleasure of performing.
“There’s lots of wear and tear, and there’s lots of things that we’re trying out,” Brida said of the Midtown location.
Wear and tear or not, there are some killer bands playing at the Fungarden throughout the month of July, so keep an eye out on our calendar section, pick a show, grab some friends and enjoy some live music for cheap (cover is typically around $5). And while you’re at it, grab a slice and a beer. You know how the saying goes, Sacramento, you never know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.
For one day only, on Saturday, June 23, 2012, downtown Davis will be transformed into a mini SxSW-esque event thanks to the tireless efforts of the organizers of Davis Music Festival. Now in its second year and organized by nonprofit Music Only Makes Sense and Davis Live Music Collective, DMF will feature over 40 artists performing throughout the day on eight different stages at seven different venues including Delta of Venus, Odd Fellows Hall (which has two stages), Sophia’s Thai Kitchen, Luigi’s, G Street WunderBar, Armadillo Music and Little Prague.
“When I first approached people about having a music festival in Davis, it became apparent that the city and its residents would really get behind it more if there was a feel-good wrapper on the whole thing,” said Danny Tomasello of Music Only Makes Sense.
For an advanced price of just $20 (tickets at Armadillo or via http://davismusicfest.com/) show-goers can pick and choose what bands they want to see and hop from venue to venue, which can be a nightmare for indecisive people or a blessing for those organized enough to plan out their DMF experience. “It’s a terrifically painful challenge,” Tomasello said of creating the schedule. “Even more frustrating is having to decide who to see!” Just some of the bands playing that Submerge suggests you pencil into your schedule include Appetite and Who Cares (both at Delta of Venus), Sea of Bees and West Nile Ramblers (both at Odd Fellows Hall), Fine Steps and Calling Morocco (both at Luigi’s), Judgement Day and Sister Crayon (both at G Street WunderBar), The Nickel Slots and Tha Dirt Feelin (both at Armadillo’s stage). That hardly even scratches the surface of rad options.
“We want it to ‘make sense’ for everyone,” Tomasello said. “From musicians to sound engineers to our vendors and venue partners. I want everyone to wake up on Sunday and say,
‘Fuck yeah, that was so fun, I definitely want to be part of that again next year.’” To view DMF’s entire schedule, visit http://www.facebook.com/davismusicfest.
Sophia’s Thai Kitchen, Davis – Friday, March 23, 2012
Being 5 feet tall can have its advantages. First off it’s easy to become a champion of hide and seek, no cabinet or closet is too small to curl up in. And the chances of running into a bookshelf or tree branch are at an all-time low, because it’s easy to walk right underneath them without noticing. But the worst time to be vertically challenged is trying to see at a concert, especially if the stage is the same level as the floor.
The stage at Sophia’s Thai Kitchen in Davis isn’t actually a stage at all; it consists of a small wooden porch where all of the band members are cooped up in the corner, which provides a low level of good viewing but a high level of intimacy. As my friend Lucy said, the band members have “no room to bust a move.” But the three bands that opened up the “2012 Music Season Premiere” for the tiny venue didn’t need space to show off new moves but showed off their musical talents instead.
The opening band (starting oddly on time for a rock show) was Chicago’s garage-pop trio, Unicycle Loves You, who were all about making a bold statement. The drummer of the group rocked out while wearing bright red shorts that seemed at least two sizes too small for him. But he might have been the only person who could pull off wearing short shorts during a chilly March night. Their live music could make anyone want to jump up and dance around in circles. Before playing their last song, the lead singer boldly said, “Davis is better than Los Angeles and San Francisco put together.”
During setup for the next band, 1, 2, 3, the crowd seemed to multiply in minutes, making everyone squeeze in a little tighter. The lead singer got ready for the show by wearing a straw hat with a loose rope chinstrap. He later admitted that it was bought in San Francisco because he “thought it was appropriate” for the night. Their two guitars, drums and bass brought a fun but peaceful vibe into the air that even made some viewers on the sidewalk start to dance. For the last song of their set the drummer decided to play standing up, which led to a long instrumental jam session between all four band members. Originally from Pittsburgh, Penn., the band made their trip to Davis seem unique and not just another stop on their tour.
Somehow by the time the headliners, Milagres, took the stage the number of people in front of me multiplied again, making it an even tighter squeeze and keeping the prime viewing spaces at a minimum. Although it was difficult to see any of the band members, the sounds could make any music lover nod their heads and tap their feet in appreciation to their songs. Hailing from Brooklyn, N.Y., Milagres’ melodic but powerful music shook the wood panels of the porch. Shows at Sophia’s Thai Kitchen are usually a mixture of people who are trying to drink while holding loud conversations and people who are really into the music. But while the headliners were playing, most people were tuned in to the music. Milagres’ set ended with an encore that was demanded by the audience, making it all of the possible songs they could play in one night.
Although the view of the band was minimal, watching the reaction from the audience was almost better. I caught a girl with her eyes closed swaying side to side, a guy fist pumping, people yelling song requests and lots of head nods. It didn’t matter if someone was sitting front row with a perfect view or in the back sitting on a bar stool, everyone could hear and feel the music that night.
It’s probably trite by now to remind you that fans just don’t consume music the way they used to. That doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. We still enjoy putting on an album and ingesting it en masse, but it’s also fun to put the iTunes on shuffle and let fate decide, troll YouTube for new music videos or share play lists via Spotify. So for this year’s Top 20, we decided to mix things up a bit. Instead of just albums, we included a music video, EPs, live shows (even a comedy album snuck in there). Here’s our favorite music moments of this past year, in tweet-friendly format.
20. Jason Webley (live show)
Beatnik Studios, Sacramento
Oct. 30, 2011
When the man on stage thrusts his torso into a giant red balloon and gets the entire audience drunk enough to link arms and sway, you know it’s a good show.
19. Thee Oh Sees Carrion Crawler/The Dreamer
In The Red
Each song rocks, and it’s short and catchy enough to listen back to back, and back. They have mastered a sound, exemplified here. Loud fun.
18. Keith Lowell Jensen Cats Made of Rabbits
Apprehensive Films
Possibly the local comic’s best work to date, if this album/DVD doesn’t have you rolling on the floor, check your pulse, you might be dead.
17. Mastodon The Hunter
Reprise
Mastodon ditches spacey prog metal for gnarly bruising metal/rock hybrid and makes us wonder why they haven’t tried it sooner.
16. Mike Colossal The Psychodelic Soundsations of Mike Colossal
Glory Hole Records
From dub to dusty breaks Mike earns the name Colossal.
15. Red Fang Murder the Mountains
Relapse Records
Metal heads dose heavy riffs w/ stoner-core harmonies, crushing drums, subtly brilliant solos & bring serious balls back to rock ‘n’ roll.
14. The Generationals (live show) Sophia’s Thai Kitchen, Davis
July 16, 2011
The small porch in Davis provided the perfect environment to fall in love with every up-beat strum from The Generationals.
13. Cousin Fik Hacksaw Ben Thuggin
Sick-Wid-It Records
Hacksaw Ben Thuggin. Period. Fik is a rapper for real. From Halloween concepts, to catchy anthems, his words are precise and full of vigor.
Wednesday May 25, 2011
Sophia’s Thai Kitchen, Davis
The only barrier that separated the musicians from the audience members at Sophia’s Thai Kitchen in Davis was a white string of lights. The only items that separated the musicians that made up headliner S. Carey were their own instruments, due to the lack of space on the cozy porch stage. The man playing on the porch that night was Sean Carey, best known as the drummer and vocalist from Bon Iver, who made the wooden panels of the porch move Wednesday night.
The show began with an opening set played by Tor House, aka Daryl Jason Lazaro, who stood and sang in front of the other band’s instruments that were piled on the porch. His set only involved him, his guitar, and a few of his number-one fans and friends in the crowd who demanded an encore.
Shortly after Tor House was finished with his encore, Other Lives warmed up for their set. Originally from Oklahoma, the folksy sounding band admitted they were kind of making things up as they went along. Even if they were improvising, they played their soothing acoustic set with ease and seemed to love every minute of it. But during the middle of their set, a group of people near the bar started to have loud conversations that could be heard over the music. At one point the lead singer was strumming his guitar and mildly glaring at the people who were making obnoxious bar noise and said to the quiet people in the front, “Thank you very much for being polite.” Despite the ruckus, Other Lives finished their set to make way for the sounds of S. Carey.
Other Lives
Sean Carey and his band were playing so close together on the small porch that they could have all joined hands while performing if they wanted to. Carey even said that he was glad to play at such a “unique venue.” They started off their set with a low, ambient hum of the combination of the piano, xylophone, bass, drums and guitar, then gradually moved into their songs. S. Carey is the type of band that would be great to have every night in your living room before bedtime to provide sweet lullabies for a good night’s rest. It was mesmerizing to watch the xylophone player balance the four mallets between his fingers as he would hit the different notes on the giant bars. Sean Carey made sure to thank everyone almost after every song and at one point moved his talent from the back of his piano to the front of a drum. Intimacy is hard to achieve at most outdoor shows because the acoustics can get lost in the fresh air. But Carey and his band made each audience member feel as if they were given a one-on-one session with the music. That night’s intimacy was felt in the audience members keeping warm with the surrounding body heat on a chilly night; the dark red glow on each performer’s face that was provided by the only “stage lights” for the show; the street light turning on in the middle of the set, providing S. Carey a little more stage light for their performance; the crowd of 30 feeling the porch pulsate beneath them while they held Chimay glasses and beer bottles at their side.
Anyone can listen to the music of S. Carey on an iPod, in a video on YouTube, or in the car, but nothing can beat feeling the music on a small porch in Davis.
