Bee Appleseed | Interview | New EP, ‘My Evolution On Display Mixtape Vol. 3’
Bee Appleseed’s new single ‘Ojai’ is a whimsical, joyful melody that teleports the listener to the magical natural beauty of the Southern California mountain town, Ojai.
It’s the latest catchy effort from an ever-expanding catalogue featuring more than 20 albums and EPs super fans delight in nerding out over. ‘My Evolution On Display Mixtape Vol. 3’ is a 7 track collection of playful new and old songs curated to chill out and play on repeat. Comes out October 29, 2021 on Godyssey Music.
“Documenting my life through music”
Would you like to talk a bit about your background?
Bee Smith: Yeah man, I grew up in a farm town outside Portland called Canby, Oregon – finished high school there in 2008, went to Oregon State University in Corvallis where I finished in 2012, then I spent 2012-2015 playing concerts mostly in Europe with a few months in the USA and South America, performing over 300 shows in 40 something countries during that time. I came back in 2015, lived in Portland for a few years, then came here to LA in 2017 where I’ve been living ever since. I’ve played music since I was 14 and written poetry even longer, recording hundreds of songs before finishing high school, played my first international concerts in Peru and Ecuador in 2009, and have been touring ever since. Folk music is what I started out with and it became more Rock and Roll through time and more psychedelic as well. Nowadays, I do a lot of jamming and improvising.
When did you decide that you wanted to start writing and performing your own music? What brought that about for you?
My older brother Bobby played guitar and sang growing up and made a few albums in college that influenced me along with a friend named Harrison Peralta who made an album my first year of high school. I thought that was cool so I taught myself how to record and play all the instruments. I was listening to a lot of 60s and 70s folk and rock at the time and that felt like the natural direction to take it. As a writer first and then a musician, I had a million song ideas and ended up kinda documenting my life through music rather than a more literary approach and once I finished college, I decided to organize a ridiculous number of shows and share these songs I’d been recording endlessly in my bedroom.
What can you tell us about the latest EP, ‘My Evolution On Display Mixtape Vol. 3’? How long did you work on it?
This mixtape is a collection of new and old songs that fit a similar vibe. I wanted to make a collection of chill, uplifting, fun songs that people can mellow out to. These are all kinda psych folk pop and are less serious than some of my other songs that are more heavy poetic. Two of the songs were recorded in 2012, two in 2013, one in 2020, and two different instrumental versions were made in 2021. In a sense you could say it took about ten years, which is I guess how long it took to have this many songs that fit the vibe.
Would you share your insight on the albums’ tracks?
1) ‘Ojai’ is a fun song about a Southern California town I love visiting. A friend asked me to write a song about it a few years ago and I finally got around to it during the pandemic when the melody kept returning to me. Alexx Magic helped me mix and master it.
2) ‘More Stuff’ is a collaboration with my friend River Nason who engineered the Starflower and Backpacker Blues records. We were given the task of making music for a commercial, so we made two different versions of our idea of commercial music. The 30 second version had some keyboards and glockenspiel played by River while I played ukulele, guitar, and added sound effects.
3) ‘This Must Be Life’ is an old classic that I never released the original version of besides in this video. There’s a lot of versions of this song but this is the first one I recorded in my old apartment in Vienna, Austria. Later, I returned to Vienna to film a music video with Anna Kohlweis aka Squalloscope.
4) ‘Dreamer’s Paradise’ is a quick jam I wrote and recorded at The Hostel Anton in Tivat, Montenegro. I spent a few weeks in the Summer there in 2013 and 2014 and had a magical time. I also got a sunburn recording this number on the roof while looking at the view of the fjords in the distance below. Truly is a paradise there.
5) ‘Let’s Get Metaphysical!’ is a fun one I wrote in Corvallis after a joke in conversation with my friend Eli led to its existence and recorded before I headed off for Europe. It’s a jam for sure.
6) ‘Spanky’ is a song about a street dog I met in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina in 2013 and had a great time hanging out all night with. I recorded it also at The Hostel Anton in Tivat, Montenegro. Highly recommended place.
7) This is my original version of ‘More Stuff’ where I played everything and River mixed & mastered.
What’s the story behind ‘Starflower’s Cosmic Soul’?
‘Starflower’s Cosmic Soul’ was a whirlwind life experience. I kinda lost my mind in the process. I’m not really sure what to say about it. It feels like ancient history lifetimes ago now. I wrote all those songs in 2015 and 2016, but it still feels very relevant for someone feeling themselves in a more chaotic headspace and trying to make sense of the madness. As with the rest of my life, I try to process and work things out through music. Everything about it is in the lyrics and the liner notes – my first album on vinyl. It’s meant to sound like different characters singing the songs in different voices. It was a real rockin’ experience to make.
And how would you compare it to ‘Backpacker Blues’?
‘Starflower’s Cosmic Soul’ is my first album written after coming back from my Euro years and is much more orchestrated with a backing back and everything. ‘Backpacker Blues’ was also recorded with River in that same house, The Guest House in Olympia, but was a collection of songs I’d written in Europe and been wanting to record, so River helped me finish those, playing drums and bass and keys. ‘Backpacker Blues’ I guess is more of a folk rock album where I had the lyrics much more central to the songwriting, whereas ‘Starflower’s Cosmic Soul’ is more of a rock-oriented record that’s meant to take the listener on a journey.
How’s this last year under lockdown been for you? Have you found the isolation creatively challenging or freeing?
Creatively, I’ve been very productive under lockdown and utilized this time to record as much of my unfinished catalogue as possible and get everything online. It’s been a huge task, but I’ve stayed focused and even compiled my first book of poetry in the process that I intend to be releasing soon. I haven’t been touring, but it’s nice to know at least that I’ve been building up enough material in this time to last for many years to come.
“Songwriting is like a radio station”
Your songs often sound as the culmination of different genres. How do you usually approach songwriting?
Songwriting is like a radio station. It’s usually just a matter of tuning in. I hear new songs in my head all the time if no other music is playing. Smoke some weed and let the music come to you. Inspiration is everywhere.
You had some rough years behind you. Tell us about the encounter with an elder Native American shaman in San Luis Obispo.
Serena lived on a farm outside Paso Robles, near San Luis Obispo. She was really magical – didn’t make physical contact with anyone because her sensitivities to energy were too powerful. She was a real deal healer, not because it was trendy or cool. She was a medicine woman and understood the world in ways we’re not perceiving. She inspired me deeply in the few weeks I lived there, recording my ‘All I Have Now Is My Mythology’ album and writing songs like ‘All Is Forgiven’ among others. I met her through the website Couchsurfing in early 2016 and she was one of the last people I stayed with on that site. She taught about indigenous ways of life and was just so kind to have me. She and her family were very sweet. I’ll always be grateful for that time.
How many albums do you have under your belt?
I’ve kinda lost track honestly. It’s somewhere in the range of 20-25 albums between all the projects I’ve had, some of which aren’t released yet. My active projects now are Bee Appleseed and Elf Freedom.
Let’s end this interview with some of your favourite albums. Have you found something new lately you would like to recommend to our readers?
Redding Hunter (Peter And The Wolf) – ‘Easy Mountain’
Bill Callahan – ‘Dream River’
Leonard Cohen – ‘The Songs Of Leonard Cohen’
The Congos – ‘Heart Of The Congos’
Junior Murvin – ‘Police & Thieves’
Buffy Sainte Marie – ‘Illuminations’
Pink Floyd – pretty much everything before ‘Dark Side’
Devendra Banhart – ‘What Will We Be’
Nora Keyes – ‘Mysterium Tremens’
Mariee Sioux – ‘Grief In Exile’
Bob Marley & The Wailers – ‘Survival’
Bob Dylan – ‘Bringing It All Back Home’
Patti Smith – ‘Horses’
John Lennon – ‘Mind Games’
George Harrison – ‘Living In The Material World’
Janis Joplin – ‘I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama!’
Angel Olsen – ‘My Woman’
The Easy Star All-Stars – ‘Dub Side Of The Moon’
Thank you. Last word is yours.
Gratitude.
Klemen Breznikar
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