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Baby Bee’s ascension has posed a bit of a conflict for the Stark brothers.
To be selected to close down Best of the Bayou, a hometown festival, is an honor for he and percussionist Dave Stark, who comprise the two-man band. But it also means they won’t be able to take in the music of one of their favorite artists.
“Jason Isbell is also closing it on Sunday. Although we wish we could see it, we’re honored to have the other closeout,” Joe Stark said. “I think I may pull my first rock-star holdup and just do the, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, I had to use the bathroom’ and push the set back 15 minutes.”
Whether he’s joking doesn’t really matter, because the crowd will wait for Baby Bee. Their ascent is not merely local; the duo plays shows throughout the country, and since inking a record deal with Republic Records last year, their music has been featured on popular national television: Yes, that was the Houma band’s music on the critically acclaimed FX series “The Walking Dead” and the sports-awards show The ESPYs.
Baby Bee were formerly Sons of William (an homage to their father, who has influenced their sound since they were children), a three-piece that attained popularity locally. The Starks decided to branch out on their own.
“Basically, we’ve tried playing music with other people – we love playing music with other people – but when it comes down to it, we feel like we have a sound as ourselves,” Joe Stark said. “We see things very eye to eye, almost in a telepathic sense, where he knows where I’m going, he knows what I want to accomplish.”
Their only album, the EP “The Shaker” is a series of jabs, all six songs clocking in at less than 2 minutes, 50 seconds. Jab may not be entirely accurate, as there is nothing simple about the songs themselves, each layered with blasting, crisp notes that beat at listeners, begging them to understand and share the intense desire emanating from the lyricism.
“It may have taken us a minute to get here, but in a way it’s very much a return to form,” Joe Stark said. “When we were kids and we would play music with our dad, it was ‘Great Balls of Fire’ or ‘Johnny Be Good.’ In a weird way, I think all those beats and rhythms were very much ingrained in our growth experience, you know, and it just seemed like, ‘Hey, this is really what we’re good at.’ You don’t hear people doing that in a very authentic way anymore.”
Baby Bee will soon release its first full-length album, produced by Brendan O’Brien. Joe Stark said production is complete and that it should be out between late fall and early 2014. They plan to begin touring the country as the release date draws closer.
“I think there was tremendous growth (between “The Shaker” and the pending LP), and I’d like to think there will continue to be every time we revisit writing songs,” Joe Stark said. “That being said, it’s very much our sound.”
