By a series of accidents and left turns, down alleys of intuition and wrong choices the songs developed. From the back of the band to the front of the band, crawling over drumset, under blocks, through the second-guess, words forced this project. After years of the body pounding out code, suddenly the tongue caught hold of meaning and is making its own demands.
"I should have been, I don’t know, a con-man, a robber or a prostitute. But it was vanity that made me choose painting, vanity and chance." F. Bacon
Francis Bakin is the solo project of Clementine, drummer for the Led Zeppelin powerhouse Zepparella.
Clem steps out from behind the drumset for this one into the role of songwriter / frontperson / vocalist. The songs are powerfully lyrical, melodically textured and percussive. They were written from the ground up, starting with electronic drumbeats which sparked the lyrical intent. From there the melodies grew from a banjitar, a keyboard, and vocal melodies. Zepparella guitarist Gretchen Menn developed the melodies with stunning slide guitar work. Robert Preston laid a heavy foundation with his fretless bass playing, and Clem incorporated live drumset playing over the electronic beats. The result is a unique sound with all her favorite things: interesting lyrics, slide guitar, danceable grooves, and things that go “boing.â€
Clementine was a founding member of the NY heavy rock trio BOTTOM, and spent 3 years as Phyllis Rudd in the popular SF band AC/DShe. A founding member of Zepparella, she began writing songs in their foray into original music as The House of More.
Live, Clem fronts the band as main vocalist. She's now working with guitarist Martin Webb on the next batch of songs. The two perform as a duo in some situations, and for other shows she brings along a full band, with drummer Jim Bove, Martin and Rob.The debut record, Conversation with Francis Bakin, is an 11-song journey into the strange mind of Clem. Along with Gretchen Menn and Robert Preston, there’s a guest appearance from Ted Savarese on "Waterway," and harmonica blowing from the great Kenny Preston. The album was recorded and mixed by Robert Preston at GetReel Productions in San Francisco, and was produced by Clem and Rob, and was released in January 2009. Copies are available here.
www.youtube.com/francisbakinrocks
http://francisbakin.blogspot.com/
http://www.zepparella.com
Francis Bakin and Zepparella are on Facebook.