The Braids

Is this the real life? Or is it just fantasy?

Its for real, alright. The Braids Bohemian Rhapsody was one of 1996s biggest hit singles and now the time has arrived for the Bay Area duos highly anticipated Atlantic/Big Beat debut, HERE WE COME.

The saga of the Braids began back in 1995 in the head of San Francisco musician Stephan Jenkins, who had the idea of revamping Queens classic 1976 pop opera with a Nineties R&B sound. Luck and the incredible inbreeding of the Bay Area music scene led him to the two women who are the Braids, singers Zo Ellis and Caitlin Cornwell. The rest, as they say, is history.

With its sparse insistant beat, intricate musical fills and Zo and Caitlins irresistable diva-esque vocals, what could have been a laughable remake of a beloved pop favorite became an delightful and original worldwide smash. Caitlin is the only singer I can think of who has enough power and nuance in her voice to do Freddie Mercury justice, Jenkins says. When Mojo Magazine asked me to list the top ten singers of all time, it was easy for me to put Caitlin and Freddie Mercury on the list together.

The Braids Bohemian Rhapsody sold over 300,000 records around the globe, a remarkable figure for a single from the soundtrack to a little-seen film. The single went gold in Norway, silver in France, and platinum in New Zealand, and was a Top 40 chart smash just about everywhere, from Holland, Norway and Italy to Sweden, Canada and Japan. All of a sudden, the Braids were international stars.

It was truly out of the blue, says Zo. One day I went and did this studio session and the next thing I knew, we were shooting the video and Im in my trailer getting my hair done and people are treating me like I was somebody. Were fine with being home and no one really knowing whats going on yet, says Caitlin of the Braids global fame. That way we can still run around the cafs and not be recognized.

Though HERE WE COME does include a new pair of the Braids trademark Seventies remodels David Bowies Young Americans and Cat Stevens The Wind the album is highlighted by the original songs from Stephan Jenkins. Tracks such as the dub-influenced Giant Steps or the dark techno-funk Static In The Wire feature liquid grooves and delicious hooks, all circling around Zo and Caitlins sultry and soulful vocals. (The album features additional production from Elektra Records hip hop artist Jason Slater).

Each song has a different flavor, says Caitlin. If I had to categorize the entire album, I would call it alternative pop. Stephan Jenkins had a vision. The leader of San Francisco alt-rockers, Third Eye Blind, foresaw a girl group that featured an earthy breed of hip hop where the singers voices not their fashion statement was the groups focal point. In 1996, the budding Phil Spector set about creating the Braids to record a cover of Bohemian Rhapsody for the soundtrack to the film, Set It Off. He searched the San Francisco scene for singers to demo the song, knowing that the label wanted to give it to an established artist who would perform the song on the soundtrack. Eventually a mutual friend 3EB bassist Arion Salazar suggested Jenkins work with his pal and onetime bandmate Caitlin Cornwell. When Jenkins decided he wanted to add harmonies to the songs bridge, Caitlin suggested her lifelong friend, Zo Ellis, who unfortunately had a scheduling conflict and couldnt make the sessions.

Caitlin finished the track on her own, but when Jenkins realized he needed to re-record some of the song before presenting it to the label, the singer was incommunicado in Texas. This time, Zo was available and she came into the studio to sing the bridge. Jenkins was so happy with this version that he felt his vision of the Braids, three years in gestation, could now be realized. He then lobbied Atlantic Records Executive Vice President/Office of the Chairman Craig Kallman to go with the two singers real people with a real history with each other. Kallman took a chance and signed the Braids, placing Bohemian Rhapsody on the High School High soundtrack.

Originally Jenkins had envisioned the Braids as a quartet, but who was he to fight fate? Who needed four singers when he already had these two wonderful voices and personalities? He was always looking for his Braids, Caitlin says. After he met me, he started going, Oh my gosh, shes a Braid. And then he met Zo and he said, Shes a Braid too.

To get to the heart of the Braids vocal sound and chemistry, one has to go back a few years to Cazadero, a Bay Area family camp devoted to music and the arts where Zo and Caitlin first met as five-year-olds. Its a huge support system for trying anything artistic that you ever wanted to try, Zo explains. Painting, wood building, drama, music, dancing. I majored in dance. I didnt realy start singing till later, but every day there was an open mike where everybody got up to try anything. The whole point of Cazadero was you should always try.

Both sets of parents were very musically oriented, notes Caitlin. They thought that music was a fundamental part of our existence, and Zo and I both definitely displayed interest in singing and music from a very young age. So they took us to Cazadero and exposed us to a lot of music and stuff. We know we met there because we have photographs to prove it. The girls drifted apart after music camp, though they both recall bumping into each other as teenagers at a local bowling alley. After high school, Zo and Caitlin met once again, this time at the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, an multi-racial, inter-denominational community choir specializing in tradition black Baptist gospel music. From that time on, the two have been as thick as thieves. I was living in the dormitory at college but that summer I ended up moving into Zos apartment, Caitlin recalls. And weve been together ever since.

Our relationship is more like siblings, Zoe says. We can go a month or so without seeing each other because our lives are so busy but theres no fear of any friendship lost. While the Braids are currently top priority, Zoe and Caitlin both continue to sing in the Bay Area hip hop/funk band, the Mofessionals. In addition to their many musical teamings, the two both are currently working at Yoshis, a Japanese restaurant and jazz club in Oakland. Its about one city block long, Zoe says. We have a walkup sushi bar, a seated lounge, a seated bar, a box office and then the club. Caity and I work mostly in the central nervous system of the place, the box-office. We have never gone more than six months in the last ten years without sharing a job. It just works out better, because we can cover each others shifts. Basically if theres a gig or even a 9-to-5 job, we pull the other one into it, laughs Caitlin.

The undeniable closeness between Zoe and Caitlin is obvious on HERE WE COME. The two divas personal and vocal chemistry is the one constant thoughout the albums genre-hoppping originals. Mostly written by Jenkins, the songs on HERE WE COME gleefully traverse all sorts of modern pop, from the haunting hip hop electronica of Something To Believe In to the funky rap swing of Jazzy Life.

The undeniable closeness between Zoe and Caitlin is obvious on HERE WE COME. The two divas personal and vocal chemistry is the one constant thoughout the albums genre-hoppping originals. Mostly written by Jenkins, the songs on HERE WE COME gleefully traverse all sorts of modern pop, from the haunting hip hop electronica of Something To Believe In to the funky rap swing of Jazzy Life.

The undeniable closeness between Zoe and Caitlin is obvious on HERE WE COME. The two divas personal and vocal chemistry is the one constant thoughout the albums genre-hoppping originals. Mostly written by Jenkins, the songs on HERE WE COME gleefully traverse all sorts of modern pop, from the haunting hip hop electronica of Something To Believe In to the funky rap swing of Jazzy Life.

For those who fell for the Braids Bohemian Rhapsody, HERE WE COME also features a pair of utterly inventive dancefloor remakes of Seventies pop staples: an infectious and summery take on Cat Stevens The Wind, and a bubbly update of David Bowies Philly Soul-influenced Young Americans. The Bowie songs complicated vocal melody at first appeared daunting to the Braids, but the girls pull it off with considerable skill and undeniable charm. I Dont Feel You Anymore, a song about secrets kept and faith lost between people, will surely emerge as the soul of the album. While HERE WE COME closes with a new acoustic version of Bohemian Rhapsody, the records emotional climax comes with Mine Is My Own, a lush ballad co-written by Zoe. I wrote it a long time ago, she says, and when you do any artistic endeavor, your first time out is usually about yourself and your stuff. This particular song was me trying to check myself about a whole bunch of things. Its dark and kind of sad, but its a good tune.

With HERE WE COME, the Braids have clearly arrived. If the deliciously danceable, instantly hummable songs werent enough, the unstoppable combination of Zoe and Caitlin, the two voices coming together as one glorious sound, is what makes the Braids the true stars they were destined to be. Caitlin and I are different in a lot of ways, says Zoe, But theres something going on when we sing together. Theres an unspoken understanding of each others ideas and thoughts. We love singing together. There is very little anybody could do to deter me and Caitlin from singing together, probably for the rest of our lives in some capacity.