Indie spirit
Six musicians keeping the flame alive.
Hazel English, Pill Hill (Oakland)
After four years of living and performing in the Bay Area, Australian Hazel English has developed a dedicated following with her dreamy pop sounds. The 26-year-old musician says she finds much of her songwriting inspiration in poetry; Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes are favorites. “When I first came here, I really responded to the openness of the Bay Area,” says English. “I felt I could be myself here.” English, who looks for strong color combinations when she’s putting together looks for performing, also feels like the Bay Area music scene “has a strong community and a tangible sense of support. Other places can feel very competitive; I feel like people here want each other to succeed.”
Find her: English just released the video for her new song “That Thing” and is currently working on her next album. www.hazelenglish.com.
Lily Holbrook, the Castro (S.F.)
Garfunkel knew she wanted to photograph Lily Holbrook after watching her busk on the sidewalk in the Mission District. The 40year-old singer-songwriter’s music is influenced both by the greats of the ’60s and ’70s and contemporary alternative female artists like Tori Amos and Bjork. “I feel uncomfortable singing without my guitar,” Holbrook says. “It’s a 1970s Aria from Sears that belonged to my brother. He passed away when I was 16. It was something that shaped my life and my music a lot.” Wardrobewise, she describes herself as “a mixture of the Victorian era, the roaring ’20s and the ’60s and ’70s.”
Find her: Holbrook performs regularly at the Stanford Park Hotel in Menlo Park and is currently crowd-funding her next album. www.lilyholbrook. vpweb.com.
Micahtron, Fruitvale (Oakland)
Bay Area-born hip-hop artist Micahtron is not shy about expressing her queerness in her politically charged music (like her 2016 album “Haven”) or in her dapper-meets-street sense of style. “Everything I wear is more on the masculine side of the scale,” says the singularly named performer, who seeks out local designers for custom collaborations. “But I’m always trying to switch it up, especially for shows. I never want people to see me and think I look the same.” Micahtron is one of the few artists to have performed at the San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Salinas, Hayward and Sacramento LGBT Pride celebrations. “My look is definitely Bay Area and ’80s- and ’90s-inspired,” she says. “And jumpsuits are really my thing. Last year, I had a friend sew a Levi’s jean suit into a one-piece for me.”
Find her: Hosting “Bold” at Stud Bar in San Francisco every second Saturday. www.micahtronsf.com.
Dulcinea Gonzalez, guitar, West Oakland, and Camylle Reynolds, bass, Livermore
With their tattoos, cutoff denim and penchant for bombshell red lipstick, Midnite Snaxx members’ Dulcinea Gonzalez and Camylle Reynolds’ DIY glamour exemplifies a certain classic Bay Area punk aesthetic. “In the fifth grade I discovered the Ramones,” says Gonzalez, 49. “I immediately wanted to be one of them. Since then, striped T-shirts and jeans have been a staple.” Reynolds, 38, describes her take on punk as “rock ’n’ roll and feminine at the same time. But I also really like to show off my arms; it makes me feel tough and strong.” Like the classic punk bands that influenced their sound, Gonzalez and Reynolds are also huge fans of thick eyeliner. “I hate pencil and only use liquid eyeliner,” says Gonzalez. Reynolds says that their 6-year-old band was named for “something we all love but that we all know is bad for you. That was kind of who we were.”
Find them: www.midnitesnaxxx.bandcamp.com.
Monica Pasqual, Temescal (Oakland)
Music has been a constant in Monica Pasqual’s life since the very beginning. “My earliest memories were of lying underneath a Chickering grand piano, and listening to my father play,” says the 56-year-old singer songwriter. The front woman for Blame Sally and Monica Pasqual and the Handsome Brunettesdescribes her musical style “as heavily vocal-basedAmericana” and “indie-folk with a classical bent.” A six-time Emmy Award winner for music and five time Independent Music Award winner, Pasqual recently released a remix of her song “You Can’t Kill Light,” which she wrote in response to the presidential election. She describes her stage style as “colorful, romantic, maybe someone might say a little tough, but definitely eclectic.”
Find her: Blame Sally is playing the Freight and Salvage in Oakland on Saturday, Sept. 16. www.blamesally.com. Monica Pasqual and the Handsome Brunettes are touring Europe in 2018. www.monicapasqual.com. Tony Bravo is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tbravo@sfchronicle.com