Sasha Bell is singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist (keyboard, flute, etc.) for The Essex Green, a trio of prolific and talented songwriters--Chris Ziter, Jeff Baron, and Bell--whose latest album, Cannibal Sea, has been receiving glowing reviews since its recent release. She's been recording with the Green for almost a decade, but has been exhaustively active in other bands as well, most from the creative wellspring of the Marlborough Farms collective (Marlborough Farms being a home in Brooklyn): she's provided songs and vocals for The Ladybug Transistor, The Sixth Great Lake, and her solo project, The Finishing School, which released a CD and DVD on the Telegraph Company label in 2003. Since then, she's left both Ladybug and Sixth Great Lake to concentrate her efforts on Essex Green. The concentration has paid off, and Cannibal Sea features some of her purest and most delightful work yet. There's nothing like hearing a Sasha Bell song to brighten any day.

1) How did you first become interested in music? I'm curious what your first instrument was, and how you eventually started playing in bands.

My first instrument was a toy piano that I got for my 4th birthday. I can't quite remember how the transition came about (I must have taken to it), but next thing I knew that same year I was taking piano lessons. I started playing flute in the 4th grade which was the year that kids in my town could join the band our choir. It was something we all took for granted, that if you wanted to learn music and play an instrument the option was there. If you couldn't afford an instrument, the school would provide it. And this was a small semi-rural elementary school. This is obviously a dying era in our public school systems.

I started off playing keys in the Ladybug when the first Merge release came out. Gary [Olson] and Jeff [Baron] needed a keyboard player to go on the first Ladybug tour. Voila! Before that it hadn't occurred to me to traverse the musician/fan divide. Duh. Wish I'd woken up sooner.

2) What was/is Marlborough Farms life like? I have a very mythic picture in my head, painted through CD booklet photos and song lyrics, that's probably due to be shattered.

I lived at Marlborough Farms for about two years. I remember the first time I had to go there to pick something up, coming from my house in Brooklyn Heights, and it seemed so far away and odd that way. Eventually I moved in there with Jeff, my then boyfriend, and he, Gary, and Gary's girlfriend (also Jeff's sister) Jennie, recorded the Ladybug album Albemarle Sound there in the basement that year. Those were indeed magical times, really exciting and creative and spontaneous. We'd be in the basement every night recording. There was a piano in the house, which was a luxury I hadn't experienced since living at home. There's also a side patio with a grape arbor so I loved hanging out here and tending my plants all day. The park was a stone's throw away. It really was excellent in so many ways! The drawback to the Farms is that there are (or were anyway) a lot of people living there at once. No privacy whatsoever. After about a year this style of living started wearing thin, and the communal creative hive started to seem more like a compulsory nightmare. So year two was a bit strained, but by and large I have fond memories.

3) How do you craft a song--from the lyrics to the music, or vice versa? And how do you find inspiration for writing a song?

If I'm lucky I will be inspired lyrically by an event, a book, a person, etc. And then mulling over that event as I sit at the piano will translate into a rhythm or melody. I find it much harder these days to write without any direction though, to sit at the piano cold. I find that the older I get the more distracted I get--the harder it is to sit down and concentrate at the piano without thinking I should be doing a million other things, mundane things like checking my email, straightening up. It's horrible I must say. I need to find a way to reverse this! Help!

4) Continuing that idea, how do you decide if a song you write should be used for Finishing School, Ladybug Transistor, or Essex Green?

I don't play in the Ladybug anymore, and Finishing School is inactive until I can come up with another batch of songs. So the decision process is that much easier!

5) I really enjoyed your solo album; will there be more music from the Finishing School in the future?

Well I hope so. I think I need to retreat into the woods again and get writing. I'm hoping this summer I can afford to disappear for a few weeks and get rid of my ADD, get some good writing done. The question is: where do I go?

6) You're about to spend a lot of time on the road touring; what is life on the road like for a touring band, and do you enjoy it?

Until this past November I hadn't been on the road in a year and a half almost. So I had a lot of time to recharge and get excited again about traveling this time. There was a period recently where I was on the road quite a bit, and I just started to feel really worn out physically and emotionally to the point where I was questioning playing music at all anymore. I'd made a decision to myself sometime in 2003 that I was going to devote myself to the bands at the expense of any stability at all, and that proposition ultimately backfired. I was so penurious and so exhausted in the end. But once I officially decided to take a "hiatus" from everything, it became eminently clear to me that playing music was what defined me: I did it for love of playing, the love of being creative and love of collaborating with my friends. It defined me more than anything else. I also realized that it doesn't have to be all or nothing in this life. I can have several harmonious lives at once. Long story short, I do really enjoy touring now. I feel like Chris [Ziter], Jeff and I are closer than ever. We've been traveling with our dear friend Julia [Rydholm] (on bass) and the four of us are very tight. We just had an excellent tour in Germany and I enjoyed every second--even the annoying bits you're supposed to get annoyed at!! I honestly feel so privileged to be able to travel the world with these guys. PLAYING MUSIC! How great is that!!??



The Essex Green are taking a brief break after their European tour, and they're about to begin the U.S. leg of their journey. Dates are provided below. Do go see them if you get a chance, as they sound just as impressive live as they do on record. Special thanks to Gary Olson for providing the Marlborough Farms photo.

The Essex Green - Upcoming Shows:

04.27.2006 * Lexington, KY @ The Dame w/High Water Marks & The Melody Function
04.28.2006 * Chicago , IL @ Subterranean w/ Tapes N Tapes & Brighton PA
04.29.2006 * St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club
05.02.2006 * Seattle, WA @ Crocodile Cafe
05.03.2006 * Portland , OR @ Towne Lounge w/ Irving
05.04.2006 * Redding, CA @ The Dip w/ Irving
05.05.2006 * Santa Cruz, CA @ The Attic
05.06.2006 * San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop
05.07.2006 * Los Angeles, CA @ Spaceland
05.08.2006 * Tucson, AZ @ Solar Culture Gallery
05.10.2006 * Austin, TX @ The Parrish
05.11.2006 * Houston, TX @ Walter's
05.12.2006 * Dallas, TX @ The Cavern
05.13.2006 * Jackson, MS @ Martin's
05.14.2006 * Chattanooga, TN @ Lamar's
05.15.2006 * Raleigh, NC, King's
05.16.2006 * Washington, DC @ Black Cat Backstage
05.17.2006 * Philadelphia, PA @ The Khyber
05.18.2006 * New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge