Singing Our Songs Again
On the cross country tour bus. 2011.
My husband and I met in a band in 2011. I was on vocals and synth. He was on bass. Within weeks of knowing each other we were performing in iconic venues on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip like The Viper Room, Key Lounge, House of Blues, etc. A few months later, we were touring the country in a 1970’s school bus and along the way we fell in love with each other.
Unfortunately, the band leader pulled the plug and cancelled all the big shows and press we had lined up from the success of the tour once it ended. We had all been roughing it for free to play in his band across the USA during a scorching summer month in a rather precarious old vehicle with no proper seating or AC. Everyone was a good sport about it, living on savings and hoping for the best. We all made the most of it on and offstage, which produced great results. Yet that was the thanks we got in the end. A big slap in the face to everyone involved. And boy, did it sting.
Playing the Art Outside music festival in Texas. 2012.
Despite the band’s untimely demise, a lasting bond was forged between Evan and I. We returned to Austin, TX (another thing that stole our hearts on tour) and moved in together across state lines. It was just before their tech boom. We lived in the biggest place I’d ever been able to call home and all for less than I’d paid to rent a room in Los Angeles.
Both of us worked odd jobs. I also ran a music blog and rented out our extra rooms on Airbnb to fund our travels. Throughout it all, I played Evan’s songs, he played mine, we taught each other our favorite covers, joined other people’s bands in town, started our own bands, and played as a duo.
After releasing more singles and albums under a myriad of names, we went to Europe and performed in the Fête de la Musique. People cheered and sang along. The energy was palpable. We were compensated significantly more than we ever had been in the USA. (And, apparently, it was less than the typical rate in the area, which blew our minds and planted a seed…)
At the altar in California. 2014.
Evan proposed in Marie Antoinette’s gardens in Versailles. We married in Los Angeles and moved to Oakland, California. I started a band there. From the very first show, the local poets took us in as their go-to musical act and friends. Evan joined the band after seeing how quickly things were taking off. NPR Music featured us. As a duo, Evan and I were top billing in the farmer’s market circuit. I created and ran a music video collective. My photography was exhibited in a gallery. Literally, everything was coming up roses.
Then, life happened. We moved back to Los Angeles. Music took a backseat officially at the end of 2016. We haven’t performed in front of an audience since, together or apart. The past decade flew by as Evan began his career in HVAC and I continued working in production and marketing until I finally broke into TV writing after a couple well-received productions of a play I wrote. (Yay for putting my NYU Tisch degree to good use after all!)
We’ve continued writing and recording songs because, well, that’s just what we do. We can’t help ourselves. It pours out of us. But it has been either on our own or in collaboration with others - not together since leaving Oakland back in 2016. Until recently, that is...
One of our many shows at EM Wolfman in California. 2015.
Something about The Schengen Shuffle planning and anticipation has got us playing music together again. We may be a little rusty. And we may have a lot to remember how to sing and play. Things simply may never be what they once were, but hey, that’s life. Musically and beyond.
Regardless, it feels really good to be back at it. Together. Collaborating again in this way and opening ourselves up to the possibility of playing live again abroad as we travel around the UK and Europe starting in less than 90 days! Now, the question is: do we bring our instruments or buy new ones there?
-Charise Sowells, Creator of The Schengen Shuffle