San Francisco’s only rock and roll beer festival, The Bay Brewed, is back for a fourth year of pairing outstanding local beer and local music! Taking place at The Chapel on March 29, 2015, this year’s festival offers performances by four great San Francisco Bay Area bands and unlimited tastings from nine San Francisco breweries all day long thanks to the SF Brewers Guild. Between now and March 29, we’ll be interviewing each of the bands playing this year’s festival, getting their perspective on some of the best beer and bands that the Bay Area has to offer.
Guy Fox will be playing at this year’s Bay Brewed, along with Tumbleweed Wanderers, The Seshen, and John Brothers Piano Company.
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The Bay Bridged: The Bay Brewed merges two of the best things in this world: live music and beer. Which brewer’s beers are you most looking forward to sampling at The Bay Brewed?
Charlie Moore: I don’t know Magnolia Brewing or SF Brewing Co. as well as the others, so I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of game they bring. But this is one of the best communities of brewers in the country so all of us are excited for what everyone brings to the party!
TBB: What’s your favorite Bay Area-brewed beer, and why?
CM: All four of us spent many of of our formative years in Maine where the craft beer scene was incredible, but the Bay Area scene is probably even more diverse. We’ve spent great hot summer afternoons at 21st with the American IPA and Pale before Giants games or in Golden Gate Park, enjoyed the Prohibition Ale then browned out after too many Big Daddy IPAs, baked in the fog at the Beach Chalet with their Brown and Presidio IPA and Riptide Red, so it’s so tough to choose a favorite. Gun to head, I’ll pour the California Lager from Anchor Steam.
TBB: Which other artist or band are you most looking forward to seeing at The Bay Brewed, and why?
Greg Waters: This is a tough one! One of my roommates is in the Tumbleweed Wanderers and in general our two bands are super tight. It’s been a pleasure developing and playing with them over the years. Our first Bay Area gig together was a Sunday night at the Boom Boom Room years ago. We played to approximately 10 people until about 2am. A few years later we were playing a sellout at the Independent! On the other hand, I think The Seshen are arguably the most exciting and innovative Bay Area band around. I’m going to pass 🙂
TBB: What’s your favorite recent song or album from a Bay Area artist, and why?
GW: I haven’t been able to to get the song “Everywhere” by Bows (aka Luke and Kaila from Big Tree) out of my head since I heard it a few months back. Great hook supplemented by the horns of Brass Magic, who we’ve also had the pleasure of sharing a bill with (and one of their trumpeters Ross Eustis is our go-to man and will be playing with us at Bay Brewed). You guys wrote about it!
TBB: According to your Facebook page, you guys finished recording your first full-length album this year. Congrats! How did the recording process go?
GW: It’s been a very long, but also rewarding, process. We recorded our first two EPs in Tiny Telephone with producer/engineer Jamie Riotto as well, and this time really wanted to give each song the recording time it deserved– it was also important to have additional wiggle room for f-ups since we were taking a lot of risks process-wise. We couldn’t afford to book 3 or 4 weeks of time in the studio to make a record at one time, so we’ve been going in a few days every month or so for about 18 months. Overall we tried to take different approaches for every song, which I hope comes across when everybody listens! More generally speaking, recording everything to tape has its own sonic merits, but the process is also a great challenge… it puts an emphasis on the performance and rewards experimentation, mistakes and sticking to the first few takes of every part you play.
