Today we’d like to introduce you to Renée Coolbrith.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
Well, I am a 29-year-old woman, (her, she). I am native to Portland Maine. French, Welsh, and Native American. (Passamaquoddy). Grew up the youngest of eight. Father was a pro boxer and mother was a sweetheart from Long Island, ME. You could describe my family as dark, hilarious, eccentric, separate, and uh intense. Haha. We didn’t grow up with many parties or holidays, but there was always a shared love for entertainment and music in every family member. Some of my favorite oldies tunes are correlated with my mother smiling and singing to me in the kitchen. If you can get two or more of us freaks in a room together, it’d only be moments til we started speaking in characters, quotes, and song. Being exposed to so many animated siblings and their favorite artists in my youth, definitely helped shape me into the music nerd I am today. At around ten, I had become quite a fan of John Frusciante’s guitar style in his solo material after my brother Nick gave me “Niandre Lades and usually just a t-shirt” and shortly after, had bought my first fender strat (Lucy) with my babysitting money, and started to play my own guitar solos backwards on a four track recorder too.
After getting some pointers from my brothers, I started to teach myself how to play. This was also the same year that I was diagnosed with clinical depression and had active suicidal ideation already. Not surprisingly, my teen years were riddled with mismanaged coping. By 15, I was battling addiction and illness. Very sick and isolated, I found music to be extremely comforting and as dynamic as my experiences were. I still find it to be the healthiest and most consistent coping tool I have. I was a highly creative kid that seemed to know everybody, but I wouldn’t describe myself as popular, or have the ability to identify myself by any particular group or crowd by any means. I think a large part of that was already feeling alienated or misunderstood all the time by my surroundings. I don’t think much of that has changed, but my stage fright has.
When I was 23, I had experienced another untimely death of a beautiful friend named Alisha. I started to be braver with music and performance almost immediately following her death. She had terrible stage fright and something about the world being robbed of ever hearing her voice again, broke my heart in a way that made the fear of performing seem insignificant and silly. It turned out, that the braver I was, the more of a response I got. I started to get hired for shows I never thought I’d be a part of, and for the last six years or so, I have had the privilege to play for thousands of people, work on records I really love, and be in the company of some seriously talented and inspiring folks. I often speak my passions and truth where I get to be heard, and not everybody in the world can say that. Connecting is one of my favorite parts about music. Feeling a sense of belonging is something I believe can be hard for us creative’s. I know it has been for me. Music is the closest thing I’ve felt to truly belonging to anything. I look forward to creating and writing more music, smashing stigmas. Connecting people by the heart is my real life’s work. Let’s start some fires.
Please tell us about your art.
I’d say my art is vulnerable, honest, and moody. Big feelings with dramatic contrasts are things you’ll find in almost everything I write. Although I’ve been described as genre defying, I’d that “Soulful rock vocalist” seems to be the most fitting? I dunno, I hate that game. I play guitar but am mostly active as a live and studio performer singer/songwriter. I perform and organize tribute shows to artists that have influenced us all. I often create events for the fierce femmes in this industry that I feel are fearless and inspiring. Renée Coolbrith as a solo artist, usually performs as a feature or I perform my solo material live with different line ups or a different take on the instrumentation.This is soon to change and Im stoked about it. (A Killer Named Sugar). I get to be one of the leaders in a 6 pc indie rock band called “prettySad” (two lead vocals, sax/ewi, guitars, bass, and harp) we are working on recording our singles right now. PrettySad holds a lot of melancholy, searches for healthy intimacy, and real stories of attempted romances are seasoned throughout our sets. Started with my good friend and musical wizard, Dustin Saucier (Cape Cannons). We are known for our harmonies and overall dreamy sound. Having a harp on stage basically keeps you in angel mode, even if me n Dustin break into some 90’s nostalgia alt rock for 20 seconds between songs.
In my musical creations with rapper Sarah Violette, I am mostly an additional writer and vocalist. Our live performances are where we shine the most I think. Having a loved one on stage, shows others what undeniable love and a humorous good time looks like. Even if some of our songs have heavy lyrical content, there’s always dancing and real stage banter. Sarah’s incredible brilliance and caring heart show in her many talents. She can be found under Sarah Violette on most musical platforms.
I recently joined forces with the guys in Johnny Cremains that are a tight rock band based out of Portland. They are fantastic players and whenever I am asked what we sound like, I say : “It’s like running from a psycho killer in the 1800’s on a burning carousel and collapsing to cry every now and then.” Listen to em and tell me I am wrong. We are super excited for the new material we are tracking at Acadia studios right now. You can find Johnny Cremains on most musical platforms.
Music with my new project DEARING is definitely been exciting for me and I can’t wait to release more. We have a single out right now called “WASTED WASTED” it’s currently only available on band camp and through our music video on youtube. It’s so new. Whether the song was production first or the reworking of a tune of my own, it’s all been coming together and has been really enjoyable and therapeutic. I’m doing the types of songs that wouldn’t be possible with my other projects. I’d say we’ve been most described as a dark electronic pop duo with vintage class. Started with beat maker and partner in crime, Michael Koharian. (“Armies”) Our slogan in DEARING is ” Love songs for your enemies.” We make an alright team.
Goodness. Music has been a significant comfort to me since I can remember, and for many reasons. An early significant one is from when I was very small. Sometimes my older sister would find me very upset and by myself. She would take me her closet sized bedroom, put lipstick on me, yank curlers in my hair, and have me sing along to a tape that she would be playing loudly. Again, I’d say it’s the most consistent and healthy coping mechanism I have to this day. Music is undoubtedly my favorite thing in the world anyway. I hope to share comfort and connect others, but I also want to inspire people to create something beautiful from their power and from this collective suffering we experience so often as humans. I know I want to be gifted by the authentic voices in others, and in return, hoping I can give my own. I also just sometimes want to play some tasty fun tunes n make a crowd move around the floor.
What do you think is the biggest challenge facing artists today?
Exposure, money (need for and lack of it), addiction, untreated mental illnesses, quality content, soul and so on. In a time where it feels like everybody is the host of their own reality tv show, it can be hard to find anything truly genuine.. and it’s just very bizarre to me honestly. The celebrity and rockstar dream is basically in everybody’s hand or pocket right now. The impact of social media is huge and it’s pretty daunting to me to even consider being that type of musician in the first place. It’s sometimes hard to communicate a vision, or truly share one with others when they have a different idea of what success is. I find this especially hard when they are ego driven or delusional with narcissism. The internet is definitely one of the best and worst things to happen to artists and the general human race.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
Spotify, Facebook, Bandcamp, YouTube. For live performances, it’s usually at venues (mostly) throughout NE. I’ve become slow to warm up to technology, but have become quite the spammer about my shows with my social media presence. As far as how to support me… I’d say, taking the time to watch and/or listen to anything I helped create, giving genuine feedback, follow me, funds, high fives.
Contact Info:
- Email: reneemcoolbrith@gmail.
com - Instagram: Reneecoolbrith
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/
ReneeCoolbrithmusic - Twitter: Rc_spooky @dearingcity @johnnycremains @sarahviolette @prettysadband
Image Credit:
Lauryn Hottinger, Andrew Foster, Sarah Violette, Anthony Marshall, Fillip (tall story pictures), Dylan Verner
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