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CHBP 2018 Recap: Sunday, July 22

From Father John Misty to Ayron Jones, Sunday brought the heat

Dan Ray July 23, 20181 Comment
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CHBP 2018 Recap: Sunday, July 22 July 23, 20181 Comment

Raised by a single mother in the suburbs of Detroit, Dan discovered an early passion for singing, songwriting, and the arts as a whole. She got her BA in English and music at the University of Michigan, where she reported for the school’s paper, The Michigan Daily. She worked as a Senior News Reporter on the government beat, transitioned to arts writing, and eventually became the managing editor of the social media department. She moved to Seattle in 2017. After losing her job during the COVID-19 pandemic and discouraged about the lack of press surrounding Seattle’s music scene, Dan made the decision to turn Dan’s Tunes, a fully fledged music journalism website focused on showcasing the Seattle area’s musicians, into its own startup. There’s so much music happening in the city that spawned Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Jimi Hendrix — among others — and Dan’s Tunes is determined to find and expose those outstanding acts. The goal is to have satellites in every major US city, uplifting diverse and compelling voices and helping music communities thrive. In 2020, Dan was featured in the Seattle Times’s year-end music critic poll. Other than her musical endeavors (singing, playing ukulele, and auditioning for American Idol four times before the age of 24) Ray is passionate about food and education around the American food system, and she’s also a large proponent of eliminating the stigma around mental health. Ray loves cats, especially her own, who is named Macaulay Culkin (but she’s a lady).

Photo by Dan Ray

While Sunday felt lighter on the schedule than the other two days of CHBP 2018, it also packed the most talent. From headliner Father John Misty to main stage opening act SISTERS, Sunday was a day of open-mouthed gaping and surprises.

Local pop duo SISTERS, comprised of drummer/vocalist Emily Westman and pianist/saxophinst/guitarist/vocalist Andrew Vait, started the day off with a boogie on the main stage at 2:30 p.m. While Westman somehow managed to keep time on her drum set and sing at the same time, Vait galavanted across the stage like a beautiful madman. Both Westman and Vait’s voices are soulful yet tinny, and it makes for an incredibly compelling aural experience to round out the visual one.

SISTERS’ Andrew Vait switched between saxophone, keyboards, and guitar throughout the set. // Photo by Dan Ray

After the magic of SISTERS, Whitney Ballen lit up the Barboza stage at 3:45 p.m. By far the smallest (and only female) member of her band, it would be easy to miss her in the crowd, but her aura made it impossible to look away. Her voice was incredibly haunting — like a beautiful mushroom trip on a warm summer day in a field of daisies — and her cool-as-a-cucumber attitude was magnetic: halfway through her set she stepped away from her mic and asked her drummer how it sounded, the audience chuckled, and she lightly shrugged and said “whoops, I guess you heard that,” with a smile. Nothing fazed her.

La Fonda, on the Barboza stage at 8 p.m., is a surfer-pop group headed by sisters Veronica and Valerie Topacio. While their music doesn’t necessarily fit the Seattle scene, their chill vibes drew the audience in. Ryan Caraveo took the main stage at 5:15 p.m., and the rapper had the audience in the palm of his hand when he started his set a capella, and they stayed with him throughout his set, even though he ended 15 minutes early. Overcoats were on the opposite end of the CHBP campus and performance spectrum on the Vera stage at 5 p.m.; the New York-based female duo wore dresses that looked like ill-fitting togas and acted more like high school talent show performers with their randomly choreographed 30-second dance sections and constant hugging.

Overcoats looked like college students who heard about a toga party last minute. // Photo by Dan Ray

Headliner Father John Misty was a true treat. Sounding exactly like his recorded arsenal — in a great way — he brought just the right amount of flamboyance to his main stage show at 9:30 p.m. He twirled the mic stand around the stage, swiveled his hips, and, when the crowd started passing around a giant inflatable unicorn like a beach ball, he stopped his song, asked the crowd to bring the unicorn up on stage, and proceeded to sing the rest of “Pure Comedy” to the horned horse/legged narwhal. Truly a legend.

However, the stand out performance of potentially my entire life was Ayron Jones, a local Hendrix-like guitar master who rocked Neumos at 7:10. Jones absolutely killed his set by: 1. just being fucking awesome; 2. playing his guitar not just by tapping but also with a drum stick; and 3. breaking his guitar onstage, after which his bassist came to the mic and said “that was his favorite guitar.” There really aren’t words to describe this incredible musician. It’s something you need to see to believe, and, believe me, you should see it.

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Raised by a single mother in the suburbs of Detroit, Dan discovered an early passion for singing, songwriting, and the arts as a whole. She got her BA in English and music at the University of Michigan, where she reported for the school’s paper, The Michigan Daily. She worked as a Senior News Reporter on the government beat, transitioned to arts writing, and eventually became the managing editor of the social media department. She moved to Seattle in 2017. After losing her job during the COVID-19 pandemic and discouraged about the lack of press surrounding Seattle’s music scene, Dan made the decision to turn Dan’s Tunes, a fully fledged music journalism website focused on showcasing the Seattle area’s musicians, into its own startup. There’s so much music happening in the city that spawned Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Jimi Hendrix — among others — and Dan’s Tunes is determined to find and expose those outstanding acts. The goal is to have satellites in every major US city, uplifting diverse and compelling voices and helping music communities thrive. In 2020, Dan was featured in the Seattle Times’s year-end music critic poll. Other than her musical endeavors (singing, playing ukulele, and auditioning for American Idol four times before the age of 24) Ray is passionate about food and education around the American food system, and she’s also a large proponent of eliminating the stigma around mental health. Ray loves cats, especially her own, who is named Macaulay Culkin (but she’s a lady).

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  1. Pingback: Behind the Scene: Jason Lackie of Lackie Productions - DAN'S TUNES

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