Bee and Flower

Bee and Flower at Candy Bomber Studio in Berlin during the recording of Suspension (From top: Lynn Wright; Dana Schechter and Ingo Krauss; Roderick Miller)

Day 1 of Bee and Flower’s ‘Blog Takeover Week’ at The Vinyl District: Dana writes about misinterpreting album covers as a kid, ‘playing with the zipper on Sticky Fingers,’ and much more (Click image to read)

Bee and Flower in Berlin, promo shot for Suspension (Click image to hear songs)

Martin Wenk (Calexico) and Danny Tunick (Barbez) during the recording of Bee and Flower’s forthcoming album Suspension (Click image for more info)

Bee and Flower 7-inch giveaway contest starts this Wednesday at The Vinyl District!

Dana at Martin Bisi’s studio in Brooklyn during the recording of Suspension

‘Bee and Flower is an intense New York quintet that plays darkly beautiful songs. Tasteful exotic touches such as the lap steel, viola, and xylophone push the band further into rich harmonic territory and away from conventional rock aesthetics.’ – Dan Kaufman, The New Yorker

Bee and Flower’s second album, Last Sight of Land (Click image for more info)

Bee and Flower show preview from Time Out London:

When Dana Schechter was 12, she and her sister would go to heavy metal shows. Two small girls getting crushed down the front with the headbangers, they were, she emphasizes, ‘Music fans, never groupies.’ In 1982, they met the fledgling Metallica, and Schechter struck up a strong friendship with bassist Cliff Burton.

‘He encouraged me to take up the bass and told me he’d give me lessons…We watched them skyrocket, and then Cliff was killed in that tourbus accident. I was deeply affected by the loss. I decided I had to keep my promise to him.’

Now Schechter is not only a bassist but singer, songwriter and composer with her own band, Bee And Flower, who play their first UK date on Saturday and have just been confirmed to support American Music Club in 2008.

Asked whether her heavy metal schooling can still be glimpsed through the cinematic murk of her current outfit (bolstered on record by grand pianos, brass, choirs and a 25-piece string section), Schechter concedes that, ‘We’re definitely not a muscular band; we do not do power chords. But we do have moments of aggression and chaos, and we’re very dynamic live.’

On second album, ‘Last Sight Of Land’, which features Bad Seeds drummer Thomas Wydler and Swans guitarist Kristof Hahn, Schechter’s velvet voice maintains its languid composure as planets fall and demons dance. A remarkably European-sounding record, it was recorded in Berlin, where the band sought refuge after 9/11.

‘The title track is about waking up one morning and going down to the water, sailing out onto the ocean and never coming back,’ says Schechter. ‘There’s a great loss in our music, because as humans our lives are always changing. But that isn’t always a bad thing; I don’t want to stay the same forever. My greatest hope is in the unknown.’ - Bella Todd