Home Recordings, Online Shows and Capers to Retrieve Studio Equipment
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® MAY 1 - 7 , 2020 / VOL. 42 / NO. 24 / LAWEEKLY.COM Home recordings, online shows and capers to retrieve studio equipment By Brett Callwood 2 Bite Me Bambi WEEKLY WEEKLY LA | 2020 , May 1 - 7 May | WWW.LAWEEKLY.COM PHOTO BY RED DEF PHOTOGRAPHY COVID-19: LOCAL MUSICIANS SPEAK OUT Home recordings, online shows and capers to retrieve studio equipment BY BRETT CALLWOOD and support is how we will all get through this ife has changed beyond all recogni- but I actually have the good fortune of being is stable, and I am not taking that for granted. terrible time in our history. tion for most of us since COVID-19 able to work during the current quarantine Every day I hear about my fellow musicians forced us into lockdown. Fears over and it is something I deeply appreciate. Prior and promoters losing their livelihood and it’s Mike Berault, Bite Me Bambi our health and our livelihood have to the pandemic I had plans to release new mu- absolutely heartbreaking and frustrating. Both Today I made chili. Yesterday, I tried to re- left us with a tangible sense of dread sic this spring, a common story for L.A. indie their income from the music business along member all the songs I knew by heart on guitar. as we attempt to continue with our days, gen- artists. I have four songs recorded at MooseCat with their freelancing and side gigs have evap- I blew through the ska stuff pretty easy but Lerally from home, in as “normal” a fashion as Recording, a studio owned by Carly Rosenthal orated... I may have buried the lead, but my it was somewhere in the Bob Mould/Sugar/ possible. This virus is the great leveler — most and Mike Post. Post recorded, co-produced and day job, for which I am blessed to have, is that Husker Du section that lost it and got stuck. In of us are in the same boat. We spoke to a handful mixed the EP, and Will Borza mastered it. I’m I am an RN working at a local hospital during many ways a small band like Bite Me Bambi is of L.A.-area musicians about their own experi- very excited and proud of these songs, which the pandemic. I am equally grateful to have better suited for a pandemic quarantine situa- ences over the past few weeks... are the first Loretti offerings since 2014. music and my community as an outlet during tion, I mean… surviving to make music is our With PR and release shows on hold, my focus this stressful time. To be of service to both the everyday struggle living in the L.A./O.C. area. Aimie Lovett Sommer, Loretti is on content I can continue to produce and re- medical and music populations is an honor that The good news is: We are small and nimble, I am a musician with a day job. Most of us are, lease, i.e. three new music videos. My situation I do not take lightly. I know that connection we can change strategies for touring or pro- ductions on a dime. Try to do that if you’re ing dropped back into a different city. The first FOOD 3 Radiohead, or Imagine Dragons, or whatever. couple of days we were all laying low anyway, Bad news is: It takes a while to get on the radar with life-hangovers from playing 60+ shows. LA of booking agents and promoters, and hard to We started listening to Sam Harris’ podcast WEEKLY WEEKLY regain lost momentum that has been earned Making Sense where he went into the concept pre-pandemic. of social distancing early on so we just rolled our tour recovery into harboring in place. On Kakophonix, Hvile I Kaos March 17, I did a stealth mission to our record- DEEP DIVE | The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic ing studio in Silver Lake and pulled micro- Upcoming documentary The Delicacy showcases sea May 1 - 7 May and the subsequent quarantine affected me phones, recording equipment, instruments, urchin’s culinary journey in much the same way as they did other mu- all the wires: the basic stuff so we could write sicians, and indeed those of all disciplines. My and make records from home. Even looking BY MICHELE STUEVEN teaching job closed its doors, my live gigs were back Shakespeare wrote King Lear during the , 2020 canceled, and my band had a grand total of Spanish Flu. Some people are really struggling one rehearsal before such gatherings became out there, so if we can do our job and create art he journey the | obsolete. In short, I lost work and income, just in this time it’s probably the best use of it. sea urchin makes from the Channel WWW.LAWEEKLY.COM Magic Giant Aimie Lovett Sommer Islands off Santa Barbara to the consumer is as prickly as the Tspiny creature’s exterior and the exciting subject of a stunning new SOMM documentary, The Delicacy, which premieres on May 7. It’s a mouthwater- ing excursion featuring Cali- fornia’s uni divers and the chefs who sing their praises. Highlighting the rich colors PHOTO BY LUCA VENTER PHOTO BY BKM PHOTOGRAPHY of the California coast — both under and above water — di- rector and SOMM TV founder Hvile I Kaos Jason Wise brings them to life by shooting the entire docu- mentary on Kodak film. Wise delivers a world of natural beauty and the risks of one of the most dangerous jobs to the safety of your own couch. You can almost taste the briny uni, reminiscent of that big breath you take just Liquornik. Also featured is Jim Marshall, a before diving under a wave. diver who has nearly 50 years of experience The Delicacy is the story of the rare and ex- and has witnessed the ebbs and flows of the otic sea urchin — how it’s harvested, how industry as it changed overnight from harvest- it’s eaten, and the role it plays in nature and ing the dwindling abalone to the plentiful sea the lives of those who bring it to the table. urchin. The film follows their journey through With commentary from some of the most the trials of their profession and how they influential and prolific voices in the culinary deal with losing one of their own in a shark PHOTO BY LONE WOLF PRODUCTIONS world including Andrew Zimmern and Ray incident. Isle, the film follows the fascinating historic “I am thrilled that food enthusiasts all over journey of this food from the ruins of Pompeii the world will now have the opportunity to like everyone else. We were supposed to go back out on tour to the present day coasts of California, where gain an in-depth look into the extreme envi- As such, I’ve fallen back on my ability to re- in April, supporting our new single “Disaster sea urchin is a prized delicacy not only for ronments and physical nature divers must go cord and compose from home. I have worked Party” which we originally wrote about how humans, but also for sea otters. through in order to bring the delicious sea ur- as a session cellist, primarily in the black metal the wildfires in Los Angeles brought neigh- “Harvested by hand, risking life and limb chin to our plates,” Wise, who shot the under- scene, for several years now, and writing for borhoods together in unexpected ways. Now collecting food off the ocean floor, because water photography, said in a statement. “This my own band has always been something I we’re seeing what we can do from here to help they can make a living out of it,” chef and film was a labor of love and I can’t wait to share can do in isolation. The quarantine, howev- out in small ways from home. host of Bizarre Foods Andrew Zimmern says the beautiful documentary with food lovers er long it ends up lasting, has afforded me a Magic Giant threw an Instagram festival in the film. “It’s done the old fashioned way worldwide.” unique opportunity not only to expand upon called “Live from Quarantine” on our Ins- by real people who are carrying on the legacy SOMM TV is the first full SVOD (subscrip- this essential aspect of my work, but also to tagram page last Sunday supporting Musi- of taking food from the ocean that is as old as tion video on demand) streaming platform reflect upon what makes my chosen artistic Cares, which helps out the road crews and human history.” in the wine, food and travel space with exclu- trajectory truly unique, from both a practical different people in all aspects of the music At the heart of the film is a small group of sive new shows, films and educational content and spiritual standpoint. industry get insurance and help get their Santa Barbara divers who gather the delicacy created from the ground up by the team that bills paid. from the depths of the ocean including Steph- made the award-winning SOMM documen- Zambricki Li, Magic Giant anie Mutz, the only female sea urchin diver tary series. First-time users to SOMM TV can Magic Giant got home to Los Angeles from a For more stories from local musicians, check who shifted the distribution directly into the enjoy all available content with a seven-day two month tour on March 7 and it was like be- out laweekly.com. hands of consumers, and her partner Harry free trial.