D E A D S A R A

Taking Hits and Still Standing: Dead Sara Breathes Life into Mainstream Rock

Brent L. Smith

If you’ve never heard of the Los Angeles based four-piece that has recently released their second album Pleasure To Meet You, then it’s time to play catch-up.

Composed of singer Emily Armstrong, guitarist Siouxsie Medley, bassist Chris Null, and drummer Sean Friday, Dead Sara has a rap sheet that includes: Grace Slick tipping her hat to Armstrong in an interview when asked which contemporary female singers she admires; requests from Courtney Love to sing backing vocals on her 2010 album Nobody’s Daughter; and snaps from Dave Grohl, who was quoted saying, “Dead Sara should be the next biggest rock band in the world.”

Top that off with attending any one of their live (and constantly sold-out) shows, and it becomes clear that the unifying gravity of Dead Sara goes virtually unmatched.

I’ve had the pleasure (so to speak) of seeing them perform live on three different occasions.

The first time I saw them perform was in late 2012, while working my old job at Harvard & Stone—the second hideaway in a string of Houston Brothers-owned bars that have effectively reshaped the L.A. nightlife landscape.

I had never heard of Dead Sara before that night, but, much to the chagrin of my manager, I couldn’t take my eyes off the bar’s tiny stage. I’d seen countless bands pass through and do their thing, but none put the whole shithouse up in flames the way this band did. Pure energy and attitude.

The kind that grabs and holds you. The whole place was electrified. Null slayed the bass stoic, his riffs complemented Friday’s raw drumming, and laid the foundation for Medley’s fierce shredding—whose petite stature is inversely proportional to how BIG she can WAIL. At the helm, Armstrong commanded the crowd, transitioning between playing guitar alongside Medley, and then dropping it to set her hands free and show her true moxie in a Cobain-meets-Joplin clusterfuck that peaked into a sick rendition of “Killing in the Name” by Rage Against the Machine, as Armstrong mingled with the crowd and climbed up the catwalk usually designated for go-go dancers. To cap it off, she did a ballsy stage-dive at the end of the set in what remains the only time I’ve witnessed any performer successfully crowd-surf in that stuffed, industrial speakeasy.

The second time I saw them live, I caught wind of a show they were headlining at The Viper Room. Knowing what a solid show they put on, I couldn’t pass the opportunity to see them again, especially at the Viper (and the way things are going in WeHo, who knows if it’ll even be there, like, next week). Armstrong was playing through a gnarly head cold, which didn’t at all take away from the performance. But, like H&S, the stage was small, and there was a moment when she got clipped in the face by Null’s bass

mid-song. She still didn’t back down. She didn’t even stop the song. Most people didn’t even notice she got hit until after the song ended, when she simply requested ice from the bar, and on went the show. The crowd howled in celebration. It was one of those rare moments when a band convinces you they aren’t fucking around, eradicating any presumptions of gimmick. Everybody in the joint had her back, and after their set, still sick and now with a fresh black eye, you could catch her in the thinning crowd, watching with grit the other bands finish out the night—true deadication.

The third time was shortly thereafter at a sold-out show at the El Rey Theatre. Unlike the cramped stages at H&S and The Viper Room, seeing them perform with adequate elbow room was like seeing them for the first time, and it truly solidified how much water they draw in this town (even during a drought!), and how the rest of the country is starting to catch on.

Anyway, suffice to say, when my editor gave me the go-ahead to write whatever I wanted on Dead Sara, I thought there would be plenty already written about this somehow not-thebiggest-rock-band-in-the-world that’s slyly dragging us back to our sonic roots. But after a quick Google search, I realized the coverage was, at best, underwhelming; they’re not being written about nearly enough.

Where to start? They’re already so imbedded in pop culture, and share a meaty past, having won tons of newcomer awards back in 2012 in the wake of their self-titled debut album, playing on the Vans Warped Tour, and touring alongside the likes of The Offspring, Neon Trees, and Muse.

Both their sound and following transcend the local L.A. niche hubs, like Lolipop or Burger Records, and yet don’t square to mainstream molds either.

Nevertheless, they’ve broken though to mainstream status, on their own terms, and with their own sound; which—guided by the dynamic pipes of Armstrong—spans the spectrum of rock and even borders on— dare I say—pop. (Yes, I do dare, because it’s the reason you’re lucky enough to hear them occasionally on ALT 98.7 or KROQ.) Though, fear not, rockers, they’re certainly not as high up on the pop dial as, say, a band like HAIM. For as much as Armstrong loves to revel in the higher and more sentimental octaves, what the band seems to thrive on is headbanging in the muddy lowlands of their harder ditties.

This perhaps speaks to their 2014 split from Epic Records (aka Sony Music), which delayed the new album nearly a year. In one of the few features on Dead Sara I managed to find, the drama with the label was largely the focal point. Long story short, why we got Pleasure in 2015 instead of 2014 was because, in the midst of Epic’s constant turnover of personnel, they weren’t keeping adequate tabs on the progress of the album. After the band finished the record and turned it in, the dialogue went something like this: Label: Hmm. Uh, so, who was in charge of the record?

Dead Sara: Uh, how should we know? Here it is.

Label: But where’s that one big hit, y’know?!

Dead Sara: Dude, this is the record. It has 11 awesome songs. Find it.

We can image the label’s response wasn’t too amiable. Needless to say, it left the band with a bit of a buzzkill, finding themselves suddenly musing instead of rejoicing, still in the midst of their first album’s success, with all that momentum still behind them.

Even in the face of that, Dead Sara still held steadfast to the credo: Friends first, music second. The band knows a thing

or two about loyalty. Emily Armstrong and Siouxsie Medley are now notorious as being a powerhouse duo for the last twelve years. Chris Null and Sean Friday didn’t join until 2009, but they were no strangers to each other either, playing in bands for years, including Sonny Moore’s post-hardcore band From First to Last before he became Skrillex. After the four of them joined forces like a league of rock n roll super friends, the bond became palpable, undeniable.

It reminds me of an encounter between some slick record manager and the members of The Doors before they hit it big. (Okay, I’m actually referring to a scene in Oliver Stone’s film The Doors, but whatever, it still totally happened.)

After the manager propositions them, Ray Manzarek (aka Kyle MacLachlan) stresses the point, “We’ll have a band meeting. The four of us do everything unanimously or we don’t do it.” To which the manager guffaws, and replies, “The musketeers. I’m touched.

But lemme tell you something—loyalty don’t pay the bills.”

Maybe not, but loyalty did give us “L.A. Woman” and “Riders on the Storm”. So… Despite the corporately peppy pessimism of Epic Records, and in tune with the air of the DIY culture that has become the norm, Dead Sara started their own label. Pocket Kid Records is a newly-launched start-up with some heavy-hitting music biz insiders onboard who know a thing or two about rep and marketing.

If anything, all that drama just reveals how insipid big labels are (as if we didn’t know), and why they’ve found themselves floundering in a new American century where the sentiment is “Fuck you, music is free.” On the brighter side, it also lets us in on how tight-knit and committed to each other Dead Sara truly is, and how much they care about what they’re writing, recording, and performing.

From the way their bigger, live spots are going (i.e. appearing on Late Night with Seth Meyers this past April), it seems that “Something Good” is shaping up to be that ‘one big hit’ Epic was so worried about not having— Okay, WOAH! Hold the phone. Some major synchronicity is going down.

Literally, right now, as I write this, I caught wind via Twitter that the “Something Good” music video (directed by Giovanni Ribsi!!) just premiered on Interview Magazine’s website. So there you go, I’m a dirty liar; the prospect of some well-deserved press is starting to look up.

I personally think “Mona Lisa” is the single to push. It’s a track that not only speaks to the album as a whole—playful, rowdy, seamless, and accompanied by a rad music video to boot—but I think it’s also a track that, in light of recent metamorphoses, speaks to the band itself.

Listen to it in tandem with “Weatherman” (the single from their last album) and you’ll catch my drift. But then again, what the hell do I know? I’m not even a music journalist.

Having returned to their hometown turf after a short headlining tour, coinciding with the late March release of Pleasure, Dead Sara is decompressing with a few local shows. Right now, also as I write this, they’re rocking the first night of two sold-out shows at the Troubadour.

Some epic shit is afoot in the land of Dead Sara. Not only do they find themselves spearheading a movement straight out of L.A. that’s getting kids all over the country jazzed about rock again, they’re also a prime example of how good things come to those who simply pick their asses up after getting knocked down. For as substantial of a past as they’ve shared with each other, both thrilling and turbulent, it’s what they’re bringing into the future that will have heads turning. Blink and you’ll miss the action.

Dead Sara is just getting started. @deadsara #deadsara

photo cred Jacob Dekat Chelsea Lauren Jenavieve Belair Tasya Van Ree John Davisson Genie Sanchez Jill Webster