In
less than 4 years, Angeline has become one of the busiest
bass players in the San Francisco Bay Area. One glance
at her calendar and you'll see at least some of the reasons
why. Her stylistic range has earned her gigs with rock,
jazz, metal, flamenco, hip hop, R&B, Cuban, funk and
rockabilly groups. How did she get so versatile?
"I
never said no to a gig," laughs Angeline.
In
record time, Angeline rocked out at most of the top
venues in the Bay, including the Fillmore, Great American
Music Hall, Slims and even the annual SF Grammy's stage.
Most recently, her reputation has merited strong interest
among Third Eye Blind's Stephan Jenkins as well as rock
power trio, Into the Presence, featuring Tim Alexander
(Primus) and guitar virtuoso Luis Maldonado (Glenn Hughes,
Pat Monahan).
Despite
her success, Angeline wasn't always on the musical path.
Passionate about women's rights and fair treatment in
the workplace, she was a pre-law major at UCBerkeley.
"The
funny thing is that I never lost the passion around
women's issues, I'm just working from the inside out
now."
The
idea of leaving behind a career in law came about the
summer before her senior year at Cal. "It was literally
an epiphany" she explains. "The sun broke
through the clouds, shined in on me and I thought 'I'm
not supposed to be a lawyer. I'm supposed to play music.'
After that moment, there was no ignoring it, even if
I wanted to."
Well
almost…. She did attempt to ignore it and spent
the next 3 years working a variety of jobs in SF and
LA trying to figure out what to do with her life- the
whole time collecting, and secretly stashing away music-school
pamphlets. It wasn't until she attended an Open House
at LA's Musician's Institute that she realized she had
to leave her fears behind and move forward with her
dream to be a professional bass player.
"Music
chooses you. I walked out of that Open House knowing
that if I could do anything all day long, it would be
to play bass 12 hours a day."
After
that, there was no going back. Angeline packed up her
bags and moved home to save money for the pricey tuition
fee. Fate intervened and she soon met bassist Uriah
Duffy (Whitesnake, Lyrics Born). He took Angeline under
his wing and showed her the ways of a professional gigging
musician, while also getting her bass chops up to speed
through frequent private lessons. While Uriah went on
tour, Angeline took over many of his local gigs, including,
the very technical flamenco/speed-metal band, Flametal.
Within
a short time, she amassed a lengthy list of bands with
whom she either performed or recorded; Angeline became
the working musician she always wished to be.
"I'm
incredibly thankful for my career and the community
of musician's I have, but I definitely miss not having
gone back for music school. I love the idea of dedicating
hours in a day to just learning a Pino or a Jaco line.
I can still do that now, but it's harder to find the
time when you've got 3 or 4 gigs of original music coming
up."
What
lies ahead for this young woman?
"I'm
ready to disappear on a major tour for the next 5 or
so years. The world is calling…."
In
the meantime, Angeline will continue working as a hired
gun for studio session work as well as for live shows.
She can also be found teaching at Bananas At Large in
San Rafael and at the annual summer program for the
National Guitar Workshop.
Angeline
relies on David to provide her the Ultimate Rig no matter
what she's playing. "The thing I love," she
says, "is that I never have to fight my rig. David
builds them just the way I want them!"
Related
Page: Benefit
for Angeline
