Not So Doom and Gloom
Sacramento ex-patriates By Sunlight make a home in Seattle Words John Phillips ORIGINAL photoS David Wulzen
1815 19th st. sacramento
OPEN TUES-SAT 11-11 bowscollective.com wEd AUG 15 (8Pm) Comedy open miC Hosted by Ray Molina
SAT AUG 18
(1Pm)
disCussion panel & live musiC Girls Day Out / Women in the Music Industry
TUES AUG 21 (8Pm) live musiC HeIst events pResents
Ivan & Alyosha, Garret pierce & parlours
12
ThUr AUG 23 (8Pm) live musiC
SAT SEPT 1 (8Pm) live musiC
wEd AUG 29 (8Pm) live musiC
fri SEPT 7 (6Pm) art opening
ThUr AUG 30 (6Pm)
wEd SEPT 12 (7Pm) nerd night
pompsicle
SAT SEPT 15 (12Pm) $1 sale
Classical Revolution featuring cellist Jia-mo Chen
Carson McWhirter, vinnie Guidera & stupid Man suit
live figure drawing
Wife & son, Musical Charis, Island of Black and White
Signs of Growth by Mitra Fabian
“W
hat is true by lamplight is not always true by sunlight.” – Joseph Joubert, French moralist/ essayist Though starting with a quote is a bit cliché, especially by anyone like Joubert, who doesn’t exactly get remembered for much other than cute little quips. Still, there is much truth that can be found in an over-simplified message. For the members of the band By Sunlight, maybe the quote would be more along the lines of, “What is true in Sacramento is not always true anywhere else.” The gentlemen that occupy the moniker By Sunlight (originally known as Bridges) decided a few years back that a new perspective would suit them nicely, and packed their bags and took off to the city synonymous with mediocre sports franchises (at least those remaining), Starbucks, its weather and its iconic music scenes. By Sunlight’s Mike Sparks laughs over the phone during a recent interview when asked if Seattle’s dismal meteorology caused any changes in his music. “It’s funny that every time I do an interview I get asked that. I guess so?” Sparks remarks, in a sort-of vocal shrugging,
“I woke up this morning and it was overcast and I almost had a tear of joy. I mean, it’s beautiful now, but I really like that weather… It’s temperate for me, you know? Living in Sacramento was heinous. I couldn’t stand it at all.” But, hey, not all of us living here love the heat. Still, moving to Seattle was behind a large part of how he both developed as a musician, and as a person. Sparks continues, “We were ready to get the fuck out of there. Hey man, sometimes when it’s 4:30 p.m., and the sun’s down, and I’ve got three beers in my body, yes, I might feel a bit of darkness in the spirit. There are tons of metal bands up here, tons of punk bands up here, and there is a lot of reflection of that environmental aesthetic in how people behave here, but I wouldn’t describe it as a sullen city either. Yeah, biometrics is a huge fucking change in my life, but going from everything I know to where I don’t know anything, that I would say was a more profound affect rather than the climate.” After residing in the city for a handful of years and constantly touring, By Sunlight finally decided to settle down, and take a year off from the road. They took to inviting another Sacramento musician, Evan Ferro of Bright Light Fever/Roman Funerals, to make the journey up to the Pacific
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Mitra Fabian
Issue 117 • August 13 – August 27, 2012
Dive Into Sacramento & Its Surrounding Areas