MUSIC PREVIEW: Roses and Cigarettes at South Bay Customs
Jennifer Pagliaro and Angela Petrilli are Roses and Cigarettes. Photos by Rachel Evans.
It’s hard to figure out who is the rose and who’s the cigarette. The women of Roses and Cigarettes are both lovely, determined, smoky and sweet.
At 25, guitarist Angela Petrilli may be the younger member of the duo, but she has a long history in the beach cities. The Hawthorne native grew up in a family of artists – her grandfather, who built instruments, was the brother of famed artist Harry Bertoia.
Petrilli started playing music when she was 16 and her guitar teacher, who shall remain nameless, sneaked her into local bars to play with him onstage.
Then, while playing on the South Bay circuit a year ago, Petrilli met vocalist Jennifer Pagliaro, a 30-year-old Massachusetts native with a serious set of pipes.
The two women began by playing country covers together but soon found they shared musical taste in everything from Patti Smith to Ray LaMontagne.
“I grew up in Chatham and moved out here when I was 20 to do the music thing,” Pagliaro said. “I started writing and playing out a few years ago and then taught yoga and bar tended to make money.”
Pagliaro’s East Coast roots led her to Sonny McLean’s Irish Pub in Santa Monica, where she not only serves fellow Boston sports fans, but also has an opportunity to promote her music.
“From working at that bar for so long, I know a lot of people at bars and people who book musicians,” she said.
“That’s been a huge advantage for us,” Petrilli said.
Though Petrilli may be a little more outgoing when it comes to promoting the band, Angela has her own approach. The UCLA grad has a creative soul with solid business mind.
“My mom didn’t even want me to go to college,” she said, laughing. “I went anyway, but she knows me. If I don’t play music for a few days in a row, I am not fun to be around. I need to play every day.”
Roses and Cigarettes started coming together one evening at Pagliaro house. What began as the two ladies rehearsing for an acoustic set turned into hours of songwriting and experimentation. Now they even interview in harmony and unison.
“I remember us sitting down and recording it on our cellphones that night,” Petrilli said, laughing.
“You write the song and you never know what it will sound like,” Pagliaro said.
Luckily, Pagliaro had the confidence to share their music with Mike Lyons, a fellow Cape Cod native and veteran of the ’90s band the Hookers. She told Lyons she wanted to make a full album with Petrilli.
“He said, ‘If you really want to do this, I’m producing it for you,'” she said. Now, the women are spending long hours in Lyons’ studio in the Valley. But they’re not complaining.
“I thought my future would be a hired gun, a session musician,” Petrilli said. “This is incredibly gratifying.”
“Not me,” Pagliaro said, smiling. “I knew we had the chops.”
Roses and Cigarettes play with Hangdog Expression on Friday, October 10 at South Bay Customs, 115 Penn Street in El Segundo. Show starts at 8 p.m. and tickets ate $8. For more information, visit southbaycustoms.net.