"Angie Evans : A Rising Star"

Blade Magazine - March, 2008
www.gayblade.com


Having established herself as a prominent Long Beach-based musician, singer/songwriter Angie Evans (http://www.myspace.com/angieevans) is parlaying her Southern California, grassroots popularity into a full-fledged national career. On March 29, 2008, Evans will travel to San Diego as a featured performer for the city’s 2008 Indie Music Festival. With her upcoming debut album, Cycle of Fruit, set to release around late March/early April, Evans is proof the Long Beach music scene — which has yielded international superstars like Rage Against the Machine’s Zack de la Rocha, Sublime and Snoop Dogg — may serve as a destination for talented hopefuls not yet swayed by Hollywood.

“Long Beach presented a good starting point for me – there was a big LGBT community in which to begin,” Evans says. She began playing locally in 2003, and word soon spread about the talented singer. “I had never performed before, so I was just looking for coffee shops to play at – ‘songwriter’ nights, open-mics.”

Although she garners tremendous support from the gay and lesbian community, Evans has carved out a career that transcends labels -— labels that occasionally can lead to pigeonholing of an artist. She gained momentum playing showcases at places such as DiPiazza’s and Blue Café, and in a short period, Evans has built a strong fan base and sold thousands of copies of her self-produced EP, as well as “Bootleg Tracks” of songs included in the upcoming CD.

Intermittently dubbed “politically charged” and “sexually profound,” Evans’ repertoire features a solid mix of themes catering both to social antipathy and emotional hunger, without ever boxing her appeal into one category.

“Each song I write comes naturally. With all the songs on the album – it’s not a concept album. These are songs I’ve written over the past three years. I don’t want to take an angle,” she says, although she explains why these two elements strongly come across in her songs. “All people are walking politics – I am; you are. Just being gay, trans, black, a woman, a lesbian – they are being political by their sheer existence. When I play a song like ‘My Politic,’ that political element comes out. I don’t have a political agenda in my music, but I have a political agenda in my life, and that may come through in my music.

“As far as the sensual element of my songs, I see it as this: Being a woman who loves women, I feel that being with a woman is tasty, it’s visual, it’s encompassing,” she continues. “It’s so – when I think of sex with a woman, I don’t just think I’m having sex. I think words, I think poetry. I feel blessed to be a lesbian.”

Although Evans credits social-networking Web sites for her continued appeal, it’s clear that to mention her name when touring downtown L.B. clubs is a sure sign you’re “in the know” about the local music scene. After putting downloads of her songs on her MySpace page, the singer’s popularity surged, making her one of the most popular local acts, spurring continuous invites to play events such as Ladyfest, Pride festivals in Long Beach, San Diego and Phoenix, as well as featured performances at The Whisky A Go Go and BB Kings.

Yet, even with her myriad successes in such short time, she still feels growing pains. “In terms of my evolution, I still feel like a baby,” she says. “I haven’t even started my career. There’s so much more to start – after the album is released. I’ve always had the idea of ‘play, play, play,’ so I don’t think I ever had it in my head that ‘I’ve got to do ‘this’ because I’m going to be famous.’ I play venues, and my evolution has been organic. To get where I am happened naturally.”

While her heart and soul exude a passion for creativity, Evans still maintains a concerted effort for women’s rights, and her music serves as a vehicle to carry a message of abuse-prevention and empowerment efforts. Nevertheless, despite being on the cusp of an international breakout with the release of Cycle of Fruit, Evans has no plans to lessen her Long Beach ties, and she expresses her passion for the journey toward achieving her goals.

“Over the years, I’ve figured out how to be comfortable performing,” she enthuses. “To become an independent artist takes time. The real success is watching yourself – and the crowds – grow.”