20 Questions with… Bellafea

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John McEntire of The Mountain Goats once said of Bellafea‘s lead singer and guitar player; “You don’t see a stage presence like Heather McEntire’s more than a few times in your life, she’s unbelievable”. Quite a statement, coming from the great man himself. A perfect candidate then for our revealing 20 Questions.. Bellafea’s sonically intense new album Calvacade is out now on the fabulous Southern Records. You can download the album track ‘Depart (I Never Knew You)’ from our recent Southern Records compilation here.

1. Describe your sound in 3 words.
Dark. Dissonant. Driving.

2. What was the first record you ever bought? And where did you buy it?
The first cassette tape: Bruce Springsteen “Born in the USA”. It was given to me as a birthday gift. The first CD: Little Texas “Big Time”. I bought it in South Carolina at Camelot Music in the mall. Yes, I am admitting this.The first vinyl record: Carole King “Tapestry” and The Bee Gees “Best of – Vol. 1″. I bought them both at a thrift store.

3. What’s the best cure for a hangover?
Kombucha tea, Advil, and a run.

4. What’s on your rider?
That two thirds of us are vegan.

5. How do you get ready for a live show?
I stretch a lot. Drink tea. Warm my fingers up on the guitar and get my voice bending a bit. Then I’ll have a soda before I play for a some caffeine. Drink more tea. Watch the band before us.

6. What’s your favourite song to play live?
Probably a new song we’ve written that will be on our next album, called “Red Light”. Off of Cavalcade, I’d have to say “Walking Distance”.

7. What’s your guilty pleasure?
Disco. But I don’t feel so guilty about it these days.

8. Who would win in a fight, a stoat or a goat and why?
I don’t know what a stoat is, so I will say goat by default.

9. Who’s your favourite new band at the moment? Tell us a bit about them.
The Curtains of Night. They are from Chapel Hill, North Carolina too. I’ve been listening to them a lot lately because the label I co-run (Holidays for Quince Records) is releasing their debut record this fall and we’ve been earing the mixes. They are an incredible, doom-sludge metal duo. Nora and Lauren. Totally fierce.

10. Who would play you in a film based upon your life?
Well, I had a hard time answering this question since I mostly watch Ken Burns documentaries and couldn’t remember the name of the one actor I thought might have a fighting chance at figuring me out, but I asked my co-worker and she says Elijah Wood would make a pretty good Heather McEntire. Or maybe the scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz. Shrug.

11. Dead or alive, what 5 acts would you have play with you at a festival?
Neil Young, Aislers Set, Nina Simone, Sleater-Kinney, The Bee Gees

12. If push comes to shove, what is your all-time favourite album?
Maybe it’s cheating, but I’d say Neil Young Decade.

13. What’s your most memorable on the road story?
On our first US tour back in 2003, Bellafea shared a van with Dear Nora and it broke down outside Colorado Springs, Colorado. We rented a van and made it to our Sante Fe, New Mexico show, but a couple of us – including me – volunteered to return the rental van to Colorado and pick up our van from the shop. About an hour into our drive back to New Mexico, the van broke down again – this time at 5pm on a Friday evening so all the mechanic shops were closed. Katy (Dear Nora) and I had no choice but to stay in this tiny town called Walzenberg for the weekend. The people there were so nice to us and put us up in a motel room for free and invited us to their town dance, which happened to be that weekend. We had so much fun! It was an incredible experience, even though we lost a lot of money on the van repairs and had to cancel a couple shows.

14. If your life flashed before your eyes, what would be the highlights?
Winning the local 4-H disco dance competition when I was 15, falling in love, meeting my best friends, starting a record label, learning from my grandmother Celia May Blackwell, being able to tour the world by playing music.

15. What’s the best piece of advice someone has ever given you and did you take notice?
My dad has always told me that as long as I have my health then I don’t have much to complain about. It’s kept my chin up in the darkest of times.

16. If you had to leave a body part to science, what would it be?
My lungs might be most useful.

17. What’s the best book you’ve read and film you’ve seen in the last 6 months?
Best book: Joan Didion – “The Year of Magical Thinking” Best film: John Cameron Mitchell – “Short Bus”

18. What three things could you not live without?
Running, the people I love, lessons learned the hard way.

19. Tell us a fact about yourself we probably don’t already know.
I love fried pickles.

20. And finally, we’d like you to make us a mix-tape. Pick five tracks with a theme of your choice.
This is coming straight from my Itunes and is completely random. I typed in “wait”, so the theme is “Waiting”. First five tracks:
1) Waiting ‘Round To Die – Townes Van Zandt
2) Martha – Tom Waits
3) How Long Do I Have to Wait – Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings
4) Wait Forever – The Swirlies
5) I Wait Around – The Clean

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