Sabrina Chap's got classical piano skills, the ballad lyrics of Tom Waits, the onstage antics of Phyllis Diller and the voice of a whiskey angel. Her sets are a ragtime stompin' good time, full of laughs, heartbreaks, and just plain good songwriting.
A classical pianist since the age of 5, Sabrina initially came to songwriting once she picked up her first guitar in college. Her first album, Bedroom Sessions, is a collection of folk songs written exclusively on guitar and recorded in her bedroom using Garageband.
After years of developing a strong folk following at places like the now defunct Burkhart Underground, Uncommon Ground and virtually every coffeehouse in Chicago, she turned back to the piano. She then learned Scott Joplin’s infamous ‘Maple Leaf Rag’, and began writing songs in the ragtime tradition.
This collection of songs formed from her latest album, Oompa!, which has found it's foothold in the burgeoning neo-burlesque and vaudeville scene. She performed with the Cheeky Monkey Sideshow, Hot Oven Dutch Burlesque, Book Club Burlesque, Floating Kabarette, That's F*cked Up! (Seattle) and alongside the scene's greatest stars, including Trixie Little and Evil Hate Monkey, Helen Pontani, Harvest Moon, Tigger and Murray Hill.
Since touring with naked ladies and sideshow acts is better than touring alone, she formed The Schlapentickle Family Burlesque and Revue, where she showcases her songs as Mama Schlapentickle. Last summer, the Schlapentickles hit the East Coast in a succesful 9 city tour.
Sabrina's music has been featured on the CBC of Canada, the film Too Much Pussy- Feminist Sluts (Cannes Film Festival pick, 2011), the Associated Press and her video has been featured at FemmeCon and on The FlavorPill Fix alongside Screaming Females.
She was commisioned to score four silent films for New York's noted avante garde film event, Cinema 16 (future commissions included members from the Yeah Yeah Yeah). Recently, Sabrina performed original songs and incidental music for the theatrical piece FILE:Under, a series of short plays award winning playwright, Bekah Brunstetter, and produced by SUPERWOLF. She also performs incidental music and scores acts for the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus.
This winter, Sabrina went on two Triple Threat Tour's, one hitting the Northwest, and another in the Midwest. In these tours, she performs live music sets, performs in burlesque shows, models for Dr. Sketchy's and lectures on her Lambda nominated book, 'Live Through This- On Creativity and Self-Destruction'.
This summer, she's recording her new cd, We Are the Parade, with her new drummer, the amazing Lee Free. |
photo by Justin Walker