It took a minute, but bagheera’s album Shooting Rockets Towards the Sun is a super-sophomore, space-themed release. Begun in the early 2000s by the group’s primary members, Heather and Ted Moll (and featuring their longtime live bassist Julie Gibbs), the album’s origins date back to the days just before the arrival of the first of their two children.
Listening to the album during an interview, Heather pauses to note that “we definitely recorded this song with me holding my guitar out from my belly.”
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Since those initial tracks were written (primarily by Heather) and recorded/tweaked (almost exclusively by Ted), the pair began a family, living in the same South City house that served as the original practice space of the long-running St. Louis ska band, MU330, of which Ted’s a founding member. In recent years, that band’s gone through intermittent bursts of activity, and though gaps have been a part of their career together, there’s a tremendous unspoken chemistry.
“They’re two totally different projects,” Ted says. “There’s a history with me, Dan (Potthast) and Chris (Diebold). Even now, with a long break, we kinda know what’s going to happen onstage. Dan will come up with something and the whole band will change at the same time. The biggest aspect of that band is live, very energetic. With bagheera, I focus more on all the things I don’t with MU330: layers, production tricks. One thing that really inspired me is when I went on tour with MU is that I would put on headphones and fall asleep to the music. You’re in the dark, totally isolated, just listening to the album. I’d listen to Pixies, Radiohead, Yo La Tengo, Archers of Loaf. I’d focus on the way the album were put together, and listening in isolation, you can hear the craft, even accidents and things not intended. There are these little cool flashes, little moments. For me, every night, I’d listen to an album, get hooked, then listen to it for a week, trying to catch the little gems.
“When we took time to record, a lot of Heather’s songs are just right and don’t need much of anything, but I’d still hide as many cool little things in as a I could,” Ted adds. “There are some accidents, non-intentional things in there. I’d put it on a shelf for a few weeks and find all these cool things. When you try a bunch of stuff, most of it won’t work. You expect a lot of failures. As a scientist, that’s what I’m used to. While you expect something to fail, you might come up with something.”
Ted continues on the scientific riff for a bit noting that “since I produced it, I listened to it everywhere,” from car to house, playing it on as many systems as possible. Befitting a couple that’s been together for years, when Ted gets especially excited about talking about the production method, Heather often jumps in with a quick, funny aside.
“I think it sounds great,” Heather says. “I don’t listen to things the way Ted does. Music for me is a process like this: I write it, practice, forget it happened. I’ll write something, record it and think ‘That’s funny, I don’t remember that happening.’ I’m different, musically, from Ted, in that I can do the thing, then walk away from it. I’ve not listened to it over and over again. When I do, it’s ‘Good job, Ted.’”
“When Heather brings in a song, it’s mostly done,” he says. “We might work on dynamics, shifts. But it’s just there. Even the rhythm; when Heather bring in a songs, it’s easy for me. I know exactly what she wants the drums to. It’s easy for me as a drummer, it’s fun, I just play on top of that.”
And because “her songs are already done, there’s more time for building in production stuff, building in some different layers, some different tones.”
Even as Ted expresses a certain sadness that he can’t further tweak Shooting Rockets (which is “a bummer”), the good news for fans is that the band’s got new material, which has already put them on a pace to release new work, well… sooner than later.
As Ted Moll’s references above cite groups like Yo La Tengo and Pixies, there’s a heavy dose of the ‘95-’05 vibes in bagheera’s sound, but only the good stuff; if familiar with the band Lemuria, you’ve got a reference point.
For digital listeners, you can explore their work, yourself. Right now, via Spotify.
For vinyl purists, the band does have Shooting Rockets Towards the Sun available in that format. They’ll also be one of the bands featured live at Vintage Vinyl this weekend, for Record Store Day. (Speaking of which…)
Record Store Day Highlights: Saturday’s the big day for local record shops, as every dealer in town’s got some type of special event programming scheduled for this Saturday, April 22. This is far from a comprehensive list, but here are some of the venues and what they’re offering. Hotlinks for each will take you to the specific RSD pages of each business:
Euclid Records: Always one of the most active stores in town on RSD, Euclid Records offers music from 9 a.m.-7 p.m., including a stacked lineup that runs chronologically like so: Edward Burch, Diesel Island, The Potomac Accord, Nick Barbieri, Steve Scorfina and Supe Granda, Kirkwood School Of Rock House Band, Flat Duo Jets, Essential Knots, Other People, Summer Magic, Beth Bombara, Keokuk, Hope & Therapy, The Gaslight Squares, Dracla, Sleepy Kitty and The Bottle Rockets.
Music Record Shop: Now located in midtown’s newest arts incubator, .ZACK, Music Record Shop will feature sets from DJ Crucial, Cara Louise Band, 18 & Counting, Middle Class Fashion, DJ Mark Lewis, and a signing from Boyd Tinsley of the Dave Matthews Band, who’s out in support of a new project called Crystal Garden.
Vintage Vinyl: As always, the Loop’s landmark is pulling out the stops, with an outdoor stage in operation. Slated to appear are all these projects, starting at 10:30 am: School of Rock, Pokey LaFarge, Moon Bandits, Bruiser Queen, bagheera, The Maness Brothers, Looprat and Turntable Orchestra; plus the following DJs: Andrew Yost, Carl “The Intern” Middleman, Jess Luther, Nick Acquisto, Jason Gonulsen, John Henry and Dean Minderman.
Sights & Sounds: Several pieces of local music interest have been posted/printed around town in just the last week and here are a couple of those.
Nick Horn of the RFT does a great job of introducing the debut album of the elusive local trio The Chimps.
Christian Schaeffer notes the arrival of a Dutch Courage EP, via the RFT, and links to the album’s title track, “Tiger Tracks.”
Yours truly wrote about rock ’n’ roll trumpeter Adam Hucke for the RFT, noting that he has a release party for his debut album this Sunday at the Old Rock House. Look for a piece on TJ Muller and the Gaslight Squares on stlmag.com, as early as tomorrow online and in print for May.
Cool news from the St. Louis American, in that Bernie Hayes will be heading up the Wolff Jazz Institute at Harris-Stowe.
Like Hayes, Art Dwyer of the Soulard Blues Band, is a true STL classic. Fellow KDHX programmer Sean Smothers gets the good stuff from Dwyer in a fun interview on the community radio station’s site.
With that… happy 4/20, everyone!
