Sad Baxter
Nashville, Tennessee, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2013 | INDIE
Music
Press
It's always a little irritating when women in rock bands are dubbed "vulnerable." The word is often meant as a compliment, but one given without consideration to the fact that music always opens up its makers to a wide range of emotions. And as if women, in particular, bear some magical burden of openness, lacking the ability to rage and strut and cause trouble like guys do.
What does vulnerability sound like, anyway? Maybe it's just the willingness to occasionally sound awkward. To hit a bum note. To say the thing that makes you look a little dumb.
Whatever the definition, Deezy Violet has it. Her songs for Sad Baxter, the duo she shares with drummer Alex Mojaverian, are rough-and-tumble with a tender heart, punk testimonies to the complexity of love and youth and life. Sad Baxter's 2016 self-released album, Weirdy, is a joyful burst of fuzzed guitars and cymbal crashes grounded in the messy, melodic indie-rock of the 1990s. In it, Deezy confronts tough subjects like depression and self-doubt, breaking through the tough stuff with a growl and a great sense of melody.
Escapees from Boston's Berklee College of Music, Deezy and Alex have the kind of loose, instinctive connection that results in music that always hangs together even in the midst of falling apart. Sad Baxter's latest song, "Baby," is the A-side of a new single on Nashville's fine indie label Cold Lunch Recordings. It's just what most of feel in these tumultuous times: "I don't wanna think about anything at all too hard," Deezy sings. "I just wanna go and lay in my baby's arms." Rivers Cuomo wishes he wrote that. - NPR
Spunky Nashville duo Sad Baxter’s grunge throwback, the delightful So Happy EP, packs a harder punch than its slim 6-song track listing might suggest, thanks to smart songwriting that zig zags audaciously through the extremes of human emotion, and the coolest use of chorus and distortion since, well, you know. Guitarist Deezy Violet’s riffs are as scabby as they are catchy, her songwriting instincts as pop as her spirit is punk. Her lyrics are frank and fearless, whether she’s excoriating an abuser or singing words of love. But she’s also got a keen eye for the absurd, beginning the happiest (and final) song on the EP by declaring, “I was born in a funeral home in the South!” - Bandcamp
I love Nashville duo Sad Baxter’s band bio: “Heavy pop sludge featuring idiots Deezy and Alex. Let’s git sad.” And, like NPR’s Ann Powers, I love their new song “Baby.” Its closest parallels are Weezer or Best Coast at their most retro-rock classicist, except when Deezy Violet kicks into high gear she brings a guttural fire that’s more like Kurt Cobain or Charly Bliss’ Eva Hendricks. Violet intones with increasing intensity a tune so catchy you can practically see a little dot bopping along to the lyrics on a screen, culminating in this fine couplet: “I don’t wanna think about anything all too hard/ I just wanna go and lay in my baby’s arms.” - Stereogum
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Sad Baxter’s EP, So Happy, is a collection of sonic contradictions. The duo of Deezy Violet (guitar/vocals) and Alex Mojaverian (drums/vocals) thrive in the space where seemingly at-odds elements converge—sludgy fuzzed-out guitars blended with pop structures, gritty vocals that propel sugary melodies, and some of the most buoyant rock songs this side of the ‘90s containing some truly heartrending words. If confrontation breeds catharsis, Sad Baxter are soon to be listeners’ new favorite form of release.
The band’s origins have an unassuming Cameron Crow-esque charm: Deezy and Alex met in college while living down the hall from one another. They’d go on to date, start a band, break up, eventually end up in the same town, and, after some initial nerves, continue the band with the kind of bond that only two truly close friends share. After settling in Nashville, Tennessee, the two continued to hone their songs with their first release, Weirdy, in 2016.
Now with So Happy, Sad Baxter don’t just achieve a perfect amalgam of noise and pop that’s reminiscent of the ‘90s, they also refine it. The EP was recorded over three days with engineer Steven Page on an eight-track reel-to-reel setup, giving it a raw and lean sound. The resulting spontaneity elevates each song into distorted euphoria while bolstering Deezy’s voice, which packs the rare ability to be effortlessly tuneful and gravelly at the same time.
The lyrics on So Happy take a purposefully more confrontational approach. Whereas Weirdy revolved around secretive thoughts and feelings, So Happy finds Deezy more directly addressing the positive and negative figures in her life, as well as herself. Songs like “Baby” and “Sick-Outt” document the collapse of a toxic relationship and grapple with the desperation of needing to split from that corrosive and controlling presence, while “Love Yew” is an open-hearted appreciation for newfound honesty and happiness with someone else. As its sardonic title implies, So Happy also maintains a touch of wit even in its darkest moments, a trait that’s as much part of the band’s identity as the emotional core of their songs. Sad Baxter have tapped into the often overlooked soul that made their ‘90s forebears so powerful, and in doing so they’ve created something that pays tribute while transcending nostalgia.
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