Gretchen Menn, Angeline Saris: Zepparella – Janeane Bernstein – She Rocks Music Awards Red Carpet Interview – NAMM 2015

'Get the Funk Out' Janeane Bernstein with original members of 'Zepparella' , Clementine, Gretchen Menn & Angeline Saris on the red carpet at the Hilton for the ‘She Rocks’ Music Awards during Winter NAMM 2015

Zepparella – Clementine, Gretchen Menn & Angeline Saris
Clementine is the founding member and drummer of Zepparella
Hard Rock/Funk/Pop drummer Clementine adds her powerfully passionate style to every project. As a founding member of the road-dog metal band BOTTOM, she developed a heavy-hitting, dynamic sound. As Phyllis Rudd in AC/DSHE, her athletic and exciting playing helped garner the band top-grossing status in the Bay Area, and throughout the States and the UK.

Clementine is the founding member of ZEPPARELLA. She tackles the best rock drumming ever written with her own emotionally powerful style, bringing the Motown influence of the Bonham groove to the forefront. The musical connection established with Gretchen (guitar) in AC/DSHE creates the bond required to do this great music justice.

This connection seeded another project, THE HOUSE OF MORE, an original music project with all four original members of ZEPPARELLA. Compared to Pink Floyd, Tom Waits and Fiona Apple, Clementine contributed not only the drumset and songwriting collaboration, but also most of the lyrics to the debut album.

When THE HOUSE OF MORE paused, Clementine continued writing and ended up with a solo project, FRANCIS BAKIN. Writing the words and collaborating on the music with Gretchen Menn, a 10-song debut album was released in 2009. The songs are a combination of live and electronic drumming, slide guitar (Gretchen Menn and Ted Savarese), fretless bass (Robert Preston) and things that go “Boing.” The song “Cold Snap” won second place in the 2008 International Songwriting Competition in the Lyrics category.

Gretchen Menn
Apart from demolishing her mother’s violin with Pete Townshend-like vehemence at age three, Gretchen’s passion for all things guitar didn't fully surface until her early teenage years. It was under the tutelage of classical guitarist Phillip DeFremery, a student of Andrés Segovia, that Gretchen began her path on the instrument. Her father, noted writer and former editor-in-chief of Guitar Player Magazine, Don Menn, was quick to point her in the direction of the greats as soon as she expressed interest in guitar.

Angeline Saris
One minute of Angeline’s low-end thumping coming at you and you’ll know she is just as much beast as beauty. She is a monstrous talent and has the schedule to prove it. In the last year alone, Angeline recorded 2 albums and toured with the Narada Michael Walden Band, rocked the stage with Santana when he joined Narada’s band at their most recent show, joined forces with reggae and ska legend Ernest Ranglin, laid down some serious shredding bass on Gretchen Menn’s album Hale Souls (and works regularly as her touring bassist), recorded 4 instructional DVD’s for Hal Leonard as well as a demo video for GHS strings, joined the all-female Led Zeppelin tribute band Zepparella and continues to moonlight as a hired gun in the studio and for local shows.
Her resume includes work in an amazing array of styles, including jazz, rock, fusion, funk, R&B, pop, hip hop, and even flamenco/speed metal. With an arresting combination of versatility, focus, taste, and chops, she is a seasoned professional and compelling performer. Her jazz background shines through in her melodic lines; her rock leanings mean she isn’t afraid to lay down a solid, heavy grove; her chops allow her to burn when the moment asks for flash and energy. Whatever the song calls for, that is what she honors.

Zepparella – Janeane Bernstein – She Rocks Music Awards Red Carpet Interview – NAMM 2015