{"id":8925,"date":"2019-10-08T14:20:41","date_gmt":"2019-10-08T21:20:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=30000002872"},"modified":"2019-10-08T20:50:22","modified_gmt":"2019-10-09T03:50:22","slug":"one-high-fives-david-sauer-shoulders-new-album-with-help-from-some-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/one-high-fives-david-sauer-shoulders-new-album-with-help-from-some-friends","title":{"rendered":"One High Five’s David Sauer shoulders new album, with help from some friends"},"content":{"rendered":"

For a phrase containing just four ordinary, single-syllable words, the foreboding phrase\u2014\u201dWe need to talk\u201d\u2014is the last sentence anyone in a relationship, especially one they thought was going well, wants to hear. We\u2019ve all heard the various permutations, some more subtle than others, but usually, it ends with bad news.<\/p>\n

David Sauer, frontman of local indie punk band, One High Five, has been dealt his fair share of bad news. Following the release of his first album, \u201cHere, Hear\u201d in 2015, the musician and songwriter has struggled to keep his band alive. With band members dropping like flies\u201420 in the course of three years\u2014playing consistent shows was becoming impossible as his morale waned.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou grow up with the romanticized version of a band of friends hanging out, knowing each other for so long, and then they go out and conquer the world together,\u201d Sauer said. \u201cThat romanticized image of what a band should be or could be was kind of taken away from me multiple times over the last number of years while trying to get a band together.\u201d<\/p>\n

He realized that the only person he could rely on was himself and despite bouts of depression bordering on the existential, Sauer couldn\u2019t ignore the quiet buzz to keep writing. Working from his garage studio, Sauer threaded together the core of his soon-to-be released, second full length album\u2014\u201dBeardlip\u201d\u2014a collection of 12 deeply personal songs that encompass all the artist has realized about himself.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Album art to One High Five’s second full-length album. Photo by Nick Agro.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201c\u2018Beardlip\u2019 is kind of a word and symbol of being so close to my mouth,\u201d Sauer, now 37, said. \u201cI think the personal nature behind this album was something that I enjoyed trying to get into it more, especially lyrically. At the end of the day\u2026 just remembering to believe in myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sauer knew that he wanted his next album to feel bigger and fuller than his last. With no band members to offend, or help for that matter, he seized the opportunity to try out some new ideas.<\/p>\n

Inviting his friends\u2014mostly other locals from the city\u2014he achieved the feeling of a four or five piece band, replete with a driving vocals section. The opening track of the album, \u201cC\u2019mon\u201d features a six second burst of country bumpkin\u2019 twang voiced by Kevin \u201cDyzzy\u201d Diehm, owner of Dyzzy on Vinyl Records on E 7th Street.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Dyzzy] used to throw shows at his shop and I was always in love with how he would introduce the bands right before they would play,\u201d Sauer said. \u201cHe’d be there with a mic in his hand and a smile on his face and just go off on these crazy introductions. I wanted to capture that because to me, at the time, he was just an important player to my growing up in Long Beach.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
The ultimate high five, captured at a full packed Prospector show on 7th Street. Photo by Erica Torres.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Borrowing fingers from guitarists Jason Gray and Edgar Rodriguez are driving, animated guitar solos featured on \u201cWhen You\u2019re Coming Down,\u201d \u201cFear of Failure\u201d and \u201cOut on the Dance Floor.\u201d Accompanying vocals backing Sauer come from Derek Phillips of San Pedro, who is both Sauer\u2019s friend and fellow sound engineer at the Federal Bar in downtown.<\/p>\n

The gang of vocals featured on a quarter of the record, most notably on \u201cFast Food,\u201d the first single released on his record, are harmoniously delivered by 11 other various friends from the local live-music landscape.<\/p>\n