Wild West band has Ogden roots
By Rachel Johnson
, taken from http://www.standard.net/Entertainment/2014/08/04/Wild-west-band-has-Ogden-roots.html

Sugartown Alley isn't exactly an Ogden band, but members are not afraid of the mislabel.

The four-piece band, which hails from Salt Lake City, has Ogden roots that run deep with the city’s most notorious street.

With an eclectic sound that conjures up old scenes from glitzy Western films, Sugartown Alley mixed Southwestern lyrics and imagery with samba rhythms and a sprinkle of costumes and confetti with acoustic guitar. What makes them the most unique perhaps, is the juxtaposition of two strong female vocalists.

Ogden Roots

For Brenda Hattingh, lead vocalist and guitarist, playing music was a way to get out of a slump and be creative on stage again after a short-lived acting career.

When Hattingh moved to Ogden she started playing solo at local open mic nights at places like Brewskis and Mojos, respectively. She said if it wasn't for the support from Ogden’s local venues, she might not have gone on to create Sugartown Alley.

“Rick Gerber ran that, (Brewskis open mic) and he was a great encouragement to me to keep playing and writing,” Hattingh said. “He also really encouraged me to step outside of my comfort zone as a writer.”

Sugartown Alley drummer Wachira Waigwa-Stone also has roots in Ogden. He lived here and played in local bands at Mojos music venue and at the Junction, a venue that has since closed.

Sugartown Alley’s first gig was at the Sandtrap nearly four years ago, but the band recently performed twice in Ogden. Sugartown headlined the first day of the annual Ogden Arts Festival in June and performed at Alleged on July 10.

Dimitria Van Leeuwen, backing vocalist and rhythm guitarist, assisted Hattingh with a special project, writing some of the stories in the “Tales From Two-Bit Street and Beyond” series.

“When we got to play at the Arts Festival, it was so cool because we've written stories for ‘Tales From Two-Bit Street’ and that sort of thing, so we've researched this whole street and this whole town,” Van Leeuwen said. “Here we are at the bottom and we’re looking up 25th Street and you can see the mountains behind it and the town.... I’m here, and a part of the history of this town.”

The wild, wild West

When Hattingh moved with her family to America from South Africa when age 11, she started a lifelong love affair with Americana. Bob Dylan and the folk scene had its place, but what really won over Hattingh was the idea of the wild West.

“Southwestern to me is just so raw, dirty America, with outlaws and people being murdered and having sex and people are stealing stuff and drinking, and to me, it’s like the outlaws and what America is to me,” she said, smiling. “I feel like that’s what I aim for in a lot of my songwriting is that gritty, dusty desert.”

The Southwestern sound is very predominant in all of the original songs performed by Sugartown Alley. But this is because each of the members bring a unique take on the West to the table.

Bassist Sarah MacCombie is the most recent addition to the band, making her debut in February. She completes the lineup, and grooves with the trio as if she had been there from the beginning.

“We went through about a year of finding different bass players for every gig until we found Sarah at our day job,” Hattingh said, laughing,

Van Leeuwen chiming in.

“That was lucky,” she said. “It’s nice to find a girl bass player too, Wachira is outnumbered now but he still claims he can take us.”

Van Leeuwen doesn't just supplement Sugartown with her powerful feminine voice, she also plays the castanets and acoustic guitar. Hattingh complimented her, saying the castanet playing started when Van Leeuwen picked up two bottles of nail polish and clicked them together.

“That kind of just came out of no where and she just started adding amazing rhythm guitar and her vocals are incredible and I especially like all of the background stuff she does,” Hattingh said.

Secret ingredient

Everyone in the band attests though, that Waigwa-Stone, the only male in the band, is the true secret ingredient. He is the only trained musician in the ensemble, and uses his skills to “serve the music.”

“I feel like he is a lyrical drummer. He bring so much, it changes with the music and brings stuff into it. (His) background with drumming is so eclectic,” Hattingh said. “He brings in the samba rhythms and African rhythms and all kinds of stuff that I can’t even begin to talk about.”

Van Leeuwen agreed.

“That’s why I think he’s our secret ingredient because we’ll have this song and it’s cool, then he’ll puts his parts right in.”

As for the songwriting process, Hattingh has written most of the originals, but said they change when she turns the tunes loose on the band. Sometimes a member of the band to bring a skeleton of a song idea forward and everyone adds their flair. It’s not uncommon for songs to change during the middle of a set.

“Sometimes in the middle of the show I’ll hear something and be like oh I gotta add that,” Van Leeuwen said.

What’s next

During the earlier part of the year and into the summer, Sugartown Alley was playing at least one show a week and appeared at several festivals. What’s next for the band is focusing on the new album. Their self-titled EP is available on Amazon and iTunes, but the new work is due sometime in the fall.

Sugartown Alley plans on fostering the music scene from the top of the Wasatch to the bottom, and everywhere in between.

“I feel like we are in the right place at the right time and this is the perfect place to be,” Van Leeuwen said. “We could expand easily, but we have this really nice niche.”