ABOUT - SARAH DEARLING
"Following a fevered chat about our similar tastes in music and the exchange of a few demo tracks, I soon became the final piece to fit the Deadbeat Angels puzzle!"
- Sarah Dearling -
With a mod mother and a rocker father, my earliest influences were a combination of - The Beatles, The Who, David Bowie, Led Zep and the Hollies.
From an early age I was learning 3 part harmony with my Dad (who was also a barbershop quartet singer with “Class Distinction”) in the car on the way to school. We covered a multitude of Andrew Lloyd-Webber songs and Disney classics.
I was also raised into a world of dance and musical theatre and made my debut as the narrator in “Joseph” when I was 8 years old!
At the age of 16, following a few piano lessons, a brief interlude with the clarinet and an assortment of dance, drama and singing lessons, I was ready to branch out into the big wide music world and joined my first band – “Wookie”.
With this set up I played originals and covers and although well underage, I still managed to gig the local Brighton and Hove circuit of pubs! We often played with another local, rival band called “Offshore” and took it in turns to headline venues.
Eventually though, the members decided to all disperse to work and university and sadly my first love affair with the music scene was over. After having the excitement and buzz of the scene I was left wanting more, so it didn’t take me long to find my next band – “Sherlock” another pop/rock covers group that I met at a social event at Southampton Freshers week.
Although there were a few member changes throughout the bands lifetime, we played an expanse of gigs all over the Hampshire area for the next 3 years, playing rock venues like The Hobbit and The Brook and ending our run in Winchester playing the Engineers ball in front of 250 drunken students!
Throughout the next 10 years I travelled the world, pausing episodically to sing in bars, sometimes in exchange for food but mainly in exchange for whiskey!
I managed to see a wonderful array of places on my travels including Thailand, Cambodia, Brazil, Australia, Fiji, Tanzania and South Africa. On my return to England in 2008 I formed an acoustic duo with an original “Wookie” member – Tom Williams. The new duo was named – “RetroSkeptics” and performed a variety of covers and originals using guitar, piano and two vocals and we were renowned for our Christmas medleys!
In 2013 I was asked to join “Jefferson Jackson” as a “Jacksonette” backing singer, creating 3 and 4 part harmonies for the group. We gigged at various events, pubs, clubs and festivals but unfortunately this band also came to an end. Later on whilst itching to get back on the scene,
I decided to start running my own open mic nights in and around Brighton. It was around this time that I found an advert from Kev Terry on Facebook that required a vocalist for a rock covers outfit. Following a fevered chat about our similar tastes in music and the exchange of a few demo tracks, I soon became the final piece to fit the Deadbeat Angels puzzle!
Influences:
Skunk Anansie, Bush, Silver chair, Alice in chains, Incubus, Nikka Costa, Stereophonics, Muse, Royal blood and Breaking Benjamin but I also still return to the older more seasoned bands and Bowie in particular will never leave my top ten.
Gear:
Yamaha electro-acoustic guitar, Dynamic MD370 mic.
Favourite Gigs:
Muse supporting Skunk Anansie, Portsmouth 1999. I honestly can’t choose who was more mind blowing! Isle of Wight festival 2004 – Bowie, The Who and Stereophonics. Aerosmith at Hyde Park 2014, just incredible! A few of my own favourite gigs would have to be my first ever gig at The Pressure Point, Brighton, Battle of the bands 1997. A street party in Cambodia where I was asked to play a few tunes and was joined mid-song by a brass band and The Mitre in Southampton due to a fantastic crowd rockin the floor!