Bait Bag The Band
Fiona Robins, Courtney Naliboff, and Claire Donnelly.
Courtesy of Bait Bag The Band
- Are you from Maine originally?
Claire: Yes
Courtney: I was born in Oklahoma, but lived in Maine from 18 months old on, other than college and grad school.
Fiona: Born in Indiana and grew up for a bit in Japan and for the most part in the Hudson Valley, NY. Moved to Maine in 2011.
- How did you all become musicians? What inspired you?’
Claire: I started playing electric guitar in middle school, switched to drums to start a band with my best friends in high school. That band was very inspired by Sleeter Kinney, The Donna’s, and The Distillers. Currently loving Laura Jane Grace, Shame, Dry Cleaning, and Arlo Parks.
Courtney: Music was a huge part of my family life as a kid, and I started playing piano at age 5, followed by trumpet, flute, voice, recorder, fiddle, guitar...I wasn’t necessarily good at all of them! I was very much a jazz/classical/musical theater kid and didn’t get into rock until after college (where I got a music degree), when I started singing and playing bass, keyboards and trumpet with a few Boston indie rock bands.
Fiona: I’ve always been singing a tune. I found an acoustic guitar in my Grandma’s closet when I was 15 and she let me keep it. I taught myself from there. I was inspired by the music my dad played in the kitchen - John Hammond, Velvet Underground, Patti Smith, Love Psychodelico, etc.
- Tell me more about your song Safe Word. What was the inspiration behind it and does it tell a story?
Courtney: Last March, a few weeks into the pandemic world, I was doing some woods work behind my house and the “19/20/It would have been enough you know it would have been plenty” line popped into my head. “Dayenu” is a Hebrew word that means “it would have been enough,” and usually it’s in a positive context like we sing a song at Passover about all the miracles of the Exodus and how each one would have been enough. But in this case, it was like...DAYENU, enough already, give us a break! If only we knew what was in store for the rest of the year! The 19 is for COVID-19 and the 20 is for 2020.
- Do you plan to launch new music?
Claire: Heck yesssss - New single coming in March and a bunch of other songs in the works. We’ll probably continue to release singles, but have been dreaming and scheming about putting out a full-length album at some point.
Courtney: We have 8 or 9 songs that we have demos for in various states of completion, so hopefully we’ll keep releasing things pretty steadily!
Fiona: Never stop!
- Do you plan to perform live or virtually anywhere in the near future?
Courtney: Nothing specifically in the works at the moment...we just did a livestream show for the Maine Women’s Lobby legislative kickoff event, which was really fun. Some in-person outdoor shows would be really fun once things warm up a little!
Fiona: I’m playing a couple of virtual solo sets for Blue (2/4, 2/25) that will include Bait Bag songs. Cannot wait to play live again.