Persephone's Bees
Encyclopedia
Persephone's Bees is an Oakland
-based rock
/pop
music group.
, Russia
, lead singer Angelina Moysova was musically inspired by her family: her mother played traditional folk/gypsy music while her brother played modern music. Immigrated to America in 1993, in 1999 she formed Persephone's Bees with Tom Ayres (who plays guitar), Paul Bertolino (drums), and Bart Davenport (bass). The band has featured several bass players including Mike Ferrel, Ethan Parsonage, and Phil Costello.
Their first LP, City of Love, was nominated for best debut album at the California Music Awards, along with being voted "Best Bay Area Pop Band" by SF Weekly
. Afterwards, they signed to Columbia Records
and released their major label debut, Notes from the Underworld
. The debut single reached # 6 in Billboard Magazine's Club & Dance charts. "City of Love" was also featured in the opening scene and soundtrack to the movie "Bewitched" starring Will Ferrel and Nichole Kidman.
They toured with The New Cars
as their opening act during their Winter Road Rage Tour '06.
The bands songs have appeared on The Sopranos
("Home"), Weeds
("Little Boxes" in Season 3), and numerous film, TV, and commercial placements including Hilton Hotels, Cingular, Nancy Drew, and more.
Persephone's Bees have been featured on popular music outlets such as MTV's "You Hear It First" (SXSW 2006 "Hot Bands to see"), Nic Harcourt's KCRW show "Morning Becomes Eclectic", and Yahoo Music.
Angelina Moysov's most recent side project is pop/rock band Candy Now!, which she formed with Blag Dahlia of The Dwarves.
In October 2010, the band relocated to New York and while on tour recorded and released a free download of Leonard Cohen's "First We Take Manhattan".
Shortly afterwards Persephone's Bees announced the self-release of their new album - yet to be titled. The first song, "Ugly Thing" was made available via digital download in the end of October 2010; the band plans to release a new song each month until the entire collection of new songs are available.
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
-based rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
/pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
music group.
History
Growing up in PyatigorskPyatigorsk
Pyatigorsk is a city in Stavropol Krai on the Podkumok River, about from Mineralnye Vody. Since January 19, 2010 it has been the administrative center of the North Caucasian Federal District of Russia...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, lead singer Angelina Moysova was musically inspired by her family: her mother played traditional folk/gypsy music while her brother played modern music. Immigrated to America in 1993, in 1999 she formed Persephone's Bees with Tom Ayres (who plays guitar), Paul Bertolino (drums), and Bart Davenport (bass). The band has featured several bass players including Mike Ferrel, Ethan Parsonage, and Phil Costello.
Their first LP, City of Love, was nominated for best debut album at the California Music Awards, along with being voted "Best Bay Area Pop Band" by SF Weekly
SF Weekly
SF Weekly is a free alternative weekly newspaper in San Francisco, California. The newspaper, distributed throughout the San Francisco Bay Area every Wednesday, is published by Village Voice Media, a 16-paper alt weekly newspaper chain that also includes the New York City Village Voice and the Los...
. Afterwards, they signed to Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
and released their major label debut, Notes from the Underworld
Notes from the Underworld
Notes from the Underworld is the major label debut of Oakland electronic pop group Persephone's Bees.-Track listing:# "Way to Your Heart" – 2:59# "Climbing" – 3:07# "City of Love" – 4:04# "Nice Day" – 4:01# "Muzika Dlya Fil'ma" – 5:43...
. The debut single reached # 6 in Billboard Magazine's Club & Dance charts. "City of Love" was also featured in the opening scene and soundtrack to the movie "Bewitched" starring Will Ferrel and Nichole Kidman.
They toured with The New Cars
The New Cars
The New Cars was a band formed in 2005 with two of the original members of the 1970s/1980s new wave band The Cars. The band was composed of Todd Rundgren, drummer Prairie Prince, Kasim Sulton, and original Cars members Greg Hawkes and Elliot Easton...
as their opening act during their Winter Road Rage Tour '06.
The bands songs have appeared on The Sopranos
The Sopranos
The Sopranos is an American television drama series created by David Chase that revolves around the New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the often conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads...
("Home"), Weeds
Weeds (TV series)
Weeds is an American television comedy created by Jenji Kohan and produced by Tilted Productions in association with Lionsgate Television. The central character is Nancy Botwin , a widowed mother of two boys who begins selling marijuana to support her family after her husband dies suddenly of a...
("Little Boxes" in Season 3), and numerous film, TV, and commercial placements including Hilton Hotels, Cingular, Nancy Drew, and more.
Persephone's Bees have been featured on popular music outlets such as MTV's "You Hear It First" (SXSW 2006 "Hot Bands to see"), Nic Harcourt's KCRW show "Morning Becomes Eclectic", and Yahoo Music.
Angelina Moysov's most recent side project is pop/rock band Candy Now!, which she formed with Blag Dahlia of The Dwarves.
In October 2010, the band relocated to New York and while on tour recorded and released a free download of Leonard Cohen's "First We Take Manhattan".
Shortly afterwards Persephone's Bees announced the self-release of their new album - yet to be titled. The first song, "Ugly Thing" was made available via digital download in the end of October 2010; the band plans to release a new song each month until the entire collection of new songs are available.
Albums
- City of Love (2001)
- Notes from the UnderworldNotes from the UnderworldNotes from the Underworld is the major label debut of Oakland electronic pop group Persephone's Bees.-Track listing:# "Way to Your Heart" – 2:59# "Climbing" – 3:07# "City of Love" – 4:04# "Nice Day" – 4:01# "Muzika Dlya Fil'ma" – 5:43...
(2006) - Selections from the forthcoming new album (EP) (2010)
Live
In their live performances as the opening act for The New Cars, they play a 5-6 song set featuring "Way to Your Heart", "Nice Day", "Muzika Dlya Fil'ma", and "Paper Plane" among others. They normally end with "City of Love", which is much extended from the studio version, and features Moysov playing the guitar, without looking, behind Ayres' back.External links
- Official site
- Persephone's Bees at MySpaceMySpaceMyspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
- "Nice day" as an official sound of 118.008 service of the France's PagesJaunes