Where Did It All Start and Why: The ReVoltage Recordings Story ~ A Slowly Unravelling Tale

ABOUT RVR:

OPERATED BY A TEAM OF THE MOST BRILLIANT, TALENTED, INTERESTING, IN-TUNE AND TREND-SETTING ARTISTS, ENGINEERS, PROGRAMMERS, WEB-DESIGNERS, ADMINISTRATORS, TALENT FINDERS AND FUTURE THINKERS, BROUGHT TOGETHER BY A GIRL FROM AN EENSY-WEENSY LITTLE TOWN IN PENNSYLVANIA... HERE'S A BIT OF SARINE VOLTAGE:

THIS, ON THE ONE SIDE

Formal ballet, jazz, and tap dance training is where I started at age 3 on the East Coast. Self-taught piano came next at 5. I was reputedly super-smart and pretty much straight A'd my way through grade school and junior high and senior high saw me hanging around bands as a ‘girlfriend’ as I continued playing piano at home.Graduating from high school and dance was followed with a bit of college. My parents ambushed me into going when I wanted to wait, so I applied at the last minute to a State School, knowing I'd have an easy in. I was proud of "The Dim Lights, Thick Smoke & Loud Music Award" I received (displayed here) and being placed on the Dean's List, but I neither dug on nor fitted in to that college scene and longed to pursue MY interests. I decided to transfer to either Pepperdine University in Malibu or Berklee College of Music in Boston. I'd always dreamed of living in Malibu, but I found out Pepperdine was a Catholic school (something my parents might like--yikes!), and I opted for Berklee. I heard Berklee was really hard to get into (but I did), and I knew there were a bunch of jazz-heads there (and me being so small on jazz and totally turned off by the sound of a Fender Rhodes), but I enjoyed the short time I spent there and learned a lot, even though I again felt like an outcast among the outcasts.

My twenties brought Steel Town Underground, my first real band, into play as I learned to synthesize and program with the ‘new’ MIDI technology. Harmonizing and lead vocals came next as I used what I'd learned at Berklee and worked it in to a style of my own. I made my way into fronting with my background in dance driving me all the way. I found singing and dancing and fronting to be a tremendous spiritual-like high.

I also came from the school of "DIY (Don't know how? LEARN IT NOW!)" which came in very handy having not been a trust fund baby and HAVING been equipped with a razor-sharp mind that actually dug on learning. Inputting new knowledge was another form of a high for me.

Songwriting was next to become my passion as I graduated from playing “cover” tunes and learned how to write, followed by hand drums, rhythm toys and guitar--my box of musical delights seemed to be a non-stop ever-growing thing.

In 1989 I finally made the move to California and soon started up my own bands:

• Tourette Syndrome
• universal black
• rosen voltage
• The New Post-modern Tribal Order

and in between joined one other:

• P. Vampire

before landing in:

• The Power of 3

Booking, publicizing, internet and managerial skills all came with the territory as I learned to set up a PA system and engineer and produce recordings while touring and recording internationally. Then I went solo.

A couple of indie record companies and a few individuals wanted to record some of the music along the way and I appeased:
• Resin Records in Santa Rosa, California (headed by Stacey Searles)
• Venture Beyond Records in Santa Rosa, California (headed by Dianna Jacobsen and Mark Smith)
• No Label in San Anselmo, California (headed by Peter Marrino)
• The Document Room in Malibu, California (headed by J. T. Meskiel; the ever-awesome Andrew Boston discovered and recorded us with along with the also ever-awesome Kevin Meeker.

Thrilled to have at least a handful of my tunes from a rapidly growing song bank put down in history, the 'big time' and wealth were not imminent, but that was ok by me, happy in the underground and still the "flower child" at heart, making money hasn't been my driver (as evidenced by the numerous benefit gigs I played either solo or booked for universal black and subsequently The Power of 3 and then just me solo. From PROJECT HOMELESS CONNECT in San Francisco to headlining ECO-ROCK at the "Chernobyl: 10 Years After" conference in Mozyr, Belarus (the nearest inhabited city to the destroyed reactor, 45 miles away), we played to raise funds for others. The Power of 3 opting for a "pay-what-you-have-or-like" policy for CD "sales"--giving them to those who have no money yet want the music--doesn't exactly have us vying for a position in the Trump Organization either (not that we'd want one) (disclaimer: this was written long before the guy ran for office). Back to us: we do have a life filled with fun and memorable times and it feels good to help somebody out when they're hurting, and believe me we've had our own 'hard knox' experiences. Plus I now have some cool things that money can't buy, like a "Certificate of Honour" from the City and County of San Francisco, signed by Gavin Newsom, that I proudly display.

THIS, ON THE OTHER SIDE

When I was like 5 or 6 years old, I’d sit on my bed and sprinkle Lik-M-Aid (sugar candy that was like Pixy Stix in a pouch) onto my tongue, pretending it was LSD and that I was getting high.

I wanted to be like THE BEATNIKS and hippies I'd seen on TV, expanding their minds with drugs as free love abounded, clothing was optional and they grooved to the wild new psychedelic sounds that were just beginning to blossom. Of course I'd never done drugs and had no idea what sex even was, but I thought expanding the mind and free love sounded cool. The air was filled with the sounds of Eric Burdon, Donovan, The Mamas & The Papas, The Hollies, The Beatles, Iron Butterfly, Sly & The Family Stone, and SPILL THE WINE, THE HURDY GURDY MAN, CALIFORNIA DREAMIN', BUS STOP, REVOLUTION, IN-A-GADDA-DA-VIDA and I WANNA TAKE YOU HIGHER wrapped around and caressed not just the ears but ALL of the senses in a way like never before.

I thought the whole scene was so bad-ass and wished I was old enough to truly experience the whole trip. Still, my young head was somehow wired like a hippie-ish Beatnik: generally clad all in black but with a string of love beads. I thought The Smothers Brothers were The Shit and so admired them for teaching in the guise of comedy--they may have been a strong force in my lack of respect for man-made law (I upheld Universal Law and had the utmost respect for our Mother Earth, spending my grade school recesses picking up and disposing of trash that accumulated from low-life litterers).

On top of that, the only doll I ever had was a BEATNIK named "SCOOBA-DOO". She had long jet-black hair that felt amazingly real, and she was clad in a long-sleeved black body leotard with a striped multi-coloured tunic top. She had a string to pull that allowed her to talk and she'd say wild things like " I dig that crazy beat, YEAH" and "Scooby-dooby dooby dooby dooby doo wah bah . . . DON'T BUG ME, baby!"

I longed to be in San Francisco . . .

I think I was about 8 when my parents took me to some picnic thing they had going on. I'd never been to this place, there were a bunch of pavilion-like structures, some baseball field areas and a lot of old people. I was thrilled to see teenage guys in a 3-piece band playing "Wipe Out" as I followed my parents in. Slabs of cement covered some of the ground under each pavilion and one of these square slabs was the band's 'stage' but these guys rocked it anyways. I got a rush from the energy so deep that I can still tap into it...ahh, but the highlight of my day was yet to come.

My parents were engrossed in conversation with some of the old people and so I went off exploring the area... much to my delight, I found a jukebox under one of the pavilion-like rooftops! I was thrilled with anticipation as I approached "The Box" knowing I had 2 quarters in my pocket. (Back then you got 6 tunes for that)! Yeah! I looked over the 45s it was loaded with and THEN. . . I saw it: "REVOLUTION" (the rocking version like in the video above). I was high as a kite. This song had just come out and I'd never even heard the entire tune yet.

And here it was in front of me. Wow.

I was trembling as I slipped the quarters in, pushed the buttons and eagerly waited. Finally, after what seemed like hours (had to wait for the tunes that others had requested before me to play out), my selections were at long last up. "Revolution"! I could hardly wait any longer, I was about to burst. As the first chords rang out, I listened and danced and swirled, letting the song consume me. Nothing could ever top this moment, I thought, this was the height of life.

Then, without warning--and about only a third of the way thru the song I might add--my father found me and said we were leaving and that I should get in the car. I couldn't believe it. I was just like 'no way' in my head and pretended not to hear him. I couldn't believe he would be so indecent…leave DURING a song--and a song like this?!-- and he had to have noticed how happy I was there with my jukebox. Argh. My elation was being replaced by a nervous tension where I couldn't even relax in the song. He was throwing so much agitation my way I finally politely acknowledged him and said ‘okay, just give me a minute’. He wouldn't let up. He actually grabbed my arm and was dragging me across the dance floor to our car as tears poured down my cheeks and I wailed. I never did forgive him.

So as any willful, non-conformist defiant child would do after that, I saw to it that everything I had an interest in would be sure to piss him off: bad-boy rocker boyfriends, pagan religions, hard and heavy rock music soaked in sexual connotations, experimenting with drugs, living in California...
I was also experimenting and discovering what "being me" was all about and in all honesty it wasn't just to piss off my father (but if some--or all--of it did, I didn't mind at all).

As it turns out, I ended up being one rocking bad-ass but with a belief system and code of ethics that, for the most part,
he might actually have admired. (But shhhhh! ...don't tell anyone, just enjoy the music!)

XOXO

Sarine Voltage in front of a sign(?) saying YOU WANT IT?

Sarine Voltage in front of a sign(?) saying YOU WANT IT?

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sidewalk in San Francisco with 3 stars embossed in and the words WE ARE MAGICK in between each space

sidewalk in San Francisco with 3 stars embossed in and the words WE ARE MAGICK in between each space (again)