Bell's Roar Shares 'Celebrate' Video, Announces Art Funds Art Tour Venues Debut LP 'We Carry Us' Out 1/12
By: Emily Bruno Dec. 13, 2017
More brilliance from Albany, NY-based bell's roar (Sean Desiree, pronouns they/them) today. After a monumental last week-they were announced to play Treefort Music Fest the day before playing a live set as part of Moogfest's Always On livestream focused on female, non-binary, and trans performers-bell's roar is thrilled to share their incredibly colorful, prideful "Celebrate" video. This is the second taste we've heard of their blissful, empowering debut album We Carry Us, a 10-song manifesto out January 12 that infuses dream pop with R&B and dance hues. Digital promos of the album are available upon request.
In the "Celebrate" video, Sean's partner Alisa Sikelianos-Carter can be seen dancing around the Albany plaza in a vivid outfit, her motions and the music screaming that those in oppressed communities should never let society silence them. Be yourself, and be proud of yourself, always. Stand up. Fight back.
Thematically, the video and song are consistent with bell's roar's main message; one could say that supporting their community from within is their trademark. Case in point is their Art Funds Art Tour, which launches February 1. It takes the profits from ticket sales and distributes them into artist grants and performance stipends to underfunded queer and trans artists of color in each of the cities it visits; it begins in Albany and travels all the way down to Atlanta over the course of 12 days. Venues for some of the dates, as well as some shifts in dates, are listed below.
Read more about Art Funds Art Tour and watch the video for "We Carry Us" in Autostraddle
Art Funds Art Tour:
February 1: Albany, NY @ Albany Center Art Gallery
February 2: Boston, MA @ Make Shift Boston
February 3: New York, NY @ Trans-Pecos
February 4: Philadelphia, PA @ The Art Dept
February 6: Baltimore, MD @ Motorhouse
February 8: Richmond, VA @ Black Iris
February 9: Durham, NC @ The Pinhook
February 12: Atlanta, GA @ The Mammal Gallery
About Art Funds Art Tour: ART FUNDS ART TOUR is a new concert series that uses music to support queer and trans artists of color within each city on the tour. It's a new model for touring that takes the profits from ticket sales and distributes them into artist grants and performance stipends to underfunded artists. The first nine dates of the tour will take place February 1-11 and happen in cities along the east coast including, Boston, NYC, Durham and Atlanta, among others. Artists can use funds in any way that helps sustain their artistic endeavors.
ART FUNDS ART TOUR was created by Sean Desiree of bell's roar, www.bellsroarmusic.com. Struggling as a queer and non binary artist themself, they want to use their platform to support other artists in their same position. The goal of their debut album We Carry Us is to spiritually and financially uplift their community. Dissatisfied with the one-way relationship between audience and performer, they aim to use their music to support the voices and art of LGBTQI artists of color. Historically and presently, our society prioritizes the work of European and cis gendered heterosexual people. All people and their art contribute a meaningful analysis of our humanity that should be celebrated and supported.
About bell's roar: The name bell's roar symbolizes the focus and attitude held in Sean Desiree's solo project. It's a reference to feminist writer bell hooks, who speaks of intersectionality and solidarity in their work. Being a queer, gender nonconforming person of color, Sean cannot isolate forms of oppression. The roar represents the fight to not be silent and to use their creative voice to stop ongoing domination. The goal of the music is to reinforce solidarity within the movement and create affirming spaces for queer and trans people of color. They've taught themselves to play multiple instruments and produce in order to keep the project true to their voice and self sustaining. They have performed everywhere from art hubs like the Brooklyn Museum and Andy Warhol Museum to institutions such as the University of Pittsburgh, Cornell, Columbia, and Rutgers. They have a new self-produced album, We Carry Us, coming out January 12, 2018. They've worked with Kiran Gandhi and Tom Morello's Firebrand Records and have opened for THEESatisfaction, MS MR, and K Flay.
bell's roar: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Soundcloud
Photo Credit: Kiki Vassilakis
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