SanguinDrake

I’m dying for someone to give me a €25-50 iTunes voucher! One night while I was watching Falling Skies I got a little bit obsessed with Sarah Sanguine-Carter, who I had only really seen in Misconceptions, Final Destination 2 and one episode of CSI: New York (though her credits include: Smallville, Shark, Fringe…) and she is really able to show her range in Falling Skies. So off I went to Wikipedia and IMDb… Thus began my love affair with the band SanguinDrake


SanguinDrake, PRETTY TRICKS
The band consists of Sarah Sanguin Carter and David Drake who have both had solo albums previous to the release of Pretty Tricks (Before Three and Hallows, respectively). Their music is defined as alternative folk (I call it ‘Chill Music’) and some of their stuff reminds me of The Civil Wars and Bright Eyes.

You can download them on iTunes (as of yet: not sure if you can buy the CD in Irish stores) and check them out on Facebook; Twitter; and Youtube.

So let me leave you with… - Chipped Heart Empty Cup

Currency was one of the first songs David and I wrote together and at a time when we were living and working in separate countries. I was acting in a few productions up in Canada ('The Vow', with SpyGlass Pictures, and Steven Spielberg's, 'Falling Skies) while David continued his day job teaching guitar and piano back home in LA. Recognizing we had formed an unlikely union we were still dedicated to our collaboration. It actually became clearer with geographical distance that David and I were committed to writing music together, and that our partnership could take the music we had written independently to the next level. Our artistic strengths and weaknesses complimented each other, but there was also an odd sense of purpose, even family, as soon as we started playing.

We were sharing bits and pieces of musical ideas over email when I sent, 'Currency', the original poem. Truthfully, I had no idea what to expect, and was anxious when I didn't hear back from him right away. But he reached out the next day suggesting we do a Skype session where I learned he felt equally as humble sharing the music and song structure my poem had inspired in him. I loved it. We were so turned on by the ease of our creative relationship, we decided he should fly up to work with me in person. Together we discovered the vocal melody and harmonies for 'Currency', began work on 'Magdelin', a love song David brought to the band, and also produced our first two music videos for songs off of our ep record, 'Carnival Tracks'. The videos for 'Brand New Truth' and 'My Reflection' were two miraculous guerilla shoots in just two days with no budget thanks to our good friend and great director, Randy Ross, who just happened to be in Toronto at the time. Those shoots are a story for another article, but I'm mentioning the videos, which have become quite popular on youtube, only to say that the stars were aligned for SanguinDrake at the time 'Currency' was written, and our time in Toronto turned out to be instrumental in building our foundation as a band.

When one of us is solely responsible for lyrics, as was the case in 'Currency', the first thing we have to do as a band is analyze the poetry to discover what it wants to say through and start feeling it's expression musically. When I write, I tend to let it be a stream of consciousness at first as opposed to launching into a theme or any kind of structure. Recognizing 'going with the flow' isn't a sure fire technique to create a valuable piece of work, 'Currency' happens to be a success story for this somewhat effortless process, but with this style, even I, as the writer, have to study what the words are actually saying. Ultimately, I do like to practice creative deliberation, vision, intention … but it has to be said, 'Currency', the poem, came through pen to paper, over coffee one morning in it's almost exact final form.

To pin point the specific moment of lyrical inspiration simplifies the story even further. It's conceptual context is certainly not romantic or dramatic. It's just that when I went to pay for my coffee that morning I realized I had forgotten my wallet. It was a cafe I had been to several times before and developed a familiar rapport with the barrister. He said it was no problem and didn't charge me. I was lit up by his generosity, then noticed I felt indebted to him. The exchange triggered a realization in me that generosity of spirit is empowering, more empowering than anything material. Having been a part of several communities of artists I was already accustomed to the practicalities and possibilities of human beings surviving off of trade. It continues to frustrate me that money has become the only respected currency in most of the the world outside these somewhat enlightened communities. People, for the most part, have forgotten the power of kindness, gesture, endowment, encouragement, inspiration, and skill trades. There are several ways beyond money we fulfill and nurture each other's needs and desires that we habitually allow to money trump, and often to our detriment. So while I was enjoying my debatably 'free' coffee, I opened my journal and began to write: 'Nothing in life is free …'

There is a driving, even haunting, tone to the song, especially in the bridge, as it paints the inevitabilities that come with our human nature: manipulation, interdependence, greed … we are all vulnerable to temptation, we all have needs ... but the blessing that comes with our condition is that we each have something to give, the catch is recognizing and contributing. The bridge describes an equally available choice, complete isolation and blissful dissociation, but in that place comes a powerful connection to death and perhaps an epiphany that life is about the give and take of it all no matter how painful or risky - ROUND Magazine

MIXING acting with music has been a fascination of mine…



for quite a while. It is something that, in this country, leads to grimacing and hesitation amongst many. I guess if you go from the studio to the stage, the reluctance is less intense. It is when actors attempt music, that faces are contorted in a rictus of stunned silence. Critics line up, shining their boots, ready to take the first swing, and the public in general tend to pass them by. In the U.K. the phenomenon has been present for many decades now. It is only over the last 10 years or so, that we have seen more and more actors turning their abilities to music. It is something I will explain more, when explaining the featured band; but for now, is a short history of thespian mis-steps and triumphs. For all the actors, whom have made successful transitions from the stage to the recording studio, there has been a mass of embarrassing failures. Hugh Laurie is the best British example; he has a natural blues voice, and has been displaying his music and vocal chops since his early acting career: Jeeves and Wooster springs to mind. In the U.K. I guess there have been a lot more failures than you’d expect, as I am loathed to highlight another actor, whom has managed to be held in fund regard as a musician. In the U..S, the likes of Juliette Lewis and even William Shatner have had mixed fortunes. Russell Crowe and Robert Downey Jr. have infested their horrid tones on the world; and Jared Leto is a somewhat overrated second-rate singer and musical talent. There are few U.S. examples whom have managed to stay credible. Zoeey Deschanel began brightly as part of She & Him, but their latest album Volume 3 attests, their charm and ideas are running low. If you factor Will Smith out of the equation (whom I suspect began singing before acting), then you have murky waters indeed- but more on it later. In the U.S. there is a small wave of new bands and acts, making their way across the Atlantic. Most of the time, there is an overzealous focus on homegrown talent, with a rather narrow and restrictive foreign policy. I have been privy to hearing superb acts from Australia, Europe, as well as the U.S., and one thing always strikes me hard: why have I not encountered them before now? There seems to be a balkanisation within the music media, or a par with political agendas and evils: giving other countries a leg-up seems to be a no-no in general. Occasionally publications here, such as The Girls Are, The Guardian and The Fly point you in directions unexpected, but by and large, the attention span reaches as far as London, or, if you’re lucky, Manchester. The U.S.A. has produced some of the finest ever music, and it seems that there are not more passionate links between us and them, with regards to promoting one another’s sonic talent.



Step up, SanguinDrake. Back in the Spring of 2010, amongst the bustle of the West Coast of America, was produced, an amalgamation of Sarah Sanguin Carter and David Drake. Sanguin Carter hailed from Canada; Drake from Michigan. One would not imagine that a man from Detroit: home to Motown, The Eagles, The White Stripes and Aaliyah, would blend so harmoniously with a girl from Canada: native land of Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen and Neil Young. The two had produced solo albums before they met one another, and had received plaudits and credibility. They met, as they state, by chance, and had no prior connection or link: they shared a love of shared music and influences. It is the shared chemistry and harmonious musical talents, that has galvanised their partnership, and kept them focused far into the future. I was first made aware of Sarah, through CSI: New York and Falling Skies. She is possessed of an astonishing beauty, that is quite unnerving, but also portrays a natural passion and warmth through her acting roles, that translates effectively through the songs. David has Hollywood idol looks as well, and a keen sense of style: the combination of aesthetes, as well as fascinating back-stories and ‘other lives’, welds together to create an impressive duo. The band/duo has an impressive online following; their Twitter and Facebook pages are a mass of positive feedback, activity and impassioned feedback. Their official site is painted in pleasing and dynamic pastels; awash with unique and quirky photographs, and detailed and insightful. Drawing from their diverse hometowns, and different musical backgrounds, the duo have concocted a tight and mannered partnership, which has been wowing L.A.- their new residency. They do not go into too much depth about whom their influences and idols are: they let their music do the explaining. On their official website, it is said that Sanguin Carter has “ethereal and edgier artistic tendencies”; whilst Drake possesses a “sincere, masculine vocal quality”. The duo’s humour, as well as shared affection, results in a “hauntingly balanced blend of paradoxes”.



To put that publicity to - MusicMusingsAndSuch

Kevin Pereira sits down with Sarah Sanguin Carter from TNT's Falling Skies where she plays a motorcycle gang member. She tells us all about how she learned how to shoot guns, wearing fake tattoos and her new album. - Attack of the Show

On the new Steven Spielberg-produced TV series Falling Skies (TNT), Sarah Sanguin Carter joins Noah Wyle to fend off a postapocalyptic alien invasion. Which is dark. In our new entertainment preview, she embodies summer. Which is not dark at all. We spoke to the 30-year-old Toronto-born actress (whom you may already know from her role on Smallville or a particularly memorable guest spot on Entourage) about being named Esquire's 2011 Hostess of Summer.

ESQUIRE: Do you have an opening statement?

SARAH SANGUIN CARTER: I've never been a hostess — not even at the Olive Garden. I'm so happy to be the Hostess of the Summer. Summer, however, is my least favorite season.

ESQ: That's not what we were looking for.

SSC: I find day after day of sunshine boring. People relax in a way that's frustrating to me. I like the fall because it's a productive time. New! Fall! Crisp! We're awake! The clothes are nice! ... Did I say the wrong thing? It's party time! Everybody go to the beach!

ESQ: We're back on track.

SSC: As long as there's a body of water nearby, I'm happy. Pools don't count. I like diving into the ocean and coming out refreshed. Now I sound like I'm in a suntan-lotion commercial. Maybe I'm too deep to be the Hostess of Summer?

ESQ: Do you go to summer music festivals?

SSC: Yes! Music! Thank you! I love summer music festivals. I've gone to Coachella the past six years. I'm in a band.

ESQ: What do you guys play?

SSC: We're called Sanguindrake. We're calling it psychedelic rock. Right now we're working on our debut album with Kevin Augunas, who's wonderful, and he worked with Cold War Kids and the Black Keys. It's pretty trippy. My lyrics are dark, deep fairy tales [laughs].

ESQ: Are you excited about the summer blockbusters?

SSC: Why would anyone go to the movies in the summer?

ESQ: Do you enjoy barbecues?

SSC: For sure.

ESQ: How about horseshoes?

SSC: I'm down.

ESQ: What will you be reading at the beach this summer?

SSC: I'm reading a lot of books on evolution right now.

ESQ: What's your position on flip-flops on men?

SSC: Everybody should have the right to wear flip-flops in summer.

ESQ: Even with jeans?

SSC: Go for it!

ESQ: Sunscreen?

SSC: I'd rather wear a big hat.
- Esquire

You may recognize Sarah (Sanguin) Carter from film and television. Her stunning looks in this case take a backseat to her amazing musical presence. Sanguindrake teams Sarah and someone called David Drake. Only a trio of theatrical tunes, each amazing, are available so far on iTunes. They are currently working on their first full-length. Also, noteworthy are a couple of amazing music videos that can be viewed below. Cannot wait to see what the future holds for this duo. - Internet Poison

Conceived May 1, 2010, Sanguindrake features a magnificent collaboration between two serious songwriters — David Drake, a multi-talented musician who sings and plays guitar and keyboard, and Sarah Sanguin Carter, an uncommon beauty with a voice to match. The duo creates otherworldly ballads, the loveliest trip hop, and insect rock, according to their Facebook biography.
The band has become popular among the Hollywood scene thanks to their mesmerizing, bewitching performances that showcase thought-provoking lyrics set against unique, beautiful melodies. Unafraid, their music enlightens the mind as it reveals Sanguindrake’s inner soul. Listening, a drama unfolds from their folk-like tales and mystical arrangements, filling music connoisseurs up with a modernistic hope for mankind’s spirit.
"Pretty Tricks," Sanguindrake's debut album, recorded at Fairfax Recording studios, released in October 2011. Preview tracks here: - Eyes In

Conceived May 1, 2010, Sanguindrake features a magnificent collaboration between two serious songwriters — David Drake, a multi-talented musician who sings and plays guitar and keyboard, and Sarah Sanguin Carter, an uncommon beauty with a voice to match. The duo creates otherworldly ballads, the loveliest trip hop, and insect rock, according to their Facebook biography.
The band has become popular among the Hollywood scene thanks to their mesmerizing, bewitching performances that showcase thought-provoking lyrics set against unique, beautiful melodies. Unafraid, their music enlightens the mind as it reveals Sanguindrake’s inner soul. Listening, a drama unfolds from their folk-like tales and mystical arrangements, filling music connoisseurs up with a modernistic hope for mankind’s spirit.
"Pretty Tricks," Sanguindrake's debut album, recorded at Fairfax Recording studios, released in October 2011. Preview tracks here: - Eyes In

On Friday August 10, 2012, Koffeehouse presents Melinda Ortner at 5:30PM, Andrew Ryan at 6:30PM and SanguinDrake at 7:30PM at XBar Century City's outdoor stage at the landmark Hyatt Regency Century City Hotel located at 2025 Avenue of the Stars in Century City.

3 of LA's most talented emerging artists/bands will be featured EVERY Friday evening between 5:30PM - 8:30PM in the XBar outdoor patio throughout the Summer (from June 8, 2012 through August 31, 2012). XBar will have weekly happy hour specials on beer and wine with 5 $5 appetizers from 4PM to 6:30PM so it will be the perfect setting to unwind each week at one of LA's most beautiful outdoor patios with live music. - Koffeehouse serving up LA's finest music

The title of the show is appropriate, because Sarah Sanguin Carter considers her current TV-acting gig to be manna from heaven.
"Falling Skies kind of fell from the sky," says Winnipeg-raised Carter, 31, whose TV career has been kicked back into high gear by the sci-fi series, which has aired for two seasons on U.S. cable's TNT network and had its Canadian premiere a couple of weeks ago on Space.

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Carter had cut back drastically on auditions for TV and movie projects in order to focus on her fledgling music career, but was forced to reconsider when Falling Skies producer/director Greg Beeman -- with whom she worked briefly several years ago during a recurring-character stint on Smallville -- contacted her to say she was his first choice for a character in his new TV series.
"I didn't have a relationship with him outside of Smallville, but we did work well together on that show, I guess," Carter explains. "I've changed a lot as a person since then, so I was shocked to learn he had this very clear vision of me playing (the character) Maggie. Not only that, but he had already sold me to TNT and (executive producer) Steven Spielberg before he reached out to my management.
"It's still a bit mysterious, to be honest, but I guess he'd looked at some of the work I've done since Smallville and decided I had what he was looking for and was someone he wanted to be in business with creatively."
Falling Skies, which airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on Space, is a science-fiction thriller set in a near-future world in which aliens have landed on Earth with nasty intentions. Humanity has been reduced to roving bands of rebels fighting to take back their planet.
ER alumnus Noah Wyle leads the cast, playing a former history professor who has been forced to take up arms as second-in-command of the 2nd Massachusetts Militia Regiment. Carter's character, Maggie, was introduced in the series' second episode as a ruthless fighter who has survived great physical and emotional traumas and is extremely loyal to those she decides she can trust.
"I had wanted to be considered for parts that were edgier," she explains. "I was kind of bored with the bubble-gum stuff that was coming my way and had decided I needed to take more risks. And as soon as I did that, this role came along -- it was described to me as sort of Angelina Jolie behind a gun, with the damaged heart of Charlize Theron in Monster. It doesn't get any edgier than that."
Carter, a graduate of Balmoral Hall who studied musical theatre at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and attended Ryerson Theatre School in Toronto, has worked steadily in TV and film since moving to Los Angeles nearly a decade ago. As a series regular, she has played a martial-arts fighter in the WB series Black Sash and a lawyer alongside James Woods in the CBS drama Shark.
It was after the latter two-year gig that Carter decided to take a step back from acting on TV series.
"I had decided to focus on music, hoping I could do something that's a little more my own, creatively. After being on Shark for two years, I sort of felt like I didn't want to read anyone else's lines anymore," she says. "I guess I was just in a different place, looking for a deeper meaning.
"Shark was filmed on a (studio) lot in Hollywood, and it was about doing the same thing every day -- put on the tight suit and the heels and the makeup, and do a formulaic procedural show. After 46 episodes, I started to wonder what else could be out there for me."
Having started to explore music and songwriting during her down time on the Shark set, Carter decided to see if she could make a go of it as a musician.
"(Music) sort of crept up and out of me," she says with a laugh. "I had started to bring my acoustic guitar to the trailer when I was working on the second season of Shark, and I started writing these little songs. And when the show was cancelled, I had 14 songs, and I thought, 'OK, I have some time, and I have a little bit of money, so why don't I record these?'"
She went to Montreal, where she has a few friends who are musicians, and asked them to play on the self-produced CD. The result encouraged Carter enough that she started booking live-performance gigs at clubs around L.A.
"I just got out there as much as possible, and then I met my current bandmate, David Drake, and we formed a band called SanguinDrake, which became a bigger, more serious project," she says. The duo is currently at work on their second album, and Carter says one of her dreams is to have SanguinDrake land a gig at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. - The Winnipeg Free Press

Hailing out of Los Angeles, CA, this Canadian (singer-songwriter Sarah Sanguin Carter) and American (musician-singer David Drake) duo carve out their own unique musical style by infusing a mixture of folk, atmospheric pop & alternative rock. You can feel the fastness of influences (R.E.M., Tom Waits, Natalie Merchant) as each track on their full-length debut album takes you on one different journey after another. Listen and you will be endlessly intrigued. You can download the track "Currency" from the album Pretty Tricks (2012) for FREE below via Topspin Media. - The New Hit Man

Multi-hyphenates blow my mind. Not merely through their myriad of talents, but due to their abundance in work ethic. As I was catching up on the premiere of the TNT television show Falling Skies, I noticed that Sarah Carter, who plays a badass resistance fighter, was billed in the credits as Sarah Sanguin Carter, and I was intrigued. I discovered that the beautiful word is not only her real middle name, but also the first half of the band that she’s in, SanguinDrake, and I quickly searched for their songs. Carter’s speaking voice is so distinct and given that she’s described their sound as “Abbey Road psychedelic folk rock”, I knew it had to be fascinating– and I was right!
I absolutely love the whole concept and aesthetics of this video. The vintage PBS title card, the film effect, and the whole Factory vibe, with the Edie Sedgwick, Andy Warhol, The Velvet Underground, and Nico visuals are so spot-on, so well done, but more importantly, very keen in regards to the lyrics. “Gems are gems if we make them so.”

Carter’s voice is slightly reminiscent of Natalie Merchant (10,000 Maniacs) and Leigh Nash (Sixpence None the Richer), with a bewitching bite to it. This quality of her voice atop infectious drums and guitar distortions, solidify a very distinct atmosphere that evokes nostalgia and ephemera.

I’ve been a fan of Carter since I saw her in the television show Black Sash (yes, I’m a WB child. And that theme song? ?), and now I’m definitely a fan of her music. In my SanguinDrake search, I stumbled upon this interview with photographer Noa Azoulay-Sclater and I love what she had to say here:

Azouley-Sclater: Do you feel like we need to take risks in art? Why?

Carter: Of course! Nothing valuable is without risk. We’re in the business of birthing what’s never been. We have no idea what will happen in the process. What we’ll learn, what we’ll lose, and what it will bring.

Art is creation at its best and most chaotic.

For more SanguinDrake, they have a stunning website, where this song, and the album Pretty Tricks from which it’s from, can be purchased. You can also get it on iTunes. Anyone near San Diego can also see them live at The Griffin on Friday July 6th. - Glass Lens Gold Key