Portland-transplant acoustic rocker Sarah Angela finds new stage in Denver

By Liam Greenwood

Sarah Angela, 29, is adorable – a singer-songwriter in the style of Bonnie Raitt or Jewel. Raised in Portland, she moved to Denver two years ago, finding a receptive music scene and a bounty of new friends, two of whom – Rafael Brito and Matt Milligan – were eager to back up this talented young-woman on percussion and guitar, the three of them becoming Sarah Angela and the Meanies.

Angela will be performing at this year’s PrideFest at 4:15 p.m. on the main stage at Civic Center.

When did you decide to move to Denver?

Two years ago – love it. I had come through hear a year before that to record with some guys in Boulder. And I just loved it. It’s awesome here. Ninety percent of the people you meet are not from here so everyone is super open minded and like: ‘who are you? Lets be friends!’ The music scene is better for me here; I feel like there are way less chicks with their guitar here than in Portland. In Portland every other girl you meet is a singer/songwriter with a guitar in her hand. Whereas here I felt like I got more love. There are a lot of chick-rock bands, but not so many singer/songwriter stuff.

It’s interesting that you left Portland to come to Denver to pursue a music career. Portland seems to be the place to begin one.

You know, I think the reason I left Portland was that I was still . . . I grew up in a really sheltered life. I was still catering to what everyone else wanted out of me. And I left so I could be myself and do my own thing. And Denver has been awesome for that. Back there people thought they knew me so well: Here I can start fresh.

A lot of musicians writing personal songs – especially gays and lesbians – didn’t have the easiest time growing up. Were your parents receptive to your sexuality?

No. That’s one of the reasons I left. My family is very Christian, very religious. I have other family members that were gay, and that was really hard because there were moments that I wanted to talk about [my sexuality], but I would hear the way my family would talk about the ones that did come out. So I never had a “coming out moment.” It just happened through Facebook. I didn’t mean for that to happen. I was naïve enough to think that a bunch of pictures of me and my girlfriend just looked like we were best buds. And then, of course, I get a call from one of my sisters and she says “soooooo . . . is Katie your girlfriend girlfriend, or just your girl-friend?” And I said, “she’s my girlfriend girlfriend, but don’t tell Dad yet.” But he eventually found out.

What was his reaction?

He never tore me apart. We’ve had long talks about it. I’m sure he still has his sad, religious thoughts about it.

Have you written any songs about coming out to your family?

I haven’t written anything about the hardships of trying to be myself. I was never sad about it. I was just like: it’s fine. I was lucky enough to grow up in a generation where it is so public. It is so okay; in so many cities. Like Denver: it’s crazy, when I moved here I never once felt weird about holding [my girlfriend’s] hand in public. Because nobody here cares.

More than in Portland?

I never reached out to the LGBT community while I was out there. So I can’t really say that. I think Portland is extremely friendly [to gays and lesbians] but I didn’t experience that, because I was still catering to what everyone else wanted me to do.

So how did you meet your girlfriend?

I met her here. That’s probably why I moved here. I came through here just to do some recording for a six week period in Boulder – I had been traveling for a year before that, living out of my car and going from city to city, playing whatever gigs would make me enough money to get to the next city. It was pretty fun, yet nerve-wracking. And then the same week that I showed up here she showed up with a bunch of friends for Spring Break at the same house I was staying at. They were going to go snowboarding all week, but she was just following me around for a couple days.

So you two clicked right away?

Yeah. One day I was singing in my room, practicing, and my window was at ground level. So she’s really tall and she was standing outside my room, with her head just at my windowsill, and I was in the middle of a song and I look out there, and she’s like [makes the cute face of adoring fan]. And then she made her friends angry for not snowboarding all week – she just hung out with me. When she went back to Arkansas I stayed here, but we traveled back and forth to see each other, but then decided to move to Denver together.

What inspires your songs?

I’ve written quite a bit of my songs about friends. A lot of them were written with other people. I have a song called “Lost Cause” that’s about people who like you, and you like them – but they like you a lot more than you like them. And then they decide they hate you, because you don’t like them like that. My little sis’ has a big influence on my songs – her life and what she’s going through. She’s gone through a lot more than me: I left home a lot earlier than her and she had it a lot harder.

So you’ve written songs from your perspective as a message to her?

Yeah. A message for her.

Do you have plans to record an album soon?

Very soon. Our friends are building a studio in their home right now. We’re trying to record before September, because then we’ll be going on a northwest tour. So back home, then up to Seattle, maybe up to Canada, Olympia, Eugene, and then we’ll end the tour here at the Mile-High Horror Film Festival. So we’ll be dressed up in Zombie attire, playing our songs.