NIPP: Bambi Lee Savage

Bambi Lee Savage

Artist Website	Bio
Bambi Lee Savage began her musical expedition in Denver, where she played guitar with the short-lived Pagan Cowboys, a country punk band heavily influenced by The Birthday Party and Johnny Cash. She moved to London and released one EP with the Velvet Underground-influenced HorseLand, but knew it was time for a change, both geographically and musically. An Einstuerzende Neubauten concert at the Kilburn National Ballroom provided her with the direction she was looking for, and Berlin was her next stop. “I was so inspired by Neubauten, I had to see what else was going on in Berlin. I had studied audio engineering a bit and done some studio work in London—mostly making coffee, really—so I brazenly sent a letter of interest to the famous Hansa Studios in Berlin. Much to my amazement and delight, they hired me as an assistant engineer. That was the beginning of an extremely exciting and productive time.” The Hansa days ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall, when the famous Studio 2 was closed. She did freelance audio work and focused on songwriting and playing clubs. It was at this time that the first recordings for Matter of Time took place. The following years her songwriting began to develop in an unexpected direction. “I had always had a sort of punk/rock style, but being so far from America had the effect of really bringing out the country in me; my songwriting definitely began to acquire a new dimension.” In 1995 she was featured in the German documentary “Lost In Music: Out Of Country”. Accompanied by Alex Hacke (Einstuerzende Neubauten, Jever Mountain Boys) on guitar and Moritz Wolpert (Jever Mountain Boys) on snare, she performed two original songs, I Can’t Count On My Man and Demon Alcohol. That same year she returned to America to pursue her music career in Austin, Texas. “I was in Denver on my way to Austin when I saw Daniel Lanois again—I hadn’t seen him since his European tour, when I was backline roadie—he let me use his studio while he was away on tour to record more demos. I had a lot of songs and wasn’t sure which ones to record, especially given the limitation of not having a band, but I knew that Darlin’ had to be one of them.” She played at Austin’s South by Southwest in 1997, the same year that Sling Blade won an Academy Award. Later that year, she prepared to move to New York as negotiations for a deal with Island Records neared finalization. “I was so sure that things were going to work out with Island that I didn’t bother talking to any other labels. In the end, things didn’t work out at all, and I went back to Berlin to recover from the disappointment.” In Berlin, she played mostly solo gigs, as well as one accompanied by lap steel guitarist Zzup Comanche. She also recorded a version of I Can’t Count On My Man with producer Jan Lankwitz, which did not make it on to the Matter of Time CD. “It’s a great recording, but it just didn’t fit in with the other songs. It’s part of a whole different CD—one that I hope to record some day soon.” A year later she was back in America. “I lived in New York for almost two years, and I did a lot of writing, but I knew I wasn’t cut out for New York. I had always enjoyed visiting, but living there was an entirely different matter! I didn’t know what to do or where to go next. At that point, Denver seemed like the obvious choice.”

Bio

Bambi Lee Savage began her musical expedition in Denver, where she played guitar with the short-lived Pagan Cowboys, a country punk band heavily influenced by The Birthday Party and Johnny Cash. She moved to London and released one EP with the Velvet Underground-influenced HorseLand, but knew it was time for a change, both geographically and musically. An Einstuerzende Neubauten concert at the Kilburn National Ballroom provided her with the direction she was looking for, and Berlin was her next stop. “I was so inspired by Neubauten, I had to see what else was going on in Berlin. I had studied audio engineering a bit and done some studio work in London—mostly making coffee, really—so I brazenly sent a letter of interest to the famous Hansa Studios in Berlin. Much to my amazement and delight, they hired me as an assistant engineer. That was the beginning of an extremely exciting and productive time.”

The Hansa days ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall, when the famous Studio 2 was closed. She did freelance audio work and focused on songwriting and playing clubs. It was at this time that the first recordings for Matter of Time took place. The following years her songwriting began to develop in an unexpected direction. “I had always had a sort of punk/rock style, but being so far from America had the effect of really bringing out the country in me; my songwriting definitely began to acquire a new dimension.” In 1995 she was featured in the German documentary “Lost In Music: Out Of Country”. Accompanied by Alex Hacke (Einstuerzende Neubauten, Jever Mountain Boys) on guitar and Moritz Wolpert (Jever Mountain Boys) on snare, she performed two original songs, I Can’t Count On My Man and Demon Alcohol.

That same year she returned to America to pursue her music career in Austin, Texas. “I was in Denver on my way to Austin when I saw Daniel Lanois again—I hadn’t seen him since his European tour, when I was backline roadie—he let me use his studio while he was away on tour to record more demos. I had a lot of songs and wasn’t sure which ones to record, especially given the limitation of not having a band, but I knew that Darlin’ had to be one of them.” She played at Austin’s South by Southwest in 1997, the same year that Sling Blade won an Academy Award.

Later that year, she prepared to move to New York as negotiations for a deal with Island Records neared finalization. “I was so sure that things were going to work out with Island that I didn’t bother talking to any other labels. In the end, things didn’t work out at all, and I went back to Berlin to recover from the disappointment.” In Berlin, she played mostly solo gigs, as well as one accompanied by lap steel guitarist Zzup Comanche. She also recorded a version of I Can’t Count On My Man with producer Jan Lankwitz, which did not make it on to the Matter of Time CD. “It’s a great recording, but it just didn’t fit in with the other songs. It’s part of a whole different CD—one that I hope to record some day soon.”

A year later she was back in America. “I lived in New York for almost two years, and I did a lot of writing, but I knew I wasn’t cut out for New York. I had always enjoyed visiting, but living there was an entirely different matter! I didn’t know what to do or where to go next. At that point, Denver seemed like the obvious choice.”