Vocal stylings ala Murphy/Bowie/Manson, the new band Life Love Misery looks to move you with songs via an Alt-Rock Trio + String Quartet.

After studying jazz music in college, Todd Tate made the switch to rock music by playing with a number of Bay Area bands in the late ‘90s. He later formed his own group, Life Love Misery, and rounded out the power trio’s lineup with drummer Kenny Stavropoulos (a former touring percussionist for Starship) and ex-Psychosis bassist Mario Previti. Life Love Misery also received some help from orchestrator Graham Pellettieri, who arranged string parts for the band’s first batch of songs, and the group released its self-titled studio debut.

Todd Tate is a seasoned SF Bay Area musician, audio engineer and producer whose credits include a Grammy nominated recording (audio engineering). You can find his work under Sayla Dobro and Life Love Misery on all digital services.

Enigmatic doesn’t even begin to describe Sayla Dobro’s presence. Consisting of guitarist and vocalist Todd Tate alongside drummer Daniel Guaqueta, Sayla Dobro was brewed up in the Bay Area, between Marin and San Francisco. Originally created as a stage name for Tate’s persona in a now defunct Marin bar-hopping band, "The Deep Sounds of Bobby Peru", Sayla Dobro has since evolved into a much more complex and mature getup.

The band really kicked off after Tate saw dobro guitar virtuoso Jerry Douglas play live - he instantly went out and bought a dobro guitar and starting writing and recording immediately. Now part of his namesake, Sayla Dobro is characterized by Tate’s customized Regal RD-35 square neck dobro. Enter Colombian-raised, Mississippi-born multi-instrumentalist Daniel Guaqueta. The drummer and Tate came together through mutual friend Michael Starita, President of the San Francisco area Grammy chapter. Starita mixed the first two Sayla Dobro singles, “The Way You Move” and “J-Train”. During this time, he introduced Guaqueta and Tate and the rest was history.

Sayla Dobro’s songs hearken seasoned folk-rockers like Beck and Calexico, thoughtfully self-produced and rough around the edges. It’s no surprise that Sayla Dobro has been able to capture such a potent essence - the band’s frontman and lead songwriter Todd Tate’s industry experience runs deep. In the mid-nineties Tate’s main focus was audio engineering at The Blue Room Studios, working on Grammy nominated Latin jazz with Carlos “Patato” Sanchez, and with popular rock artists like Train. On the brink of the millennium, Tate ditched full-time engineering and went to the other side of the glass to focus on making his own music. He made a rock record with a new group Life Love Misery (members of The Starship and Cacophony).

Meanwhile, Guaqueta has a rich musical background of his own. He’s written and released music with artists including Questions in Dialect, Buddy & The Squids, Mainframe Theory, and Storage 24. He’s collaborated directly with Roy Mitchell-Cardenas (of Mutemath) and Mississippi rapper Kamikaze. His diverse background runs further; Guaqueta’s visual artwork has earned honors for his music videos, including the Telly Award, the Addy Award, and the Ruma Award at Crossroads Film Festival.

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