Seattle Band Half Light: Too Old for Trapezes
NadaMucho.com Interview – Half Light
Q&A with Dayna Loeffler
By Matt Ashworth
NadaMucho.com: What is Half Light and why should anyone care?
Dayna Loeffler: Half Light is a Seattle based psychedelic pop band that writes textural, dreamy sound-scaped type songs. We’re too old to keep up with the “Flavor of the Month” and therefore will never be eligible for soundtrack placement on any The OC type series or any Fast and Furious franchise “films,” but we’ve been playing together for a good chunk so we understand how to interact with one another, how to ebb and flow.
NM: What can people expect from your show tonight at Barboza?
DL: We’re too old for any trapeze acts, even if we have some great ideas on paper. So, probably just a lush 45 minutes of guitar-driven, textural, vibey rock songs. Barb can’t be there to play cello but our friend Amanda will sit in on violin for three songs. It’s sounding real nice.
NM: You guys somes shows with us back in the mid 2000s I believe. Refresh my memory on who’s in the band and what other projects they are involved in.
DL: Indeed we did do a few shows with NadaMucho in the past. For that we are thankful.
Dayna Loeffler – Bass, Lead & Backup Vocals
Brian Ackley – Guitar, Lead & Backup Vocals
Scott Muhlbeier – Guitar
Jeff Baars – Percussion & Drums
Barb Hunter – Cello/Vocals
We are involved in quite a few different projects outside of Half Light. Barb plays bass in Gibralter and also does work with Mark Pickerel, Rusty Willoughby and Whiting Tennis to name a few. Dayna plays bass in the local band Transient Songs. Scott has been playing guitar in the King County Queens for the last couple years. Jeff has been playing drums in some of the local tribute shows, the latest of which was a Waylon Jennings tribute night and Brian has been building up his home studio and working on solo material under the name of Yellowline Music.
NM: What other local bands are you excited about right now?
DL: Kinski, Gibraltar, Blue Light Curtain, Levator, Low Hums, The Purrs, Mystery Ship, Hypatia Lake, Black Night Crash, and Brent Amaker and the Rodeo to name a few.
NM: It seems like a handful of great Seattle bands get overlooked every year. Talk about trying to be successful as a musician in this city.
DL: Some bands are fortunate enough to be discovered organically in this town. It can be frustrating to see bands that are being promoted as “all the rage,” when they only happen to know the “right folks” and don’t have all that much going for themselves as a band, but then again, it’s really not all that different than the Sunset Strip back in the early 80s. Since most folks in this project have given up the teenage dream of “MAKING IT” as a rock god superstar, we all survive our day jobs and rate “success” as coming together to write good songs and deliver them as best we can. Sadly, our private jet stocked with hookers & blow must wait for another lifetime.
NM: Seattle seems overrun with earthy alt-folk bands. How annoying is that?
DL: To each their own, though some of us would say it is way too much bearded, heart-felt teen drama. Young kids should not be making so much folk rehash; they should be pissed off. They should look at the world and their future and feel the need to turn their electric guitars up really fucking loud and get some angst out.
Half Light headline T Basa & NadaMucho.com’s Durge Fest 5 tonight at Barboza.