Story by Ailin Darling
Photo by Nick Cote

By the time local Eugene band Sea Bell finishes setting up for a show, clarinets and trombones have been tuned; banjos, guitars, ukuleles, and an enormous drum of marching-band caliber rest against the walls. The band, a troupe of bearded men and wild-haired women, faces painted, squeeze on stage decked out in feathers and buck-skin fringe. One or two jingle tambourines, and with a dull clang, a young man in brown cut-off shorts adds two pots to his collection of percussion tools. As they take their positions behind the bizarre assortment of instruments, the audience knows they’re in for something big — and, quite possibly, a little strange.

VIDEO: 2010 Bandest of the Bands

Two beats after Leslie Robert begins to sing, the music starts up. The rhythm is funky with a hint of folk. The vocalists erupt into a harmony-rich, slightly haunting chorus filled with soulful “ohs” and “whoas.” The audience has gotten its first glimpse of Sea Bell’s eclectic enchantment, and I think they like it.

“We like to call that ‘sad circus,’” Leslie tells me when I ask about their melancholy sound. The band admittedly has a fondness for writing songs in minor keys. “Sometimes I feel like I’m doing it wrong if it’s not in minor,” adds drummer, banjo, and guitar player Madi Becker. Her comment is met with laughter. Offstage, the groups jokes and teases each other like family. Long before Sea Bell rocked its first show, University of Oregon students Madi and Leslie began making music together in their dorm rooms. “[We] started writing these songs, and we didn’t want to take ourselves too seriously” Madi says. “So the first songs were about Sam and Frodo [from Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings] ordering Chinese food.”

VIDEO: Sea Bell

When singer and guitarist Devin Brown learned of their musical exploits, he decided to join in. Their recreational jam sessions slowly evolved into a full-blown musical act as Madi, Leslie, and Devin invited several talented friends from their hometown of Canby to play along. “Eventually, we started growing more and more,” Devin recalls. The three founding members gradually added singer Emily Jacob, singer and pianist Aubrey Ament, trombonist Daniel McIntire, bassist Stephen Moore, and electric guitarist and clarinet player Tyler Hart, in search of a “full sound.” Finally, the band found guitarist Kyle Martin by posting an ad on Craigslist, “which is kind of sketchy” interjects Devin, “but it turned out to be the greatest thing ever. Now he’s a good friend of ours.”

With so many members (they have even more friends who appear as guests every once in a while), the band is a crowd. “Fitting on stages has been hard,” Madi says. “We played a show once where we had the horns sit on a wall above everybody else. It’s always a question when we go somewhere new: ‘Alright, are we all going to fit?’”

And it was a tight fit for the group on stage at Ethos’ recent Bandest of the Bands event (sponsored by Ninkasi Brewing and the University of Oregon Cultural Forum); only half of them could be seen from the audience at once. However, rather than hindering their presence, musicians who appeared as if from nowhere along with the sound of unexpected instruments seemed to raise their “awe” factor. The atmosphere cast by the vocal twang, roaring trombone, and steady, thumping drumbeat of Sea Bell’s music, challenged the typical experience of rock and roll. The crowd was rowdy, sure, but in place of a chaotic mosh pit, a ring of people with interlocked arms danced around Kyle, who, by the end of the show, had leapt from the stage and tossed his feathered headdress to a member of the crowd. His enormous drum was held high in the air by an ecstatic fan as he beat it with brutal force. At the end of the competition, the crowd’s ecstatic cheers secured Sea Bell’s victory, which was ultimately based on a combination of crowd response and judges scores. The group has once or twice been larger than its audience, but the band has tweaked its composing method to make sure their sound is never muddled or over the top. “Our initial viewpoint on it was [to have] anybody play whatever [they] wanted to play all at the same time” Devin says. “We’ve been working more and more on trying to minimize it, but also have everyone still play something.” On some numbers, members lay aside their heavier instruments to pick up a ukulele, melodia, or tambourine. The band has also been experimenting with a range of percussion instruments. “Percussion is something you can add that doesn’t sound as layered,” Leslie says. “[It] just adds a little bit of friskiness.” Daniel’s upturned pots, for example, also add to the band’s rollicking theatrics.

However, when the band chose its name, inspiration came not from Western American lore, but from The Complete Guide to Middle Earth, an encyclopedia of JRR Tolkien’s fictional realm. The Sea Bell is a poem written by Tolkien through the eyes of his hobbit protagonist Frodo Baggins. “And then we just made it our name. We said ‘that’s going to be us.’”

The Tolkien references do not end there. “Every song we have has an alternate Lord of the Rings name,” Madi says. “Our first song was called ‘Sam and Frodo’s Night Out.’” The second was “Mordor is a Bitch.” Even the western-themed “Rainy Boys” is also called “Burned down the Shire.” “That would definitely be our influence,” Leslie says, pointing to herself and Madi, who began the infatuation of with Lord of the Rings-themed songs. Devin wryly shakes his head. “[I] did not like it.” Instead of hobbits, Devin uses elements of his favorite western miniseries, Lonesome Dove, to create songs of a genre the band calls “epic rock western.”

Since “getting serious” last summer, Sea Bell has cleaned up their MySpace page, recorded three songs in Madi’s barn, played any gig they can get, and made tons of costumes. These days, they are recognized by local fans and their performance videos on YouTube are constantly flooded with comments. In terms of the future, the members, although numerous, all seem to share a common goal. “Play as much music together as possible,” Devin says. Sea Bell’s objective is the same as it was back in those dorm room days. And at its core is the celebration of each other’s camaraderie and talent. “It just feels really healthy,” Madi says. “It’s a great incentive to keep writing and learning and playing and being friends.”

Learn more here about the controversy surrounding Sea Bell’s Bandest of the Bands wardrobe. Plus don’t miss our profile on second place winner, local band On the Tundra.