community
The Bird
and
the Bee
Fly in For San Diego PriDe
by bill biss
With two successful albums under their belt, Inara George and Greg Kurstin represents us, and what we do together. We have a lot of fun and we love exploring
have created their own special niche in the world of popular music. Their sounds different kinds of music, of all different kinds of eras for inspiration. We seem to do
are inviting, lush and present a strong essence of 1960s bossa nova and lounge all right in the TV and film placements. For some reason our music seems to be very
music but with a twist of modern angst to the lyrics. Inara (bird) and Greg (bee) license-able... which is a great thing for us.”
soar musically above the clouds yet keep the words down-to-earth with their One aspect of music that has been critiqued with positive results is their use of
emotional pull. The duo will be performing on Sunday, July 19 at 5:00 p.m. as a a style from the Tropicalia era. Greg describes this time period in popular music,
headliner for this year’s San Diego Pride. “Tropicalia was a musical movement in Brazil in the 1960s, very similar to what
Here are some excerpts from a recent interview that The Rage Monthly pre- was happening in the U.S. at the time... So it sort of has the similar sound of bossa
sented in March to give you a refresher course on learning a bit more about The nova, but it was kind of a reaction against that, with more psychedelic influences.”
Bird and the Bee. The release of Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future shows The Bird and Mix this with the superior sweetness of Inara George’s vocals and you have a
the Bee expanding into a more futuristic musical genre than their debut. Greg batch of honey-flavored sounds that evoke the styling of Marilyn Monroe or Doris
Kurstin explains the motivation this time around, “I think we wanted to push the Day in their intensity. One in particular is “Diamond Dave.” Inara supplies the initial
envelope a little more. After playing live after our first record, we kind of got a hit impetus to write the song, “That’s great. I had seen Van Halen with David Lee Roth
off the crowd of what songs made them want to dance, or songs that they really right before we wrote that song.
responded to. So we thought a little more about that aspect. Inara George adds, I was so impressed. I had always loved the David Lee Roth Van Halen version of
“And I think the sci-fi thing just sort of happened after the record was finished... Van Halen. I hadn’t really paid attention to them since he had left. I’d never been a
We had written the song “Ray Gun” and it seemed like a cool way to present the die-hard fan. But I’d always just loved their videos and the way that they presented
album.” themselves. For that sort of music, they really had great songs. I was blown away
There are many cool touches to all of their work so far. The sleeper hit off their by the show, especially by Dave. He’s just so over-the-top. It just seemed it would
first album called “F@#kin’ Boyfriend” was a huge success for the duo. Without us- fit with the music they were playing with the top hat and the confetti coming
ing the standard expression of “retro lounge”… their music is modern yet timeless down at the end of the show. I just felt like he deserved a song (laughter). Still
in a regard. The Bird and the Bee’s music often appear in television (Grey’s Anatomy haven’t heard the music of The Bird and the Bee? Are you ready to be cast under
and film (Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Sex and the City: The Movie). How would their musical spell? Head to
myspace.com/thebirdandthebee. Then, make sure
Inara describe their sound? “That is always a tough question. I think the music and be there for this special San Diego Pride Stage performance on July 19.
8 RAGE monthly | July 2009
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