Fito Paez’s “Pétalo del Sal” may have inspired folk-rock band Salt Petal’s name, but it is the wonders of the world and the abundance of world music that have inspired the eclectic sound of this 7-man band. Having played the independent music scene since 2004 with a reportoire of Spanish/English/Portuguese tunes that blend folk and rock and everything in between, Salt Petal is making a leap into album production with their debut album, Say-So. Autumn Harrison, frontwoman (that’s right, front WOMAN) to the band talks to us about the inspiration behind Say-So, about representing female musicians in the upcoming “Women that Rock” musical showcase, and about what to do when life gives you lemons.
What’s in a name?
Rodrigo, our guitarist, has a vague memory of salt being sold in small, thin sheets in Argentina. There’s a connection between that memory and Paez’s “Pétalo de Sal” song, and although we haven’t been able find those salt sheets to date, I suppose it’s ok if we never do. To us, salt petal is something that could be somewhere in the streets of Argentina or dried up in a desert or floating out in an ocean somewhere. It’s somewhat ephemeral.
Rodrigo, Eduardo and I were in a couple of bands together and played in many local bars, mostly doing classic and Latin rock covers. But none of the groups lasted much longer than a year so we eventually decided to do something acoustic for a change. Somewhere around that time I received an accordion as a gift, Rodrigo found an acoustic guitar, and Eduardo began using his congas instead of the drum kit. We started by playing a few bossa nova covers and then began creating new songs under the name “Salt Petal”.
We blend Latin and American folk traditions with the rawness and energy of more contemporary styles including indie rock and early rock and roll. Someone called us “frenetic accordion-calypso-jungle rock” once, which we thought sounded like a fun genre! But the thing with genres is that they are always blending and being created, so it’s hard to box us into one specific type of music. We’ve enjoyed working with huapango, cumbia, chamamé, tango, samba, salsa and other Latin styles, and although there are quite a few bands in the States that are beginning to incorporate Americana and folk sounds into contemporary songs, we’re doing something different by adding Latin rhythms and some heavier rock beats as well every once in a while.
Debut album, Say-So
For our debut album we knew we wanted great recordings so that we could distribute our sound instead of trying to describe it with words. After doing research and getting advice from friends in the music business, we decided to finish some of our newer songs and record an entire full-length album. Rodrigo, Eduardo and I finished five songs in a few months and asked some musical friends to contribute on the recordings. We had a very talented sound engineer, Raymond Richards (Red Rockets Glare Studios) who also contributed some parts to a few of the songs, and the amazing Mark Chalecki (Little Red Book Mastering) mastered our final tracks. Raymond and Mark made the process really easy and everything was finished within a few weeks. We were fortunate to have so many great minds working on the album and we are thrilled with the results.
The songs on Say-So are our first attempts at creating a sound that is uniquely ours. The songs that comprise that album resulted from experiments where we would write melodies, words and rhythms we’d been thinking about for a long time. 
Break it down why don’t ya!
Each of the songs on Say-So feels very different from the other and therefore, each one represents an individual part of our sound. It’s fair to say that the strongest trait in all of them is the combination of joy and sorrow.
The idea for “Para Elegir”, for example, started years ago when I observed Rodrigo’s struggling adaptation to a new life in LA. “Para Elegir” has a love song-esque melody to it but its lyrics are somewhat bleak. We felt that “Para Elegir” needed to evoke Argentina while simultaneously blending other sounds, which we incorporated with the use of the guitar, bass, and rhythms. Eduardo did a great job by backing the song with sounds that are upbeat and contrast the melancholic melody using a reggaeton beat and ending it with a double-kick drum.
“Hot Days” was inspired by a song I heard by Mia Doi Todd who is a Los Angeles-based singer that creates beautiful folk-inspired songs. Rodrigo and Eduardo created an amazing salsa son under that melody and completely transformed it into a mysterious yet danceable track. This song is very exciting for us because it started off with sparse instrumentation, but we’ve been playing it with the full band for live shows and it sounds incredible!
“Sunken Eyes” was our first song as a collective band. I was inspired to write this song from observing people around me. The song has a sense of intense frustration that is highlighted by the beat and the accordion.
In “Todo de Ti”, we wanted to have a celebratory vibe so Eduardo created a huapango beat, which he then taught the band to play for its intro. The lyrics are about reconciliation and the melodies and rhythms are lively and upbeat. This song also has a killer guitar solo by Rodrigo, which we hope to feature more in future songs. It’s one of the things that we have planned for upcoming shows.
“Women that Rock” musical showcase
There are some amazing local female performers, so it’s refreshing to be part of an event that highlights the fact that we are around. After performing in various bands over the years, I have noticed fewer women than men onstage and in practice rooms. Additionally, there seem to be more female vocalists than instrumentalists. Salt Petal is lucky to boast a female trumpet player, Dayna Richards, who unfortunately is unable to join us for this event but is truly an amazing instrumentalist!
Although I am the lead singer, I don’t generally consider Salt Petal a female-led band. There’s so much collaboration involved that it’s really the product of all of our members, male and female. However, I have had other women come up to me after shows really excited to see another woman onstage. If I help others identify with something in themselves, it definitely adds extra purpose to our performance.
I’m excited to be part of this event and to meet all of the other talented musicians and, of course, to play our songs!
When life gives you lemons…
When you’re part of such a big project such as a band, things like “never give up” and “believe in yourself” become very difficult to abide by, especially when it’s 9pm and you’ve had a hard day at work and you have to decide between doing the dishes, trying to figure out the chords to a new song or watching television. Or maybe your cable got disconnected, or your car died and you have no money to fix it because you spent money on fixing your amplifier, or one of your band mates just called you to tell you they’ve moved out of state or you just received an email telling you that tomorrow’s gig was just cancelled… that’s when you have to keep playing because you know if you don’t ,you’ll be disappointing yourself. It’s like becoming two different people and showing the other part of you that you’ll do your best no matter what life throws at you.
O Futuro ( a little Portuguese for ya’ll!)
We’re trying to figure out where the future of the music business is in general, but we’d like to continue to play and develop our sound and move into new projects. We love playing live, so we plan to do as much of that as possible as well. Meanwhile, Eduardo also plays drums for the rock band Ideas Divergentes, which is playing frequently around town and is in the process of recording their first album. Rodrigo and I have both been commissioned to do a few recording projects which are currently in progress. Kellen lives in New York and is a member of the NYC jazz, hip hop, and indie rock communities. Dayna who plays trumpet with the band, is in the indie rock band “Alright Alright,” and is also finishing an album. Jay, who plays bass, is a singer/songwriter and is promoting his debut full-length album, Eat Your Sad, And Louie, who contributes congas and percussions to live gigs, additionally plays for Mayaztek and other great Los Angeles based bands.
We are distributing our material independently and feel that we have a lot of control over what we do and where we go because of that independence. However, we are also investing a lot of time and money into our project and we’d eventually like some help finding a better balance. It’s going to take some patience and creativity to figure out how to distribute and play to the extent that we’d like to, but we’ll continue to play á la Salt Petal and will hopefully continue producing music in the same realm as this first album… but better!
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Catch Salt Petal’s groove at the upcoming “Women that Rock Musical Showcase” and log on to their My Space page to get your dose of Salt Petal’s folk-rock tunes.
See you at the show!
Salt Petal is:
Autumn Harrison: lead vocalist, accordion
Rodrigo González: guitar
Eduardo Sandoval: drums, back-up vocals
Jay Matsueda: bass
Dayna Richards: trumpet
Louie González: congas
Sean McFerran – trumpet
