I was asked by the band to write the bio page for the web site. I know no other way of doing that except to tell their story from my own perspective. So where do I begin?
How about with hearing a 12 year old Kate playing drums for the first time. I think it was October or November 2002.
I got a call from her dad, whom I did not know, saying he got my number from his 14 year old daughter, Erin’s, guitar teacher, who was a friend of mine. He and his wife were looking for a private drum instructor for Kate and thought that I might be interested in teaching her. I explained to him that I was a performer and recording artist and that I had tried teaching a couple of times and decided that teaching was not for me. “No” was not the answer that he was looking for, so he kept me on the phone with casual conversation for some time. He explained that the whole family is musical. He, a bass player, his wife, a singer, her brother, a band leader, and so on. We touched on players and people in the community who we both happened to know. Then he guided the conversation back to the subject of Kate and what she managed to accomplish by teaching herself. I became a bit more intrigued as he convinced me that she was pretty much a self starter, but was frustrated because there was nobody around that could show her anything more.
I told him about a steady Sunday gig that I played in the area that he could bring his kids to. Sure enough, Dad, Mom, Erin, and Kate walked in that very weekend while I was onstage performing.
When my break came, I walked over to their table and introduced myself, an just a few minutes into conversation, Kate asked if she could “check out my drums”. We walked to the kit together and she sat down at the drums and played a little beat and a fill. This got the whole venues attention, but one woman sitting at the bar near the stage yelled “You go Girl”!!!! There was no stopping Kate after that. She fearlessly performed a solo for a full room!
What I noticed from hearing her play at that moment, was that she didn’t display any real knowledge or technique, but she really did have a way of making the drums sound nice by the way she hit them. That’s very unusual for a beginner. The guitar player on the gig that night later remarked about her having a solid bass drum foot. Also unusual for a beginner.
Lessons began that week. I just couldn’t deny this one.
So every week I would go to their house and give Kate her one hour lesson in the basement. Most times, when the lesson was over, her sister Erin would say hello as I was getting ready to leave. Erin, I would notice in time, would never miss an opportunity to speak to a working musician. She always would pick my brain with great questions, and listen to my answers with wide eyes. Always a delight to talk to. She had great taste in music too.
About a year later the girls decided to teach their cousin to play bass, and the three would form a band and call it SugrHi. They rehearsed and played a one song show during a break at my Sunday gig. People loved it. But, their cousin lived far away making it logistically impossible to continue.
For Christmas in 2003, a friend of the family gave the girls a Tascam cassette 4 track recorder. When I learned of this I began to pester Erin about if she was using it, was she writing her own songs, did she need me to show her how it worked. I kept this up for weeks, but she seemed to not be entirely interested. When I finally got through, she confessed that she wasn’t inclined to do all of the reading that her dad wanted her to do to learn about the 4 track. When I asked again if she had any songs, she admitted that she had written stuff but wasn’t sure if it was anything worth recording. So I insisted that we work together just to learn how to record and to document her writing, be it good or otherwise.
Right from the start, every song had a hook!
Well, the songs kept on coming, their playing improved, and before we knew it we started recording on an 8 track reel to reel that my friend abandoned in my basement. This is the beginning of “the album” , and I declared myself “the producer”. Still with no bass player, I would record Erin on guitar playing along with Kate on drums. Erin would later overdub the bass parts.
I would occasionally pick up the bass and play something to suggest a part to her. One time I was doing this and she said “you do the bass.” “What?” “I want you to play bass.” “You mean on the album?” “Yes.” “No, I can’t do that.” Then she lays this on me, “You mean, I have to write the songs, figure out my parts, rehearse with Kate, sing it, record it, and now I have to come up with killer bass lines?”
Right.
So I played the bass for a while. Can I get myself out of this story now?
At last……..Chelsea! I think Erin met her once or twice in school the year before. I believe Chelsea introduced herself to Erin as being a bass player. I guess since we were so wrapped up in recording at the time, Erin told her she would get back to her. Except that she didn’t get around to it for a couple of weeks. Chelsea replied to Erin’s email saying that she had all of her plans for summer break pretty much mapped out at that point, and to check in with her again if she still hadn’t found some one by the next school year.
Erin’s mission, first week of Junior year; Find Chelsea!
And so, she did. Erin and Kate had logged many an hour at that point playing their instruments. Lots of gigs with their family since they were little kids, lots of hours in the studio with me going over parts repeatedly until perfected. Chelsea did not come in as an equal in playing experience, but she worked overtime to play catch up, and had her act together in a few short months.
I’ll never forget that the first time I met her, she had some of her school art projects with her. Nothing finished, all works in progress. When I saw her art I was convinced that there was something special about her.
All three are indeed special, and the music they make together proves it.
It’s been my pleasure to introduce you to SugrHi.
-- Jim Cavanaugh, Producer
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