Today we’d like to introduce you to Angela Jane Bachmann.
Thanks for sharing your story with us, Angela Jane. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I was born in Colorado and grew up in Denver, and was always surrounded by music. The greatest thing about being raised in The Mile High City is the amount of live music that came through town. Denver is one of the few cities in that part of the country that welcomes a touring band to stop and play between coasts. In addition, Denver is an island of creativity because it isn’t influenced by other major cities, so I grew up in a very unique, DIY environment. The creative community I was raised in included many great musicians and I absorbed a lot of their same mentality for music.
When I was 21, after attending cosmetology school, I was given a job to work at a well-known salon on the Upper East Side of New York. After moving to New York City to pursue a hairdressing career, I secretly began writing music to feel good. A coworker gave me a book called ‘War of Art’, which inspired me to really dive into the creative depths. I dropped from the salon business and used all my free time doing music. I quickly built up a band (we played under my name Angela Jane), playing throughout Brooklyn, Manhattan and back in Denver. We played a lot of gigs together and ended up recording a couple of EP’s. Soon after, I started recording music in Long Beach with Steve Choi from RX Bandits (A Southern California ska band). That’s when I realized I didn’t want to be working the 12 hour days in New York City, just to barely have time to create and get by. So, in 2013 I picked up and moved west to Long Beach so I could have that mellow West coast head space to create. I was finally able to spend 12 hour days playing guitar and writing new material.
Soon after the move I had started a few projects with different artists – one was called Surf Riot and the other was an all-girl band called Toy Pony. Toy Pony was incredibly empowering! Our band released a radical record called ‘Glitter Witches, Sparkle Bitches’, (which is available to listen on Spotify). Since then, I’ve collaborated on many other projects as a vocalist – All Human, and Pictureplane, C-Gak. I also created my first 90-minute score for a film about the underground androgynous artist, T-Boy, which has yet to be released. This particular project propelled me into my newest music that I am now working on, which is a lot more moody and synth-based, and I am finally back to releasing solo music again! 2012 was the last time I put anything out solo, so going back to that is exciting. I just finished recording a full four-song EP and will be releasing it June 11. Along with some other new solo music within this year, all which I am very excited about this 2019 year creatively.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I think that the hardest struggles have been with trying to be on top of a changing atmosphere surrounding music and the way people start to come across your music. In one hand it’s very DIY, and everything is game when it comes to tapping into an audience. We live in a time where you have to be really present on social media at times, good at so many more things other than just making music. In addition, there seems to be a lot less artist residencies or grants for musicians in the US. You still have to pay bills, and sometimes venues don’t pay or pay $15 for bringing a full house to the venue, which creates more of a challenge for active musicians I think. It’s hard to pay for music while trying to pay bills and eat, but I guess that’s the world of doing art at times. I think there is a certain amount of excitement that can make even a dull life beautiful if you are creating art and being proactive in the community. So ultimately the struggle is part of the game I suppose, keeping that in the forefront despite the struggles.
What else should we know? What is your music influenced by? What sets you apart from others?
My music style is definitely influenced by disco, hip hop, and polyrhythm’s. I grew up doing Irish Dancing, which I came to realize was mainly due to my love of rhythm, the rhythm to a tune in loud tap shoes. I was always obsessed with hip hop, Salt-N-Pepa were my queens, through Warren G, ‘Regulate’ era, to the Fugees, and the Wyclef Jean, and Lauryn Hill releases in the late 90s, the soundtrack to my childhood was through rhythm, and music with real soul, real stories. I think now I create music that was definitely influenced by that time, mixed with the weird obsession with disco, traditional singer-songwriters, intricate guitar playing, prog rock like Pink Floyd, and dark 80s music.
With my music now I am using a three channel looping pedal, and layering songs with vocal harmonies and guitars live. I am using an SP 404 for the beats and synth sounds. Some of the new material I am putting out is from scoring the music for a documentary about the amazing, underground artist, T-Boy. Watching scenes over and over of a beautiful dark man putting on leather in a mirror, with a full amount of makeup, led me to writing some of my favorite songs, putting this music over his beautiful existence was really inspiring. That probably sounded a little voyeuristic, but I guess that’s what you have to become when you score films. I love mixing grimy, heavy bass, and Moog sounding moody synths and giving it a disco feel with dreamy vocals. I feel so inspired within that style, it makes me want to go deeper within it. I want to take people into my lush, dreamy landscapes of music.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
I think never giving up on making music, using it as a reflection on society and myself is the healthiest thing I can do. At the same time, I’d want to give something that might make someone shake their ass, and maybe forget about the shitty day at work. Maybe to allow whoever to transform into another reality to clear your head of the heaviness of the times we live in. To me, that is the most important type of success, everything else is monetary.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.angelajanemusic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/angelajanemusic/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/angelajanemusic/
- Twitter: https://angelajanemusic.bandcamp.com (bandcamp to hear the music)
Image Credit:
Roses and Red Tree by Dave Hoang.
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