Disappear Fear sings messages of tolerance and nonviolence
The 'girls' in the band share '60 vibe
"There are not many all-girl hippie jam bands around,
so we're in a bit of a niche," says Sonia Rutstein
about her folk-pop group, Disappear Fear. And she doesn't
use the word hippie lightly.
Rutstein, who considers '60s protest singer Phil Ochs her
main role model, fills her songs with messages of tolerance,
nonviolence and othe good-vibes stuff.
"I would love to never sing (Och's antiwar anthem) 'Is There Anybody Here?'
again, " says Rutstein, 46, of Baltimore. "I wish that song was obsolete.
But until it is, I'm gonna be singing it."
Still, Rutstein never comes across as dour. She sings with
inspirational fervor and favors the kind of sweet melodies
and comforting harmonies that have sold millions for The Indigo Girls.
.
Her lyrics are not always political. Two highlights of her
2004 album "No Bomb is Smart" are the upbeat love song
"Ride This Ride" and "Won't Let Go", a tribute to her father.
"I am the Enemy" and the albums' title track are blunt pro-
test songs, but in "Sugarcane" she tells a quirky post-9/11
story about 93 -year-old woman who travels from the Bronx
to Ground Zero to offer whatever help she can.
Rutstein, a guitarist, formed Disappear Fear with her sister,
singer Cindy Franks, in 1987. She kept the band going
with various musicians until 1996 when she began releasing
solo albums and touring as a solo acoustic act (billing herself
under her first name only, spelling it SONiA). She recently
started another version of Disappear Fear - sometimes
billed as DF05 - and will perform with that group at The
Bitter End in New York on Wednesday.
The band will have a day off on March 4, when Rutstein
and Franks, who is currently raising her two children in San
Antonio, will present a rare Disappear Fear duo show at the
Outpost in the Burbs in Montclair. Then it will be back to
the new band format, which features singer-guitarist Jori
Costello, bassist-trumpeter Angela Edge and drummer
Krista Renee Miller. Rutstein met these musicians at the
Women's INternational Music Festival in North Canton,
Ohio, In August where they were performing as a trio under
Costell's name.
"They were saying, 'Hey, you're doing solo stuff, but we
know your tunes, and maybe we could jam with you on some
songs, " Rutstein says. "So they did, and it just felt really
good. It was like, 'We've got to do this more"."
They rehearsed in January, and their tour began in early
February.
"Having two guitars...It's different for me, because in
the old formation of Disappear Fear, I was more the rythm
player and there was an electric lead player," Rutstein says.
"Now I'm playing electric lead in addition to rythm, and
Jori is more of the rythm player. And I'm loving it. I can
move around a lot easier, rather than just chunking out the chords."
After Disappear Fear broke up in 1996, Rutstein and
Franks continued to perform together occasionally, and
Franks contributed backing vocals on "No Bomb is Smart."
Still, the Montclair show will requires substantial amount of preparation.
"The singing I do with Cindy....the phrasing has go to
be iipeccable, and it takes a bit (of work), even though we
slide back into it pretty amazingly quickly." Rutstein says. "I
change things, so she kind of has to get on the horse that I'm on,
on that particular occasion."