3 INFLUENCES School of Seven Bells

You may not have heard of Brooklyn’s hazy, shoe-gazey trio School of Seven Bells yet, but they’re blowing up in England. In fact, they’re so popular that the Manchester locals have been showing their appreciation of lead singer Alejandra Deheza in their own unique way.

“At one point, I got a vodka bottle thrown at me, and at another point, a cup of beer,” Deheza explains. “The lead singer from the White Lies says they do it when they like you, but I’m not sure how I feel about that.”

Whether loved or reviled, Seven Bells are poised to take hold of the U.S. one show at a time. We took the opportunity to ask Deheza about the biggest influences on her songwriting.
 
[1] 3rd-grade class
The teacher gave us an assignment to write a poem. For me, it was the first time that I got to take full control of something and fully express a thought and be allowed to do so. I feel like that one assignment totally opened the world for me in a really weird way.

[2] 5th-grade
music class
Throughout the entire class, I never sang out loud. Then one time the teacher takes me to the piano and says, ‘I want you to sing for fifth-grade graduation.’ I was totally terrified. I was on the verge of tears and she said, ‘You know what? Get over it.’ I don’t know why that worked, but it totally did. We rehearsed it every day for a month and then I sang it no problem. That was the first time I ever sang in front of anyone.

School of Seven Bells
Friday, 8 p.m.
Bowery Ballroom
6 Delancey St.
$15, 212-533-2111
www.boweryballroom.com

Callahan emerges from the Smog

 

 

PROFILE. Bill Callahan may be better known as Smog, the name under which he released his first dozen albums. But recording under his own name doesn’t mean we understand him more clearly.

“It’d be nice to have no name at all,”  Callahan muses when asked why he had used the “band” name for so long, even though it’s mostly been just him. “Maybe using a human’s name instead of a band name has made me write from the perspective of a man instead of the perspective of a society, as that’s what a band name implies.”

Callahan’s career has long been dominated by natural metaphors, and his latest album, “Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle,” is no different.

“I like things made of concrete, too. And cars,”  he says. “But those things are not really in my psyche.  I’m made up of elements. I feel that pull of a tree or a lizard.”  

He credits the weather for defining him as a musician: “Sun, wind, rain, snow — those are the things that shape me.”

Although known for his lo-fi sound, reinvention and change are really Callahan’s calling card. “Eagle” utilizes many instrumentalists and depicts a lush and fully realized sound.  

“I like working with different people and seeing them open up,” he says. “Helping someone get to a place and them helping me.”

Bill Callahan
Saturday, 8 p.m.
Le Poisson Rouge
158 Bleecker St.
$15, 212-505-FISH
www.lepoissonrouge.com

Sunday, 9 p.m.
Music Hall Of Williamsburg
66 North Sixth St., Brooklyn
Sold out, 718-486-5400
www.musichallofwilliamsburg.com