Never Settle

Ask Kevin Lee, lead singer of Silver Darling, about the band’s fast acclaim and he will tell you quite simply that it was unexpected. With their first full-length, Your Ghost Fits My Skin, released on Crossbill Records this month, Silver Darling has quickly become a popular band in Sacramento. With their natural ability to create powerful, soulful music along with Kevin Lee’s weary, intoxicating vocals, Your Ghost Fits My Skin has become a highly anticipated release. Though it was just a project that simply started out as two roommates playing guitar together, the band has progressed into a three piece whose musical diversity has allowed them to redefine the folk genre. Submerge recently spoke to Kevin about the band’s influences, plans and the new album.

How did Silver Darling begin?
Josh Ahlansberg and I were roommates when I first moved to Sacramento, and I was just learning guitar. It kind of just developed from there. It’s been a really natural progression the last couple of years. Our friend Jesse Phillips started playing with us. There was definitely a time, about two years ago when we started a more intense practice schedule. We just asked ourselves if we really wanted to do this, if we wanted to commit to it and we did.

Sacramento seems to have embraced you guys pretty quickly. You have such a solid fan base already.
A lot of people who come out to shows are our friends. I think more people are starting to come out. It still feels like it’s the beginning. We are just getting people together and playing music. Sacramento has been great to us. We love to play in Sacramento when there are places to play.

What’s your favorite venue to play in Sacramento?
A house. Our best shows have been at houses. We are playing at Harlow’s for the CD release show. We’re looking forward to that because it has such a great sound system. It’s unfortunate because even though house shows are fun and it provides so much, after a while you start feeling the music itself is degraded a bit. Sometimes it’s really appropriate and the party atmosphere is awesome, but when you listen in a really excellent sound room”¦ Some places are just designed to hear music. I wish there were more places like that here in Sacramento.

You recently won an award for best male vocalist in Sacramento. How did that feel to get such an award?
It was really unexpected. I think, any embrace that has happened, has happened quickly. I was really surprised by it. It was an honor, of course, just surprising. I just didn’t think we were on the radar out in Sacramento yet.

You list influences from Neil Young to The Roots on your Web page. It seems you guys have a diverse range of musical artists that you look up to.
As far as the diversity, I think it comes from people who just put everything into their music. Just taking Neil Young and The Roots as an example—to me, those are people that really put themselves completely into their music. I feel like The Roots and Neil Young never settle and they only put forth their best music. They are always working on something. They are those performers who you can just tell that they put everything into their music. Bill Withers is also another huge influence. Every single thing he made came from such a real place.

Your album, Your Ghost Fits My Skin is being released on Crossbill Records. How did your relationship with Crossbill come about?
Well, we absolutely adore working with Crossbill. I can’t imagine a better working relationship. When we first started out, we were looking for people with that same passion for music, and we sent Mike Leahy a message and asked him if he had any openings on his radio show in Davis. We went and played on the show and put a couple more shows together with him at the Cool Cat Gallery with The Cave Singers. It kind of developed from there and he called us up and said that he would like to do what he could to put out our first album. It’s just a beautiful working relationship. Mike is our friend. To have someone on a label that we can call anytime is a lot more than what most people get, so it’s wonderful.

Where did you record the album, and how long was the recording process?
We recorded at the Hangar. We had plans to record at some other places in order to get really into the atmosphere where we were recording—off onto the country and whatnot. But as soon as we started working with Christian Kiefer, it just became obvious that it was not going to be feasible. We were not going to be able to bring out pianos and pump organs to a barn you know? It was becoming too big. We booked four days at the Hangar and we just practiced a lot. The Hangar is amazing and we can’t imagine now not recording at the Hangar.

You finished recording the entire album in four days?
We recorded the whole album in three days and started post-production on the last day. Kiefer also worked for about three days by himself on the mixing and the editing.

For new listeners who may not have heard the album yet, how would you describe it?
It’s the album that we definitely wanted to make. I think there are elements of folk, country and bluegrass. I also think there are singer/songwriter techniques. It’s a moody album but it’s not a storytelling album. It describes life experiences but not in a typical storytelling way. Rather, it describes more of how those experiences felt instead of explaining what actually happened. A lot of the songs don’t really bother getting to the results of what’s going on, just the moment of what’s happening.

That’s a really interesting approach to songwriting”¦revealing more of the emotional aspect of the experience rather than the actual experience. The title of the album is really interesting as well. Do you mind explaining it or would you rather not?
No, of course. I think Your Ghost Fits My Skin talks about the real stuff, about what’s really happening in life. I think it talks about the potential of people and the potential for life.

As a songwriter, do you feel that your life experiences makes up most of your lyrical content?
I tend to focus more on the heavier aspects of life. There are different phases throughout this album. I am influenced by things my friends are going through, and what I am going through. At first listen to this album I think there is a lot of darkness, but I try to inject a lot of hope and excitement over change. The second song on the album addresses that straightforward…that moment of change. The point where you are missing where you were but you are walking toward something better. I mean, those are the best moments in life for sure.

What are your plans for the band?
We are releasing the album and playing three different CD release shows. We are having all the musicians that played on the album play with us for those shows, so we are going to have a lot of people on stage. Then we are going to be going up to Arcata and probably going to Seattle and back at the beginning of the year. We are going to plan more shows. We are already starting to work on the next album as well. We are definitely just going to keep on going.

The Neon Mind of Vagas Hawk

Animal instinct, electronic fury and a plethora of neon—Vagas Hawk is no stranger to color. She may be a stranger to most, however, being that her two art shows (at newcomer Thunderhorse Vintage and Old Soul at the Weatherstone) on June 14 were her very first. Sixteen pieces of neon splattered canvas, humanistic portrayals of wolves and elephants and lengthy titles make up her first series, entitled Electric City. Inspired by her deep passion for ambient electronic music and love of animals, Electric City is a portal into nature’s futuristic realm.

Vagas Hawk (named after her grandfather) seems to have always been drawn to both electronic music and animals, citing her experiences with her mother and also her time while in high school as the pinnacles to her introduction to nature and music.

“My mother introduced me to nature by taking long walks with me,” Hawk says. “I think she helped develop my attention to nature because we would take walks and solely focus on the animals around us.”

At the age of 6, Hawk’s first sketches were of 10 horses because, as Hawk recalls, “I would watch my mother draw in this journal she had. She drew a lot of different things, mostly nature themed, so I know that her art was a huge influence on me back then.”

She continued drawing into her high school years, when she enrolled in Sacramento High School’s VAPAC art classes. Primarily focusing on portraits of friends, she remembers, “I was not really experimenting with color at all back then. I used mostly pens and pencils in black and white. I was still trying to feel comfortable with myself and with drawing.”

It was in high school where she discovered electronic music, a variable that would help Hawk find her comfort in creating.

“I had just found Portishead when I entered high school and I was listening to other types of electronic music as well, and I felt that that type of music really helped me find emotions that were real,” Hawk says. “I was able to put on my headphones and draw.”

After several years of traveling all over California, feeling “deprived of any cultural or art bond” from her previous residences (which included South Lake Tahoe, Chico and a brief stint in Pismo Beach), she decided to move back to Sacramento. She has been here for less than five months. In that time, Hawk has started creating art that most resembles her upbringing: chaotic urban mazes of color and depth. Her art harkens back to the ’80s, a time when neon windbreakers and New Kids on the Block were heralded. Hawk is a spray paint addict, adorning all her canvas works heavily with neon greens, oranges, pinks and blues, but her art is not what you’d expect from a spray can; it’s surprisingly precise, clean and even mathematical. Each piece is created “within a three-step process,” Hawk says.

“I use spray paint for the first step. I then use paint pens and acrylic for the last two steps.”

Electric City is intense, bold, and creative. It is fun, abrasive and a little crazy. It is work that represents her desire to create electronic music on canvas. Accordingly, Hawk admits that her art can be “a bit much at times. It normally is all over the place because I am influenced by so many different outlets. I love electronic music but I also love hip-hop. I love urban styles and Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.”

The Twisted Imagination of Kevin Thayer

Circus freaks, half naked cowgirls, and demented mutants. Meet Kevin Thayer, pin-up artist, graphic novel illustrator and self-proclaimed “cartoon geek.” He has been creating psychotic gems since early 2001, leaving his abstract paintings behind for monsters, zombies and pin-up girls. Influenced by his childhood upbringing of horror flicks, B-movies, and twisted carnival mania, Thayer creates perverse, fun and shocking art. Despite his unique style and bizarre imagination, he hasn’t always created frantic monkeys and voluptuous cartoon madams.

As a teenager, Thayer worked at an art supply store where he experimented with different paints and techniques. His experimentation led him to Bard College in New York, where he studied fine arts and graduated in late 1998. He had a hard time in school. He says that his professors rejected his comic creations because “they had great resistance to my expression. They didn’t really know what to do with it. They were really trying to push abstract expression, not at all the kind of things that I was into.”

Thayer continued to create abstract work until Sept. 11, 2001, when he notes, “a big adjustment to my work began happening. I went from abstract paintings to my illustrations that I had been drawing but not really focusing on.” Thayer admits he enjoys abstract expression and the nature of it, but calls it “academic.”

He adds that it’s “rare for people to look at abstract art and get the response that I want them to get. I was not satisfied with the response that my art was getting. I wanted extreme responses and with abstract art, I just was not getting that.”

Thayer started focusing heavily on his childhood influences and in early 2002, began creating art that not only satisfied him but his audiences. He started showing his artwork entitled Monsters & Playthings in New Orleans and in upstate New York in late 2002, and by early 2003 was a featured artist in several group exhibitions in Syracuse. Since then, he’s been everywhere from Austin, Texas and Detroit, Mich. to our very own Sacramento, creating a variety of obscene works that stimulate the mind and challenge the way that we perceive adult cartoons. His art resumé is extensive, from murals, books and magazines, to solo exhibitions.

Thayer proves that he has mastered his own innovative expression. An admitted “B-movie fanatic,” Thayer’s work is part Rocky Horror Picture Show, part carnival freak show. It’s dirty, extreme, sexual and funny. And he has no problem admitting that his work is silly and perverse.

“I believe that the imagery may shock but beyond the surface there is a tension I strive for that transcends the subject matter and tickles the subconscious like a re-occurring dream,” Thayer says. “I enjoy making work that can satisfy the eyeballs and emotions in indelicate ways.”

Caitlin Gutenberger talks Two Sheds

Since 2006, Sacramento act Two Sheds has garnered much success with their debut album, Strange Ammunition (UnderAcloud Records). The S.F. Weekly has dubbed them “dreamy and captivating,” while other critics have compared them to the likes of Hope Sandoval, Lucinda Williams and Beck. Their folk-rock influenced sound has captured the attention of many. With a new self-titled EP out exclusively on iTunes (Filter Recordings), Two Sheds is back on the road promoting their new material. Submerge had a chance to speak with singer Caitlin Gutenberger during some free time on the tour.

Your new EP was released May 6 on iTunes on Filter Recordings. Describe the recording process with this EP and how it differs from your last record, Strange Ammunition.
It was pretty similar. The only thing that was different was we recorded everything in two days at the Hangar, where before we had four months to do the full record. So, it was definitely something where I felt I was little more under the gun. And there are a few things on there that I recorded at home into Garage Band, so there is that mix of recordings.

I love the cover of the EP. What is the meaning behind the picture?
The cover is actually a picture of my mom. It was a picture that my dad took of her. They were in Mexico and it was 1975. They were on a little trip after they had gotten married and they took a taxicab across Mexico and it broke down right at the Tropic of Cancer. And so, that’s my mom leaning up against the marker for the Tropic of Cancer and the broken down taxicab.

That’s awesome. It’s probably one of the best album covers I have seen.
Well, it was nice to be able to use something that was of my family. On the last record, we put our dog on the cover. We just thought it would be better if we used an image that was personal.

Are there other musicians on the album this time, because I know the times that I have seen you, you guys have had other people come up and play.
Johnny [Gutenberger], Rusty [Miller], James [Finch, Jr.] and myself pretty much make up the core band right now. We have Amber [Padgett] sing background vocals some times.

How has touring been? Seems like you guys are always on the road.
Touring has been great. There’s always the standard tour stuff…flat tires here and there. We’ve played some cool shows. Our last show in L.A., we played with Akron/Family, which was really cool. I think the benefit of touring is getting to meet cool bands and being able to revisit places.

What is your favorite venue to play in Sacramento?
Well, I think for the cozy factor, it would be Old Ironsides. Art is there…he always pours a strong beverage. All of our friends are there…and Larry. Good ol’ Larry.

I know that you guys have a lot of friends who are musicians, but do you have a favorite local act?
That’s tricky. Let me think. I really liked Knock Knock’s record a lot. I’ve always really liked Chelsea Wolfe and her various projects.

You list Elliott Smith as one of your influences on your Web site. What kind of influence has he had on your music?
Well, I’ve always liked music that has an acoustic element to it. I think that has a lot to do with the kind of music my dad played for me when I was younger…like the acoustic Zeppelin stuff and old blues music. So, when I heard Elliott’s music, it kind of struck me in the same way where it felt kind of nostalgic and familiar, but I hadn’t heard it before. It’s really sad and honest and unpretentious.

Any other influences?
I like old soul music. Bill Withers is wonderful. I like Otis Redding, old Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles.

Do you ever get compared to other female musicians because I know that people love to cling to other artists that they are already familiar with.
Yea… Well, the classic ones, being a girl and having a somewhat whispery voice are Hope Sandoval and Cat Power. I get those quite a bit.

How does that make you feel?
Well, I have been very sensitive to it. In most cases, when people say that to me, it’s their way of complimenting our music by saying that I remind them of those artists. It is easy to read too much into it and think that people are comparing because they think that I’m a copycat or unoriginal. You’ve got to try to not read too much into comments like that and understand that as a female artist, you’re going to get comparisons. Most of the time, people are just trying to say that they like your music by comparing. There have actually been times where I have discovered really cool people that I like by being compared to them.

Like who?
Like, Lucinda Williams…I had never heard of her before and I think she is amazing. Someone recommended Bright Black Morning Light and I love their record.

What do you have planned for Two Sheds?
We’re touring through July and possibly August. Filter Magazine‘s label just released our EP on iTunes and the plan is for the EP to be an introduction for those who don’t know us. There are plans to possibly re-release the first record, Strange Ammunition. All things are subject to change, but we’re just going to take it one month at a time.

Stay up to date on Two Sheds visit Ilovetwosheds.com