SARGENT HOUSE

One thing I found out during the polls we conducted during our 12 Days of PedalsAndEffects giveaway was that you’re all interested in knowing more about pedals and who uses them- not just bassists,  but all musicians. So I’ve listened to your requests, and am happy to give you our very first video featuring a guitarist.

Still in his teens, Henry Kohen, AKA Mylets, is on his way to becoming a true trailblazer.  This is a musician who has a vision and knows how to execute it.  At this young age, Henry has his debut release coming out on Sargent House, has racked up some pretty great reviews and continues to blow people away with his one man band approach.

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Omar Rodriguez Lopez’s group featuring Deantoni Parks on drums and Juan Alderete on bass performing “My Horror Is in Park, Drive Me Away Troubled Heart” live from the METAMORPHOSE Festival in Japan - Spring 2012. HOLY CRAP THESE BOYS CAN PLAY.  

Don’t Miss Omar Rodriguez Lopez on TOUR all dates HERE

A great live performance video of ORLG:  Omar Rodriguez Lopez on guitar and vocals with Deantoni Parks on drums and Juan Alderete on Bass  at East Brunswick Club in Melbourne, Australia, 2011. - Damn these guys can play.

Lisa Papineau and Juan Alderete take time out to talk with Sessions 65 about the joy and love of making music and about the Big Sir European Tour.

Check out all 3 of the beautiful Videos of Big Sir performing Live In Studio for Sessions 65.
The Ladder
Born With A Tear
Old Blood

Big Sir, the project led by bassist Juan Alderete and vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Lisa Papineau, just wrapped up a nice European tour. Lucky for the rest of us who couldn’t make it out, the duo stopped off for a performance at SSR Studios in Manchester for the online show Sessions 65, who made a few nice videos of their performance.

The Ladder, Born With A Tear and Old Blood are all tracks from their newest album Before Gardens After Gardens. 

Now, here’s to hoping the duo make a North American tour!

Big Sir will be touring in support of their newest album “Before Gardens After Gardens” through out Europe starting in Namur, Belgium on April 7th. Remember to always check directly with venues for start times and exact details. Follow @BigsirBand as well!

BIG SIR EU/UK Tour 2012
Apr 7, 2012 - Namur, (BE) @ Sergent Pepper’s
Apr 8, 2012 - Berlin, (DE) @ Spirale Kulturzentrum
Apr 9, 2012 - Hamburg, (DE) @ HafenKlang
Apr 10, 2012 - Solingen, (DE) @ Waldmeister e.V. Raum für Kultur
Apr 11, 2012 - Leipzig, (DE) @ Ilses Erika
Apr 12, 2012 - Munich, (DE) @ Ampere
Apr 13, 2012 - Innsbruck, (AT) @ Los Gurkos
Apr 14, 2012 - Bolzano, (IT) @ Vintola 18
Apr 15, 2012 - Molfetta, (IT) @ Le Macerie
Apr 16, 2012 - Copertino, LE (IT) @ I Sotterranei Arci
Apr 17, 2012 - Rome, (IT) @ Locanda Atlantide
Apr 19, 2012 - Trieste, (IT) @ Etnoblog
Apr 20, 2012 - Rimini, (IT) @ Velvet Club
Apr 21, 2012 - Livorno, (IT) @ The Cage Theatre
Apr 22, 2012 - Milano, (IT) @ La Sacrestia
Apr 24, 2012 - Birmingham, (UK) @ The Birmingham Ballroom / The End
Apr 25, 2012 - Manchester, (UK) @ Sound Control
Apr 26, 2012 - Swansea, WA (UK) @ The Garage
Apr 27, 2012 - Bristol, (UK) @ The Croft
Apr 28, 2012 - London, (UK) @ The Old Blue Last - Binnacle Festival
May 01, 2012- Grenoble, (FR) @ Le Ciel
May 02, 2012- Paris, (FR) @ Le Trianon - Night 1 of 2
May 03, 2012- Paris, (FR) @ Le Trianon - Night 2 of 2

CLICK FOR FULL SHOW INFO & UPDATES

Juan Alderete is a man who stays busy. After getting his break with thrash metal outfit Racer X, Alderete now contributes the low-end to progressive rock giants The Mars Volta, whose new album Noctourniquet hit stores this week. The record marks the band’s sixth effort anchored by Aldererte, who joined their ranks in 2003.
The Mars Volta ‘Noctourniquet’

Additionally, Big Sir released its third album, Before Gardens After Gardens, in early February. The album was created after Alderete and collaborator Lisa Papineau were both diagnosed with serious illnesses: Alderete with polychythemia vera, and Papineau with Multiple Sclerosis. Three weeks before the album was released, Papineau was also diagnosed with cancer.

“I wake up and I thank God every day – and God meaning everybody’s God who looks down on me,” Alderete said. “I can’t believe how fortunate I am to wake up every day and feel good enough to go play music and do what I do.”

A veritable gear guru, Alderete is also launching a new website called PedalsAndEffects.com, in which he will give advice on building pedal boards, how different pedals sound, and how to get the best sounds possible out of your effects.

We phoned Alderete at his house the morning after Big Sir played a special in-store concert at Hollywood’s legendary Amoeba Records to get the latest from this exciting bass player.

Congratulations on the new Big Sir album, Before Gardens After Gardens. It’s a really incredible record.

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Big Sir — the longtime collaboration between singer/composer Lisa Papineau and bassist/composer Juan Alderete (The Mars Volta) - announce Spring 2012 EU and UK headlining tour dates in support of their new album, Before Gardens After Gardens.

BIG SIR EU/UK Tour 2012
Apr 7, 2012 - Namur, (BE) @ Belvédère
Apr 8, 2012 - Berlin, (DE) @ Spirale Kulturzentrum
Apr 9, 2012 - Hamburg, (DE) @ HafenKlang
Apr 10, 2012 - Solingen, (DE) @ Waldmeister e.V. Raum für Kultur
Apr 11, 2012 - Leipzig, (DE) @ Ilses Erika
Apr 12, 2012 - Munich, (DE) @ Ampere
Apr 13, 2012 - Innsbruck, (AT) @ Los Gurkos
Apr 14, 2012 - Bolzano, (IT) @ Vintola 18
Apr 15, 2012 - Molfetta, (IT) @ Le Macerie
Apr 16, 2012 - Copertino, LE (IT) @ I Sotterranei Arci
Apr 17, 2012 - Rome, (IT) @ Locanda Atlantide
Apr 19, 2012 - Trieste, (IT) @ Etnoblog
Apr 20, 2012 - Rimini, (IT) @ Velvet Club
Apr 21, 2012 - Livorno, (IT) @ The Cage Theatre
Apr 22, 2012 - Genova, (IT) @ La Claque
Apr 24, 2012 - Birmingham, (UK) @ The Birmingham Ballroom / The End
Apr 25, 2012 - Manchester, (UK) @ Sound Control
Apr 26, 2012 - Swansea, WA (UK) @ The Garage
Apr 27, 2012 - Bristol, (UK) @ The Croft
Apr 28, 2012 - London, (UK) @ The Old Blue Last - Binnacle Festival
May 01, 2012- Grenoble, (FR) @ Le Ciel 
May 02, 2012- Paris, (FR) @ Le Trianon - Night 1 of 2
May 03, 2012- Paris, (FR) @ Le Trianon - Night 2 of 2 

CLICK FOR FULL SHOW INFO & UPDATES

During 12 years of sonic partnership, vocalist Lisa Papineau and bassist Juan Alderete’s mesh of meditative lyrics, electro-inflected boom-bap and prog-jazz has combined fury and philosophy in a way that doesn’t have to shout to be heard.

Formed in 1999, their band, Big Sir, brought together the operatic tone of Alderete’s fretless bass with Papineau’s penchant for soulful restraint. On Feb. 7 the band released “Before Gardens, After Gardens,” their first album in six years, via Rodriguez Lopez / Sargent House.

Despite their positive outlook on an album over half a decade in the making, the inspiration it took to make it has taken a serious, very literal toll on their bodies.

Shortly after completing their previous album, “Und Die Scheiße Ändert Sich Immer” in 2006, Papinaeu and Alderete were both diagnosed with life-threatening diseases. Alderete was found to have polycythemia vera, a rare bone marrow disease that makes the body produce too many red blood cells, while Papineau discovered she had multiple sclerosis. And just three weeks before the release of the album, heavily steeped in reflections on life and death, Papineau was also diagnosed with cancer.

Despite their health obstacles, both have been incessantly busy with projects ranging from Alderete’s work as the bassist for The Mars Volta to Papineau’s solo career and collaborations with artists like Air and M83 and ME & LP with Matt Embree of RX Bandits. But even with so many other projects to occupy their time, both admit that their shared sense of humor, affinity for bass and West Coast gangsta rap creates a bond that keeps them together.

Ahead of Big Sir’s gig at Harvelle’s in Long Beach on Monday, Papineau and Alderete spoke to Pop & Hiss about crafting their new album and facing mortality head-on.

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Big Sir — the longtime collaboration between singer/composer Lisa Papineau and bassist/composer Juan Alderete (The Mars Volta) - announce Spring 2012 EU and UK headlining tour dates in support of their forthcoming new album, Before Gardens After Gardens coming out on February 7th.  Please see complete dates below. In anticipation of this new release, Prefix Mag just premiered another new track called “The Kindest Hour” available to download/stream HERE.

RCRD LBL recently posted the song “Our Pleasant Home” (featuring special guest Cedric Bixler-Zavala of The Mars Volta on drums) which is available to download/stream HERE. Back in December, Big Sir premiered the shimmering pop song, “Ready On the Line” which is available to download/stream HERE.

BIG SIR USA
Feb 20 - Hollywood, CA @ Harvard & Stone w/ Gregory Rogove,  Eureka The Butcher & Sadah Luna, & Devendra Banhart DJ’ing. - FREE SHOW / 21+
Feb 27 - Long Beach, CA @ Harvelle’s w/ The Vespertines & C-Gak

BIG SIR EU/UK Tour 2012
Apr 7, 2012 - Namur, (BE) @ Belvédère
Apr 8, 2012 - Berlin, (DE) @ Spirale Kulturzentrum
Apr 9, 2012 - Hamburg, (DE) @ HafenKlang
Apr 10, 2012 - Solingen, (DE) @ Waldmeister e.V. Raum für Kultur
Apr 11, 2012 - Leipzig, (DE) @ Ilses Erika
Apr 12, 2012 - Munich, (DE) @ Ampere
Apr 13, 2012 - Innsbruck, (AT) @ Los Gurkos
Apr 14, 2012 - Bolzano, (IT) @ Vintola 18
Apr 15, 2012 - Molfetta, (IT) @ Le Macerie
Apr 16, 2012 - Copertino, LE (IT) @ I Sotterranei Arci
Apr 17, 2012 - Rome, (IT) @ Locanda Atlantide
Apr 19, 2012 - Trieste, (IT) @ Etnoblog
Apr 20, 2012 - Rimini, (IT) @ Velvet Club
Apr 21, 2012 - Livorno, (IT) @ The Cage Theatre
Apr 22, 2012 - Genova, (IT) @ La Claque
Apr 24, 2012 - Birmingham, (UK) @ The Birmingham Ballroom / The End
Apr 25, 2012 - Manchester, (UK) @ Sound Control
Apr 26, 2012 - Swansea, WA (UK) @ The Garage
Apr 27, 2012 - Bristol, (UK) @ The Croft
Apr 28, 2012 - London, (UK) @ The Old Blue Last - Binnacle Festival
May 01, 2012- Grenoble, (FR) @ Le Ciel 
May 02, 2012- Paris, (FR) @ Le Trianon - Night 1 of 2
May 03, 2012- Paris, (FR) @ Le Trianon - Night 2 of 2 

CLICK FOR FULL SHOW INFO & UPDATES

Big Sir Had Serious Health Scares. So They Made an Album About Life and Death

​Six years after the members of Big Sir were forced to confront their mortality head-on, singer-composer Lisa Papineau and bassist Juan Alderete are back with their third album of jazz-prog-electronic jams, Before Gardens, After Gardens.

Right around the time they were finishing their last album Und Die Scheiße Ändert Sich Immer, they both fell ill and were diagnosed with serious diseases. Alderete discovered he had polycythemia vera, a rare bone marrow disease where the body produces too many blood cells, while Papineau was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. “The bottom fell out,” says Papineau. “In the midst of this juncture, Juan dreamed a song, woke up, recorded it and emailed it to me in Paris. He said, ‘I know it may be corny to say this, but from now on everything we do really has to make a difference … even if only to us … there’s no point any more to do less.’”

Papineau and Alderete were introduced to each other in 1996 through her band Pet, which she co-founded with composer Tyler Bates (Watchmen, 300). Three years later, their mutual love of ’80s tunes, West Coast hip-hop, and bass led to the formation of Big Sir.

The two were sitting around with their friend, producer Mickey Petralia, trying to think of a proper name. “I think we said something like it should be a name that could be equally used by a 13-year-old’s punk rock grrrl group or a hardcore gay activist group, something tough and fierce-sounding to contradict the ‘94.7 The Wave’ band names the music might invoke,” she says.

Big Sir released its self-titled debut album in 2000 and an album of remixes the following year. Around this time, Alderete created another project, Vato Negro, and later joined The Mars Volta. Meanwhile, Papineau continued working on her solo career and released her debut album, Night Moves, in 2006. She’s since worked with Air, M83, Matt Embree of (Rx Bandits), Jun Miyake, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and many others.

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“The Kindest Hour” will appear right at the halfway mark on Big Sir’s upcoming 11-track album, Before Gardens After Gardens, which makes me think it could be an important transitional song. Singer/composer Lisa Papineau (Air, M83) and bassist/composer Juan Alderete (The Mars Volta, Racer X) create this pretty, eerie (also pretty eerie) tune with help from Heather Lockie and her moody viola playing, which is contrasted by Alderete’s smooth, clean bass. Also featuring Cedric Bixler Zavala (The Mars Volta) on drums and Matthew Embree (RX Bandits) on guest vocals.

Although subdued, Papineau’s melodic singing is of major note here, as it adds dimension to her partner’s muscle and, overall, fills out the otherwise sparse music. The voice and the instrument meet up here and there, eventually creating a watershed of sound that boils over as if you turned the stove off a second too late. The result is something like a cathartic overflow of warmth—thanks, in part, to the blanketing organ—ultimately faced with an icy wash of male-female vocals. “Hour,” which you can stream below, is a compelling audio embodiment of feelings that could be as strongly expressed visually as they are here. Big Sir’s Before Gardens After Gardens will be available Feb. 7 on Rodriguez Lopez Productions/Sargent House.

Big Sir’s third record is a twitchy creature at heart. Smooth trails of melody are stirred up with a flickering set of rhythms, soft synth lines and various guises of bass guitar. The duo – Lisa Papineau, and The  Mars Volta bassist Juan Alderete – continually tweak their output, playing with elements of soul, funk and even the odd foray into drum and bass BPMs.

Regions opens the album with a funked, sliding bass-line and clap-happy backbeat. Papineau’s vocal breathes intimately across the sparse backing – synths fill the glacial atmosphere. The minimal approach is nothing new, but Big Sir have enough creativity to remain listenable. So where some songs might fail to connect in an emotional capacity (the looping break that is Ready on the Line is of little interest), there are tracks like Old Blood which find new territory in distorted guitars and a gutsier approach.

Be Brave Go On has Alderte on full funk mode, his bass slapping (in a thoughtful manner) while Papineua displays her ethereal and hushed intonation. It doesn’t really go anywhere, but as the title line is repeated with more and more intent it becomes a strange highlight. It’s followed with Our Pleasant Home, the live drum sound and electronic strings becoming a hypnotic canvas for the Papineau to display her falsetto edge.

Big Sir have probably made their best record yet in Before Gardens After Gardens, trickling icy soul and fiddly patterns into the mix, all making for a set well worth a listen.

An interview is one of the most authentic and honest windows into the hearts and minds of the artists and musicians we’ve come to admire. And, in this particular case… an added dose of humility. Logistics and self-deprecating humor aside, there is no better approach towards familiarizing yourself with the music you know and love, than by speaking with the musicians who have created the compositions that their fans have come to hold dear to their hearts. Throughout the years Lisa Papineau and Juan Alderete of Big Sir have created a fan base dedicated to the evolution of their multifaceted sound.

With the two having such a diverse creative output that extends far outside of their album releases, Lisa and Juan always seem to give the time needed to Big Sir for stages of growth in the bands legacy to continue and 2012 marks the next cycle. The ethereally haunting vocal and synth work of Lisa Papineau along with the sea of effects bassist of The Mars Volta Juan Alderete utilizes combine for a compositional mastery in which the sum is greater than the parts. With this Los Angeles dynamic duo’s third full length album, Before Gardens After Gardens, set to release on February 7th of this year via Rodriguez Lopez Productions / Sargent House, Big Sir has created an authentic and diverse harmonious experience bound to have you yearning for more. When we received the album from Sargent House and dove in together, it felt like love at first sight.

Sound Colour Vibration was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to speak with Big Sir and get a firsthand look at the creative dynamic behind this band and their insight regarding a shared passion for music enriched with Los Angeles tradition, trust and mutual respect for one another, the influence of fearless whip-cracking manager and Sargent House matriarch, Cathy Pellow, creative contributions and unique signature musicality of fellow artists, and the strong camaraderie setting the foundation for their beautifully cultivated sound. Ladies and Gentlemen… It’s our pleasure to present to you Sound Colour Vibration’s exclusive interview with LA band, Big Sir.

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We are very excited to announce a few west coast shows of Marcel Rodriguez Lopez of (Zechs Marquise & The Mars Volta) electronica project called Eureka the Butcher featuring Sadah Luna who will be playing two shows with our own Big Sir the band of Juan Alderete (The Mars Volta)  & Lisa Papineau don’t miss them if you are in the  area:

EUREKA THE BUTCHER feat Sadah Luna & BIG SIR
2/19 @ Hemingways Lounge - Hollywood, CA w/ Gregory Rogove
2/20 @ Harvellle’s - Long Beach, CA w/ The Vespertines

EUREKA THE BUTCHER feat Sadah Luna
2/21 Live Stream on Ham on Everything Radio
2/22 Low End Theory @ The Airliner - Los Angeles, CA
2/24 @ Hotel Vegas in Austin, TX  

and follow them all  @bigsirband , @eurekabutcher , @j_alderete , @lisapapineau

HEAR EUREKA THE BUTCHER
HEAR BIG SIR