I met Gina when I was 20 years old booking music for my college. Her band, Liquid Sunshine, was a 90’s Lilith Fair-esque girl group from Santa Barbara with tight 3 part harmonies and sing a long hooks. We instantly hit it off, as I was an emerging singer songwriter at the time. We became fast friends and her music would be the backdrop of my twenties and her friendship would shape my life forever.

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Sitting around in her Santa Barbara house, close to our favorite taqueria, playing songs, drinking wine and making ‘sta (what we called pasta). Her mom’s recipe was always a hit and I made sure to be over there when it was on the stove. Our friend ‘Freddie’ called on the land line and told us she was coaching a basketball game in a few days and needed a version of the National Anthem to play before the game. I had my 4 track Tascam recorder with me so we set up a studio in a well sound proofed room (always had to have good sound) and started to play it acoustically into the mic. We laughed but were super serious about it and wanted it to be tight for the reveal. We ended up popping a bottle of wine in the recording and belted out our ode to America. Freddie got in trouble for that recording I believe, even though we were pros at recording it but not so much with the delivery.

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Years later after many separate music experiences (Gina going on tour in the UK and Australia opening for World Party as well as her music appearing on many TV shows and movies) and a couple of marriages between us and my divorce later, we decided to go on tour. I licked my wounds while Gina made me laugh, and her pro attitude and wears got us up and down the West Coast a couple of times to play in front of fans and strangers. We would sit in on each others songs because we loved each other’s music. Different styles fused into one sound. This was the birth of Bed of Coats.

~Chap