We Are the Parade

What happens when a former drum major gets involved in the burlesque and circus scene? Well, according to vaudevillian racounteur and perfomer, Sabrina Chap, the result is a ridiculous explosion of politics, horns and wit called 'We Are the Parade'. 'We Are the Parade' was inspired by a failed photo shoot for Chap's previous album, 'Oompa!', an album filled with piano bar ragtime & heartbreak. After the initial shoot, Chap took a look at the photos and said, quot;These photos make me want to hear brass, not ragtime tunes. These photos look like my next album.quot; Armed with the cover art, Chap turned her inner band geek on high and started writing. She turned her pen to the wildly absurd, matters of the heart and the insanity of American politics. From the Prop 8 inspired anthem, quot;We are the Paradequot; to the driving tune, quot;Everything's Greatquot;, which touches on America's obsession with self-denial, this witty, political and personal album catches an artist on the verge of an artistic break-through. Inspired by the incidental music on 30 Rock and her job scoring music for the Bindlestiff Cirkus, Chap took her music compositional skills to the test, orchestrating 10 of the 13 tunes. Drummer Lee Free (MEN) anchored the beats through a range of styles including Dixie, Latin and soul. The girls of Brooklyn post- punk soul band, Ava Luna lent their doo-wop vocal stylings, while Corn Mo (Polyphonic Spree) added accordion behind a Julliard trained string trio on the more orchestral tunes. Three different sets of brass (members from Gato Loco, Red Hook Ramblers, Sonia Leigh) retained their original brass flavors on separate tracks, while joining to create a big band sound. Though the album features over 30 musicians, the orchestral sounds on We Are the Parade were often created by recording an instrument at a time. Chap is hitting the road promoting not only the album, but the second edition of her book, 'Live Through This- On Creativity and Self-Destruction'. Now including an introduction by Amanda Palmer, Chap will flip-flop between lecturing on how to keep sane while creating art, and performing music from the album in a release tour that hits the Northeast, Midwest and the UK. All in all, quot;We are the Paradequot; is a virulent second studio release from an artist on the brink of receiving major national attention. * * * * * * SEPIACHORD REVIEW As a premium for being an Indiegogo contributor for Sabrina Chap's We Are the Parade, I got a lyrics booklet. A Chap-book, if you will. In it, she writes, quot;Please do not read the stories behind these lyrics without having listened to the songs first, and forming your own opinion on what you think they're about.quot; I took her advice and found it rewarding. The album was full of rags, marches, hope and disappointment, but mostly honesty. Chap began playing classical piano at 5, quot;was a BIG MARCHING BAND geek in high schoolquot; (per the lyrics book), flew the folk flag, found ragtime piano and formed the Schlapentickle Family Burlesque and Revue. Her previous album Oompa! Was a vaudevillian bounce. We Are the Parade ups the marching ante with fuller instrumentation. It strikes me as being a particularly American album. Having a Bulgarian father and an Ecuadorian mother, Chap says, quot;I've never felt truly American, and was consistently told I wasn't by my mom.quot; A sense of musical history runs through the songs, with tastes of ragtime, doo-wop and soul. quot;When I Grow Up, I'm Gonna Dancequot; starts with pretty piano tinkling and pile