I caught up with local musician Sabrina before her Kaleidoscope show at Thirtynine Hotel in Chinatown. Joining her in performance that evening was her sister doing backup vocals for a few songs, as well as Mike Pooley, the guitar player/vocalist from Pink Mist and Painted Highways.
So as the daughter of a mariachi and a hula dancer, who is Sabrina and what is her music all about?
My music is very personal. A lot of it is about desire. Wanting to be someone else, wanting to change something or wanting to get rid of somebody. I just notice that the common theme of what I write about is the desire to be something different or something more. And I guess that my music is me – pretty quiet and pretty personal.
I read on your website that you were tinkering with you’re dads music gear since you were 5 years old. What compelled you to do this at such a young age?
I started playing piano when I was five, just because I come from such a musical family. I went to Ellen Masaki School of Music. And then when I was seven, I started playing the violin. It just a part of my life, I didn’t have a normal childhood. We didn’t even have a kitchen! Our whole kitchen table was a mixing board. It was just music everywhere. We had mic stands set up, and it was my dad always playing or recording. That or my parents recording my sister and I singing. So yeah, that’s how I started. I actually started playing the guitar (at the age of 19) because I had a boyfriend in college who also played the guitar and skateboarded. And I wanted to know what was the big deal, so I got a skateboard. I totally sucked, no sense of balance [laughter]. But I stuck with the guitar. I’m not that good at it but I use it to support my song writing. There’s shredders (on guitar) and then there are songwriters like me who use the guitar to support their lyrics and melodies.
On the subject of going to music school, I read on your Myspace page that you passed up the chance to go to Berkelee School of Music in Massachusetts. How come?
I already had a degree, so financially it was really expensive. And another thing is when I visited the school and talked to a counselor there, he told me that I should stick with the violin, that I shouldn’t study guitar. But I wanted to play guitar! And he told me, “Throw a rock and you’ll hit 500 girls that play guitar and want to sing. But there’s not a lot of people who play the violin. You should stick with it, you’ve been playing it for 13 years. You should do that”. So I felt that I should go to a place that believed that every person had a chance.
I see that you have music roots in Portland. Did you go to college there?
No. I actually went to Portland just to write songs. Since I was 19, I studied guitar and songwriting at different places and different times. But in Portland I went just to be uncomfortable, cause I really didn’t know anyone and so I felt like it would bring out a different songwriter in me. So that’s what I did. I recorded The Anomaly EP there in 2007 with a producer named Rob Stroup and did a couple shows.
I read on your web page that you met Rob Stroup through a friend because he had a studio and also a similar interest in music genre. Did you feel this producer would help bring out the best of Sabrina, than producers here in Honolulu?
I liked working with Rob because I wanted to find someone who was really organic in the way they recorded. I didn’t have a big budget and wasn't sure about my songs and how to record. We built everything from scratch. All my percussion was built from scratch, whether it was pounding on cardboard, as I referred to as “the ghetto tamborine”. That and I also didn’t know anyone in Hawaii to work with because I didn’t have any roots set here with my music. In Portland, I just took a chance with recording with Rob because at the time he was my only contact there.
Tell us about your Anomally EP and what was your drive at the time in Portland when you produced it.
Really, it was a songwriter’s album more than a singer/songwriter’s album. It wasn't about a genre or style. All the songs are kind of different because it was the first thing I released. So I wasn’t sure how it was going to sound. It was more of a personal challenge about whether I could even sound good recorded. That’s really why I did it. It took me six days to do everything, to mix and record. I wasn’t even going to release it but I figured, “what the heck?” Let’s just see what happens.
What genre of music do you consider yourself? How would you describe your music to people who haven’t heard The Anomaly or seen you perform?
I always say that I have two roads that I go down. Either really folksy, cause I love artists like Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell. But I also love the bluesy-country thing like Neko Case and I love Cat Power. I haven’t really picked one yet but a lot of people say I sound alt-country, that I have kind of a “twang” with my music. I don’t know how to classify it. It’s just the Sabrina sound.
So you have a new album coming up? Are you going back to Portland to work with Rob again for this?
I went back to Portland to record a full length album with a different producer named John Askew. I recorded it during April and May of this year and it's being mixed right now.
How many songs should we expecting on the new recording?
I recorded 13 songs at three different studios in Portland (Scenic Burrows, The Secret Society and Type Foundry). 13 tracks full band and 7 live acoustic. I’m waiting for the album to finishing mixing because I’m not sure yet which ones are going to go on the final album. I’m trying to release it in October of this year.
I see that you’ve been successful networking your music on the internet. Which is your favorite website to use? Which site do you recommend for aspiring local artists?
I like Twitter.
Wait, can you put music files on Twitter?
No, but because it’s instant, I feel more of a personal connection to it. It drives people to listen to the music on my website and to know me more as a person. I’ve sold albums just by putting up a tweet. It’s just weird to me because I didn’t publicize The Anomaly at all. I just put up a tweet saying, “I just put an album up on iTunes.”
Doesn’t you’re picture have something to do with it? I would assume it does, don’t you think?
Really?! But I’m such a nerd! My pictures are of me looking at the camera, and my sister who is a photographer telling me, “Don’t look stupid, just look at me!” and me going, “errrr….alright”.
You’re Myspace page says that you work best during the hours of 11pm-3am. Just wondering if your rockin’ the rock pipe round then, cause where I live, that’s when the ice heads come out to rip sh*t off [laughter]. Can you tell us why that’s your magic time and how this time helps you focus creatively?
I work two jobs to support my music habit because I’m addicted to music [laughter]. And I also live in an area that’s very quiet. I’m constantly writing-whenever I hear words and melodies, I record them on a tape recorder, on my phone or on a digital recorder. I’ll see something or hear a melody in my head and write it down or record it. I am sure it always looks like I’m talking to myself. I write everything in a notebook that I carry around. So when it gets to that time of night (11pm-3am), it’s getting a feeling for everything that I've been working on throughout the day. It’s like putting together the puzzle and this point, its (the melodies, etc.) been going through my head the whole day.
Unlike what the counselor told you at Berkelee, what words of advice would you give other local musicians starting out? How did you get you foot into performing shows in Honolulu?
I would say to take every opportunity. I say this because I started out by playing at a friend’s birthday party at 39 Hotel back in 2006. I was writing songs but just for the hell of it. My friend heard me as she was walking to my front door to visit me one day and asked me to play at her party. On the night of her birthday, one of her friends saw me (who had also had set there) and invited me to perform with him at 39 Hotel every other Wednesday. I was so deathly shy of playing, I would get drunk when I played just to make it through without nerves. And since then, every time someone has asked me to play somewhere or do something, I’ve just taken the opportunity. As long as it’s legal! You just never know who’s hearing or watching you.
For more information on Sabrina or to listen to tracks off “The Anomaly”:
http://www.listentosabrina.com
http://twitter.com/sabrinaland
http://www.myspace.com/sabrinamusic
http://virb.com/sabrinamusic
http://www.facebook.com/sabrinamusic
Contact:
For booking:
Brandon Apeles
(808) 428-6884
branapeles@gmail.com
All other inquiries:
email: hello@listentosabrina.com
