🎙️ singer/songwriter
🌊 santa cruz, ca

SPAM is a reggae fusion band based in the Santa Cruz mountains that sometimes plays reggae and sometimes not, and sometimes plays original tunes and sometimes plays covers.

The first song Angelina Moysov wrote is about a little girl standing at a window watching the moon cry tears of blood. The moon is saddened by the way humans treat one another. Moysov was 13 when she penned the song, living in her hometown of Pyatigorsk, Russia, under a perpetually pale sky.

The porcelain-skinned Russky’s prose continued to blossom from there. When accomplished guitarist Tom Ayres got a taste – shortly after Moysov moved to the States – Persephone’s Bees took flight.


Trying to confine the Oakland-based quartet to a specific genre is a lost cause. Persephone’s is more like an elephant-sized beehive stuffed with Russ Meyers’ Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Double Fantasy, the poetry of Osip Mandelstam (“Persephone’s Bees” is a phrase from one of his works) and most importantly, life experience.

Moysov finds muses in everything she experiences and at some point, it overflows into her songwriting.

“I can never force myself to write a song,” Moysov says. “I need inspiration; I have to read, watch my favorite movies, look at art and the people around me. When someone asks me what kind of music we play I always say, ‘It’s everything,’ or ‘It’s music.’”

One book that inspired a new song was The Master and Margarita (also the title of the song and Mick Jagger’s inspiration for “Sympathy for the Devil”) by Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov.

Persephone’s released their first album City of Love in 2002, but the world took notice in 2005 after they signed to Columbia Records and released their second album, Notes from the Underworld. Some of the songs from the album have been featured in commercials, video games and even on The Sopranos.

“Home,” the tune featured on the Jersey mobster series, is the last song on the L.P. and a perfect match for a series about misunderstood criminals. Ayres’ guitar begins with a placid wah, like soft footsteps in a forest, before it builds into the bat-out-of-hell chorus: “When I left you, when I left him, when I left her, I left myself.”

Moysov’s explanation of the song’s lyrics: “It’s hard leaving the people you love, but it’s very liberating – like a little leaf that fell from a tree. You’re all alone.”

The first song on the album, “Way to your Heart,” is a mesh of gypsy-prog-psychedelia that’s like a conversation between Ayres and Moysov. Ayres brings crunchily distorted Thin Lizzy riffs, and Moysov answers with playful jabs on the keys and taunting vocals. “In the morning when I wake up, I think about how I can get you tonight.”

“Way to Your Heart” is proof that Moysov and Ayres are both strong forces – and without one, the group just wouldn’t work.

Persephone’s Bees continues to prevail even after leaving Columbia Records: Its third album "New In Berlin". Without the lavish, big studio production, Ayres and Moysov were tasked with the intricate process, but Moysov says she cannot be happier with the outcome.

“New In Berlin is a lot more philosophical,” she says. “It’s more of the way I see Persephone’s Bees in my mind.”


Ryan Masters is a songwriter and musician from the Santa Cruz Mountains. He fronts The Suborbitals (Monterey, California). He was a founding member of Smoke Chaser (Santa Cruz, California), Goatboy Johnson (Fairbanks, Alaska) and Pan (Tainan, Taiwan). He is also the founder of Heroic Dose Records.

Dining Dead, a Seattle-born music project, was formed after Emma Belmont and Sammy Skidmore, both Seattle natives, reconnected years after meeting at summer camp. Bonding over their shared love of guitar, The Shins (they would see the band together at Bumbershoot in 2008) and The Pixies, they were fast friends in 7th grade. Fast forward years later and the two began writing songs at Emma’s home, joined by future drummer Bogie Pieper. The project’s sound expanded from singer/songwriter to full-blown band with the addition of Shannon Barberry (bass), Bogie Pieper (drums), and Kennedy Webb (violin, synth, and backup vocals). 

Their unique style blends poetic lyrics, ethereal vocals, funky rhythms, narrative and melodic guitar solos, and an orchestral sensibility shaped by Kennedy’s classical violin training. With this lineup, Dining Dead breaks traditional song structure and incorporates swing and funk-influenced grooves with classical leaning composition and pop song feel.

Dining Dead’s lyrics range from poignant to nonsensical, with vocal and instrumental motifs adding detail, intricacy, and dimension to their songs. Guitar and violin riffs, operatic doubled vocals and fuzz pedal use converge on their sophomore album. Emma Belmont’s distinctive unfolding and story-telling guitar solos often take center stage as the band’s second signature voice.

Dining Dead’s sound draws from Seattle’s music scene and the folk-country influences of Kennedy and Shannon’s Mississippi and Tennessee roots. The complex, syncopated rhythms brought forth by Bogie imbue Sammy’s songwriting (shaped by artists like Neko Case, Patti Smith, Kim Gordon, and Kate Bush) with more interest. These influences and elements converge to create a meaningfully diverse catalog of songs. 

Dining Dead’s sophomore album Is This a House? blends traditional pop structures with experimental, meandering forms. Rejecting the patriarchal "beginning, climax, ending" narrative, the band challenges conventions in several tracks. In Goddammit, the lyric “even hell has community guidelines” highlights the absurdity of the human experience and the ways in which we police ourselves and others.

Hands/Body combines dark lyrics with a bouncy beat, breaking typical song structure in an unexpected way at the tail end of the song. Dining Dead aims to merge the playful and cerebral, mixing catchy hooks with deep themes.

Emerging from Seattle’s DIY music scene, Dining Dead made their debut at celebrated local venues like Stone Way Café and Café Racer, and continue to perform in DIY spaces, at house shows, and on established stages. They have played Belltown Bloom, Capitol Hill Block Party, The Crocodile, The Tractor Tavern, and more. They have graced the stage with local legends Black Ends, and Zookraught and have opened for notable touring acts such as Everyone Asked About You and The Red Pears.

Their sophomore album, Is This a House?, was released on April 11th, 2025. They will be hitting the road for an East Coast tour in May 2025 and they can’t wait to see what the future brings with the release of Is This a House?

Welcome to the world of our dearest hades! My name is Tommy, and I’m an independent musician in the Denver area. I am also a producer, helping people achieve their creative visions from my at-home studio. Send me a message! 
https://timbrelandlyre.com

Born in Lawton Oklahoma, American Singer/Songwriter Freshour moved to California in 2009. Since then he has fronted many different Rock/ Alternative/ Folk style groups including The Locksmith and Anomalous Peach. He now focuses on Writing, Producing, & Performing predominantly as a solo act in the Monterey Bay Area.

"The Main objective is to make Music that people relate to in a Positive and uplifting way, even if the nature of their experiences that led them to the music was through challenges or difficulties in Life".


"I Believe that it's your Perspective on the Experiences you've had that determine your movement Forward in your Reality and so the Lyrics & Feelings present in my music reflect as much"

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