Francis Bakin profile picture

Francis Bakin

About Me


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.”
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.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 25/05/2007
Band Website: clemthegreat.com" clemthegreat.com
Band Members: Clementine, Gretchen Menn, Rob Preston, Mike Wells, Jim Bove
Influences: Robber barons turned benefactors. Audacity in thought, tenacity in movement. The digging out and the digging in. Purity of mind from a dissolute heart. The accidental chance and luck of the draw. Blindfold choices of wanderlust. Backseat woolgatherers with a side window moon and tires skimming the river of option. Dearth of practicality. Mirth of fatality. Middle fingers and exit rows. The unexpected, the misstep, the underneath thoughts and the other side of the looking glass.

"An illustrational form tells you through the intelligence immediately what the form is about, whereas a non-illustrational form works first upon sensation and then slowly leaks back into the fact." F. Bacon
Sounds Like: Electronic drum tracks, live drumset, stand-up drumkit played by vocalist, slide guitar, bass.
Record Label: unsigned

My Blog

Francis Bakin reviewed on Venus Zine

Hi there... cool article in the Emerging Artists section:https://venuszine.com/articles/music/features/5050/W ith_two_tribute_bands_in_her_background_Clementine_finds_her _own_voice_in_Conversation_with...
Posted by on Thu, 07 May 2009 12:17:00 GMT

New Cold Snap Video

The great Randy Teasford from The Mystic Theatre in Petaluma has created the really cool video to the song "Cold Snap".  You can see it below, under the Sunshine video.Thanks Randy you are the best!ht...
Posted by on Tue, 05 May 2009 14:48:00 GMT

"Cold Snap" Wins 2nd Prize in Intl Songwriting Competition

Neato!"Cold Snap" has won Second Place in the "Lyrics Only" category in the 2008 International Songwriting Competition (ISC). With judges as diverse as Tom Waits, Rob Thomas (Matchbox 20), Ray Davies ...
Posted by on Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:25:00 GMT

Cosmic Lava Interview

An interview with Clementine has just been posted here:  http://www.cosmiclava.com/reviews-interviews/interviews/inte rviews-2009/clementine/
Posted by on Mon, 02 Mar 2009 10:26:00 GMT

Palo Alto Daily News Review

A cool little review of the album here:Palo Alto Daily News 02/06/2009, Page A21DISCS BY PAUL FREEMAN FOR THE DAILY NEWS FRANCIS BAKIN  CONVERSATION WITH FRANCIS BAKIN Oh, my darlin! Clementine lea...
Posted by on Fri, 06 Feb 2009 15:57:00 GMT

Cosmic Lava Review

Howdy!Just a quick note to let you know about a cool Francis Bakin review on the website Cosmic Lava, out of Germany. http://www.cosmiclava.com/reviews-interviews/record-reviews/ records-f/francis-baki...
Posted by on Tue, 20 Jan 2009 10:16:00 GMT

Radio Play

Howdy! Francis Bakin is being played on these two stations.  They're really cool, check them out: http://www.luver.com http://www.outsight.mu/  
Posted by on Tue, 14 Oct 2008 17:06:00 GMT

A Blog About A Blog...

I have a new Francis Bakin related blog here:  http://www.francisbakin.blogspot.com/. Doing my best to get it updated regularly! Clem
Posted by on Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:55:00 GMT

Sunshine Video Posted

Howdy!  Check out the video for the first song on the new record, "Conversation with Francis Bakin."  http://www.youtube.com/francisbakinrocks xoxo Clem
Posted by on Wed, 28 May 2008 00:57:00 GMT

Debut Album Ready May 30

Conversation with Francis Bakin, the 11-song debut album from Francis Bakin, will be on sale on May 30 at the Zepparella show at Miner's Foundry in Nevada City.  Vocals/drums: Clementine, Guitar:...
Posted by on Fri, 09 May 2008 11:52:00 GMT