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The signs of what was to become of me were apparent at a very early age. Back in '68, when I was about four years old my parents bought their first piano. As soon as it was delivered, I sat down
at the bass keys and proceeded to write
my first little tune which I entitled
'Haunted House'. It had a nice,
foreboding ring to it. Clever, huh?
Music lessons were in order and I
studied classical piano on and off over
the next 12 years. Music was something
that was an everyday part of my
household while growing up. My mother,
Shelley Moore, who is a seasoned Jazz singer and songwriter, came up with an original song for every little task,
chore and occasion. If you ask her,
she'll gladly sing you all the cute
little numbers she wrote about me as a
tot...but don't...it'll embarrass me. My father, Ken, being a New Englander and
Civil War buff, knows just about every sea shanty and Civil War song ever written and he'll gladly sing you each and every verse. I think by now, I've heard them all more than a few times. Yes, in many ways, I had quite an
interesting upbringing.
As a
youngster I was always the quiet, weird
kid who did all her homework and got straight A's, always trying to fit in and always the last to be picked for the team. Had I known then what I know now, I would've just started a team of my own! While in high school I started hanging around with other 'weird' people who were quite a few years older than me. They turned me onto some really great music...Captain Beefheart, Roxy Music, and all the underground stuff that was coming out at that time...bands like X, the Ramones, Devo...whatever we could get our hands on.
By the time I got out of high school I decided to stop trying to fit in and started rejoicing in my uniqueness. My blond hair was dyed away, and has since been almost every shade imaginable, never to return to its natural and decidedly 'un-Bryna-like' state. Thrift stores became my chic boutiques and I soon found myself playing keyboards in a band. I was going to the clubs and seeing shows on the L.A/OC scene almost every night. That was in '81/82. I was also really getting into bands like Bauhaus, The Stranglers, Wire, The
Damned, Magazine, Wall Of Vodoo...there
were so many exciting new sounds out
there just waiting to be heard and it
was a great time to be part of the new music 'underground'. There was always somewhere to go and something going on...The Scream Parlour, The Zero Zero, Cathay De Grande, and so many others.
Over the next few years I played keyboards for several bands, opening up for local favorites like TSOL, Social Distortion, Agent Orange, 45 Grave, DI, and Redd Kross.
By '85 I had written quite a few of my own songs and had developed a distinctive keyboard style, influenced by all those years of studying classical piano. I was playing in a 'gothy' type of band, (only back then it was called any number of things: 'gloom-rock','death-rock', or simply 'post-punk'), while Psychedelia was having more and more of an influence on me after hearing the likes of Syd
Barrett, Pretty Things and Love. I
wanted to incorporate that mind-bending
vibe with elements of the dark side. It
was time to quit being someone else's
keyboardist and start my own thing and
play my own music.
Jump ahead to
1989. After trying out almost every
musician in the Greater Los Angeles
area, I had three other band members who not only were great musicians, but liked to 'trip out in the dark', musically speaking, of course. And after auditioning far too many singers who just didn't fit the bill, we all finally decided on one: me!
The years went on and we, BABYLONIAN TILES,
recorded CDs, toured and played many,
many shows as we musically delved deeper and deeper into the dark side of the
mind. It was after we recorded the
Ultimate Spinach classic, "Ballad Of The Hip Death Goddess", (at the suggestion of our good friend, photographer Edward Colver, who intuitively knew the song would be perfect for us), that the song's creator, Ian
Bruce-Douglas and I started
communicating. He really loved what we
were doing and felt that I truly
captured his vision of the other-wordly seductress in the song. That is how,
with Ian's blessing, I became 'The Hip
Death Goddess™'.
IF YOU'D LIKE TO KNOW MORE OF WHAT I'VE BEEN DOING MUSICALLY FOR THE PAST 19 YEARS, GO HERE
.
SOME OTHER DETAILS ABOUT ME IN CASE YOU CARE:
Height:
5'1-1/2"
Weight: 85 lbs.
Hair color: red (at least for a while)
Eye color: brown
Astrological sign: Leo
Ancestry:
Jewish-Eastern European
Favorite
colors: purple, royal blue and black (are you surprised?)
INTERESTS IN ADDITION TO MUSIC:
Literature: I've enjoyed far too many books to list them all, but a here are just a few of my favorites: "Of Human Bondage" by Somerset Maugham, "Rubyfruit Jungle" by Rita Mae Brown, and "A Confederacy Of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole.
Food: almost anything ethnic, (hamburgers get really boring!), especially Persian, Indian, Greek, Japanese and French cuisine
Films: I especially like classics, independents and foreign cinema...Anything with Bette Davis, Sidney Poitier..."Children Of Paradise", "All About Eve", "To Sir With Love", "The Cook The Theif His Wife And Her Lover"...
Animals: My cast of pets have included dogs, cats, chinchillas, opossums, a crow, rats, rabbits, fish, a pidgeon, and a mynah bird. It is my ambition to someday have a Rodent Ranch, complete with a capybara, the world's largest rodent. Of course the hard part will be finding someone willing to be cast in the role of Rodent Wrangler.
Traveling. Some of my favorite cities...New York, Boston, London, Detroit, Chicago...
Art
Writing
Vintage clothing, hats & jewelry
Engrossing conversation and correspondence
Most things British....even the food!
After
all that, I can't imagine what else
anyone would want to learn about me, but if I missed something that you just
gotta know...feel free to
email me and I'll do my best to
answer your questions...but the rude ones will cost ya!
