becki digregorio & the liquid scene

Artist Information

Biography

Bay Area native Becki diGregorio played bass in several respected rock trios before embarking on a solo career to focus on her original material. Her first album "seven worthies... of the bamboo grove" features a collection of original songs and a cover of the sixties psychedelic hit "Open My Eyes" by The Nazz. The album became popular in Europe and was picked up for distribution by Jarmusic in Germany. "seven worthies..." garnered excellent reviews from as diverse places as Italy, Brazil, England and Japan.

Becki was also fortunate to have the guitarist from one of her favourite bands add his talents on the album. Dave Gregory of Britain's XTC plays guitar and keyboards on four of the tunes, including "inside the dream" (in the "audio" section on this site) where his mastery of both acoustic and electric guitar drives the song from ethereal beginning to climactic end.

Her second CD, "god's empty chair" (a quote from a Jack Kerouac novel), is edgier and more cohesive. It has sold briskly both in the states and abroad, with several songs in rotation on internet radio websites around the world. She once again offers a cover tune, but this one had never before been released. "Susan Revolving" was a 30-second sketch written by XTC's Andy Partridge which Becki had managed to hear from a "secret source." She fell in love with the song and its psychedelic possibilities. Andy was keen enough to finish writing the song for her to record, asking only that she "listen to Pink Floyd's first album over and over before going into the studio." The song is also included on this site.

Becki likes to refer to her CD's as "five-inch pieces of plastic of what I hear in my head." With her love of sixties-era swirly psychedelia ever growing, she is currently putting "the liquid scene" together. The band will soon begin recording their debut album of original psychedelic material, thus enabling her to finally get the tunes out of her head and onto plastic (or vinyl) to make room for other things...

The musicians featured on her albums include John Wedemeyer on guitar, Randy Hayes on drums, and Endre Tarczy on bass and keyboards. Collectively known as "W.H.a.T.," the band also has a strong following in addition to their own individual touring and side projects. Special guests include Dave Gregory of Britain's XTC, Lyle Workman (Jellyfish, Frank Black, Beck, Sting) on guitar and keyboards (and the occasional sitar), and Don Lax (Camper Van Beethoven) on violin.

Instrumentation

Glenn MacPherson - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Endre Tarczy - bass & acoustic guitar
John Wedemeyer - Guitar
Randy Hayes - Drums

Discography

"seven worthies... of the bamboo grove" - full length cd
"god's empty chair" - full-length cd
"ascension" - 4-song German ep on the Jarmusic Label
"Coast To Coast" - German import released on the Jarmusic Label featuring The Cowboy Junkies and Ani DiFranco
"Confessions of Young Moderns - The Bill Nelson Tribute"
"Meet Me On The Other Side" released by Silver Moon Music

Official Website

http://www.myspace.com/beckidigregorio

Links

• MySpace
• Facebook

Audio

• desperate to fall
  Listen  
• inside the dream
  Listen  
• supplication
  Listen  
• find your own way
  Listen  
• cats in the aviary
  Listen  

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• Homebrew [+ Show ]
  

  "Becki diGregorio's 'seven worthies of the bamboo grove' intermeshes guitars and keyboards - some pr..."Becki diGregorio's 'seven worthies of the bamboo grove' intermeshes guitars and keyboards - some provided by XTC's Dave Gregory - to create a thrilling haze of retroscented sounds through which her Grace Slickisms plunge and soar."
  
  ~ Joe Cushley

• The Continuing Beatification of Becki diGregorio [+ Show ]
  

  Becki diGregorio has graced us with a new album, "God's Empty Chair." Grace. That's right. Gr...Becki diGregorio has graced us with a new album, "God's Empty Chair."
  
  Grace. That's right.
  
  Grace as in beauty, as in right, as in mercy.
  
  Grace as in a short prayer before eating.
  
  Grace as in Slick, which really brings us to the point: this young lady can sing the hind leg off any well constructed quadruped you might care to name, as one listen to "Supplication" will show. Tenderness and warmth suffuse her delivery through the whole song -- should Fate grant me a healing chantress on my deathbed, let it be this one.
  
  The clearest advancement that Becki has made since her last offering, "Seven Worthies of the Bamboo Grove," is that she has explored and mastered the art of evocation through melody and arrangement. She uses her already established penchant for delicate modal melodic ornaments to adorn her arrangement of "Cats In The Aviary," giving the song a literal setting, an actual place in your mental landscape. Likewise with "Love Can," which is at once a tough rocker and (that modal tendency again!) calls to mind a timeless sea-chanty.
  
  Other jewels include Becki's swirly-twirly interpretation of Andy Partridges's "Susan Revolving," a wonderful song in its own right, reminiscent of Status Quo's "Images of Matchstick Men." Becki gives it a heavy freak-rock reading, all hurdy-gurdy psychedelia, a lost Carnaby Street 'artyfact' from circa '67. "God's Empty Chair" is this record's "Chrome-Plated Megaphone of Destiny," a soundscape during which one is enjoined against driving or operating heavy machinery.
  
  Becki has surrounded herself with utterly impeccable musicians, from longtime collaborators John Wedemeyer and Randy Hayes (guitars and drums, respectively) to Endre Tarczy, whose keyboard work adds a complexity "Seven Worthies" lacked. Also in the mix are Lyle Workman, formerly of Bourgeois Tagg, Jellyfish, Frank Black and The Catholics, who contributes guitar and keys work, and Dave Gregory, formerly of XTC, whose elegantly mathematical guitar ennobles "Supplication" and "One Robe One Bowl."
  
  Of this last song, it should be said that it further evidences Becki's interest in Eastern religions (she thanked the Comparative Religion Department of San Jose State in the liner notes of "Seven Worthies"). Becki's search for truth is never far from the surface of her intensely personal songwriting. The CD cover offers an epigraph from the Zen poet Ryokan: "If you want to find the meaning, stop chasing after so many things." In a very real way, the songs on "God's Empty Chair" each explore and inform this no-mind principle: From the protective mother of "Supplication" to te opiated dreamer of "Laudanum" to Susan herself, revolving there, a new world forming inside her head, all the characters introduced by these songs inhabit a universe in which all striving is folly and solace is to be found in quietness, sanity and love.
  
  Grace indeed, Becki.
  
  (Harrison Sherwood wrote the liner notes to XTC's box set "Coat Of Many Cupboards.")

• Prog & Play [+ Show ]
  

  "The record, we can say, is a progression of the soul. It is efficient, and the compositions are in..."The record, we can say, is a progression of the soul. It is efficient, and the compositions are inspired by arrangements that prove to be well done. The instrumentation contains 12-string guitar, violin, bass and keyboards. The record has a special appearance by the violinist Don Lax (Camper Van Beethoven) and the great Dave Gregory from XTC on keyboards and guitar. The musicians could pass for folk, rock, or pop with short beautiful solos and a true voice from the singer. Becki has received awards from Billboard and the important Association of Composers of California. It is worth your money to listen to 'Godbox,' 'Open My Eyes' and 'The Days of Our Ascent.' Great production!
  
  ~ Jorge Albuquerque, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

• God's Empty Chair - Album Review [+ Show ]
  

  "This singer/songwriter from San Francisco prefers the calmer side of a style close to folk, acting ..."This singer/songwriter from San Francisco prefers the calmer side of a style close to folk, acting with an assurance that constantly reflects on her music. And as she also wrote some really good songs and realized them individually with some fellow musicians - including among others ex-XTC guitarist Dave Gregory - this is a sample of her talent and presents this lady in the first row of a rising generation of her genre. You'll hear more of her."

Setlist

A 45-minute set of acoustic originals and perhaps a cover of an obscure sixties tune might include:

1. cats in the aviary
2. on the edges now
3. desperate to fall
4. supplication
5. one robe one bowl
6. 4 & 20
7. lost shepherd
8. along the water's edge

A 45-minute set of psyched-out tunes with "the liquid scene" might be:

1. letterbox
2. which side of time are you on?
3. the purple lake
4. leave me here
5. the mystery machine
6. susan revolving
7. in my water room
8. the other side of the sun
9. i can see tomorrow from here

Sets are mostly originals with an occasional "obscure and intriguing" cover from such artists as CSN, Syd Barrett, Jefferson Airplane and The Cream.

Basic Requirements

Calendar