Henry Rollins. Iggy Pop. Mike Patton. Debbie Harry. Jon Spencer.
The list of respected musicians who have gone on the record as being fans of Woodstock, New York-based band The Bobby Lees is quite impressive, and might raise the accusatory eyebrows of people, who are skeptical of such things.
Well, those skeptics are just plain wrong. On their third album, and first for new label Ipecac, Bellevue, they lay down a master class in the art of merging spiky garage punk with art rock, to create one beast of a record. So, believe the hype and the musician endorsements. They are the real deal.
Since Bellevue is about to drop, we decided to send Bobby Lees, guitarist and vocalist Sam Quartin a bunch of questions about the band, their new album, living up to hype, and her work as an actor. (The Bobby Lees also features Macky Brown (drums), Nicholas Casa (guitar), and Kendall Wind (bass).
Usually, people move to NYC to form a band. But you did the opposite. You moved away from NYC and formed a band. A great band. How did this all happen? Why did you leave NYC in the first place?
I felt a need to be closer to trees and away from people and the city. I was craving a sense of community, a place where people knew each other by name and are helpful, care about each other, say hi to each other on the sidewalk. I’m really grateful I found that, and the band, upstate. I met them nine months after I moved there.
How do you think the band has evolved over the course of its three albums?
We’ve changed a lot as people, so the music has evolved along with us, I think. We’ve become a family, not in a happy hippie sense, but in a–this shit is real, we’re gonna say exactly how we feel about things and have uncomfortable conversations and grow from that together. It’s been great for all of us, individually and as a band.
How have you grown as a writer over the course of the band’s existence? What are your influences?
I’ve become obsessed with a couple authors over the last few years—Haruki Murakami, I’m on my eighth book of his—I really love his stuff. Aldous Huxley, Marcus Aurelius, Neil Gaimen, Carl Jung—Those are some of my favorites. I try not to look at my writing too closely or else I pick it apart and think it sucks (laughs), but I hope to one day write something I love.
What were you trying to achieve with Bellevue? Do you think it hit the mark?
I didn’t have a set intention for this album, the songs got written and needed to be recorded, and that’s all I knew. I was just hoping to maybe be happy with half the record? Our first two albums, I only felt good about a few songs, so I was hoping to like more of this stuff, and I do on Bellevue. I like more than half the album! Part of that was the gift of time. We recorded our first two albums very quickly in a few days, and with Bellevue, we had three weeks to record and mix, so that was a luxury I’m very grateful for. We got to revisit shit we didn’t like, make changes, etc. It was an amazing experience with Vance Powell.
What were you trying to say through the lyrics?
Each song was kind of in a different headspace, so I’m not really sure. “Hollywood Junkyard” was about a psychotic break I had while in California; ”Ma Likes to Drink” is about growing up with my Mom; “Death Train” was written when COVID started; “Strange Days” wrote itself after I finished this Murakami book and watched a film called Strange Days—The movie’s about how fucked up humanity can get when technology becomes too advanced. ”Dig Your Hips” was drawn from a different mental breakdown; ”Greta Van Fake” was a joke song me and Kendall came up with; somehow it made the record. “In Low” is about falling for someone instantly and them not liking you back… I think?
How do you balance the band with your career as an actor?
It’s pretty easy right now because I left the racket of the “industry.” I made a choice to focus on the band and part ways with my acting manager and agents a few years ago. Now I just do jobs that my friends ask me to be in, or a random project the universe seems to send my way.
What do you think are the similarities between acting and performing music? What are the differences?
I’m not sure. I guess in both, you’re trying to show up for the work and hope you channel something or that something interesting happens? Sometimes that thing shows up, and sometimes it doesn’t. For music, it shows up for me more easily. I can get out of my head pretty quickly. For acting, I gotta do a lot more work to get out of my way and try to trick myself into a different headspace. I really like that process, though; I still don’t know if I’m very good at it, but I love the experience of journaling and learning about other perspectives, being on set and getting to basically go to creative summer camp with a group of people all trying to show up for the same piece of work; it’s very fun when I’m lucky enough to get the opportunity.
The band recently signed to Ipecac. You have ringing endorsements from the music media and musicians like Henry Rollins and Iggy Pop. Did you ever think the band would get this far a fairly short time after forming? And did you feel any pressure when it came time to write and record Bellevue, since more people would be paying attention?
No, I didn’t feel any pressure. The most pressure I felt was right before the band started when I used to be paralyzed with fear. I knew I had creative stuff I had to actualize but had no idea how to start. I read a book called The Artist Way and did whatever it told me to do, and then the band formed. I had no idea we’d get to where we are now. I honestly couldn’t even sing in front of people or share my music without crying and shaking before this band started. My goal was to make an album and play one show. Then you do that, and then you want more haha It evolved from there, I guess. Now I’m slowing down, and feeling where we are, and I’m very grateful for exactly where we are. People I admire like Iggy Pop playing us on his show and supporting us, that made me feel really good.
What’s the worst gig the band has played? The best one?
Oh man, I’m gonna say a recent show in Europe—I was sick for days, and it was during the heatwave. The crowd was like a sea of dead fish. We felt like we were on display at the zoo. We’ve had a few like that; those always suck, but they can also be fun, I guess, cause you really don’t give a shit and have to make it interesting for yourself so I force myself to try something new or hope to be open to do something that surprises me or the band.
Best shows we’ve played… probably recently the Kliko festival in The Netherlands with The Chats and The Black Lips. That was a good time. Also Dublin Ireland—It was our first time there last month, and all these people were singing along to our songs,;it was bizarre cause we’d never played Dublin, so that was very cool. The same thing happened in some other places like London and Brighton England, so that was neat!
Photo courtesy John Swab
