Disappear Fear (stylized as ''disappear fear'') is an American

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and su ...

indie folk Indie folk is a music genre that arose in the 1990s among musicians from indie rock scenes influenced by folk music. Indie folk hybridizes the acoustic guitar melodies of traditional folk music with contemporary instrumentation. The genre has it ...

/ Americana/ world beat band formed in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, in 1987.

Biography

Disappear Fear is a songwriter, a band, a visual artist named Sonia Rutstein. Sonia hails from Baltimore, Maryland in the USA. Sonia has received many awards, including the Coin of Honor from the US Army for her humanitarian efforts, and the GLAAD award for Best Album. Sonia has shared the stage with many of her heroes, including Bruce Springsteen (Light of Day, Jan 2014) and Pete Seeger (Clearwater). When asked about her sound, Sonia reports: “I would say I think my voice is somewhere between Patti Smith and Perry Como; and my guitar style has a Gypsy Kings/Richie Havens flavor. The songs are mine but you can hear some Beatles and Springsteen. It’s really all about the energy--like a bird jumping off a window ledge. It’s in that split second of trust and light and talent and God." The original band, formed in 1987, consisted of sisters Sonia Rutstein a.k.a. SONiA and Cindy Frank a.k.a. CiNDY, and expanded the following year to include guitarist Howard Markman. Their lyrics often addressed love, life, Baltimore,

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term i ...

rights, and progressive political issues. The pair released six albums as a duo. (According to the band's official website bio, more than a half million copies of Disappear Fear records have been sold through 2009.) In 1994, after self-releasing their music via their own

Disappear Records Disappear may refer to: * "To disappear" someone (transitive verb), referring to forced disappearance. Music * ''Disappear'' (album), or the title song, by T.S.O.L., 2001 * "Disappear" (Hoobastank song), 2005 * "Disappear" (INXS song), 1990 * ...

label, the band was signed to Rounder/Philo Records. Two years later, Cindy stopped performing regularly with the band in order to focus on her growing family. Cindy's teen son Dylan Visvikis has shared his talents on vocals and piano. From about 1996 through 2004, Sonia started a solo career that took her across the nation and around the globe. She released four LPs under her own name and established herself in the world of LGBT,

Lilith Fair Lilith Fair was a concert tour and travelling music festival, founded by Canadian musician Sarah McLachlan, Nettwerk Music Group's Dan Fraser and Terry McBride, and New York talent agent Marty Diamond. It took place during the summers of 199 ...

, and alt-folk artists. Rutstein has participated either alone or with the band in events including the

March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation The March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation was a large political rally that took place in Washington, D.C., on April 25, 1993. Organizers estimated that 1,000,000 attended the March. The D.C. Police Department put ...

and the Concert for Peace at the

Lincoln Memorial The Lincoln Memorial is a U.S. national memorial built to honor the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is on the western end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., across from the Washington Monument, and is in ...

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

with

Peter, Paul and Mary Peter, Paul and Mary was an American folk group formed in New York City in 1961 during the American folk music revival phenomenon. The trio consisted of tenor Peter Yarrow, baritone Paul Stookey, and contralto Mary Travers. The group's repe ...

(March 2003). Her performing destinations have taken her as far away as

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

(where she toured

bomb shelters Air raid shelters are structures for the protection of non-combatants as well as combatants against enemy attacks from the air. They are similar to bunkers in many regards, although they are not designed to defend against ground attack (but many ...

), Fiji, and Australia's

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century archit ...

. The newest Disappear Fear recording is 2013's '' Broken Film'', an album steeped in folk, pop and Americana sounds. Playing on the album are Sonia (

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of th ...

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica in ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a musica ...

), Elaine Romanelli (

background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

and organ), Don Conoscenti (electric guitar), Don Kerce (Bass), Dylan Visvikis (

), Helen Hausmann (

violins The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regul ...

spoons Spoons may refer to: * Spoon, a utensil commonly used with soup * Spoons (card game), the card game of Donkey, but using spoons Film and TV *Spoons (TV series), ''Spoons'' (TV series), a 2005 UK comedy sketch show *Spoons, a minor character fro ...

), Jeff Gilkinson (

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

), Laura Cerulli (

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or witho ...

), and Mike Poole (

). Recorded in Nashville at the Brown Cow, from this CD was borne a successful 18-city tour with the full disappear fear band. SONiA's latest solo album is ''By My Silence''. Released in late 2018, it reflects her mostly positive experience touring in Europe, but also, after being re-routed on her tour by right-wing nationalist marches, renews her commitment to sing out against

anti-semitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Ant ...

. Opening the album is ''A Voice for Nudem Durak'', in support of a young woman jailed in Turkey on a 19.5 years sentence for singing in her native Kurdish language. Rutstein's 2006

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

tour led to the founding of

Guitars for Peace The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strings ...

, a non-profit foundation that delivers instruments to children in impoverished or war-torn nations.

Soundtrack appearances

Sonia's songs are featured in the teen movie ''

Frog and Wombat ''Frog and Wombat'' is a 1998 independent children's film written and directed by Laurie Agard, about two 12-year-old girls named Jane and Allison who investigate a murder in their hometown, which they believe was committed by the middle school ...

'' and in the independent film ''Wave Babes''. Sonia also scored the entire soundtrack for Dave Marshall's documentary film ''Autumn's Harvest''. Released for first time in 2018 on

Terror Vision Records Terror(s) or The Terror may refer to: Politics * Reign of Terror, commonly known as The Terror, a period of violence (1793–1794) after the onset of the French Revolution * Terror (politics), a policy of political repression and violence Emoti ...

was Sonia's score for '' Igor and the Lunatics'', a 1985 horror film. Most of the soundtrack was recorded with her band at the time, Exhibit A. The musical "small house no secrets" (composer Sonia Rutstein) was presented in march 2019 in Baltimore. The songs were available on the CD "small house no secrets - composer´s cut" by SONiA disappear fear

Awards and nominations

Rutstein won the award Queer Music Heritage
/ref> for Best Female Artist of the Year in 1999 for ''Almost Chocolate'' and her ''Me, Too'' won for Best Acoustic Album in 2001. The band's eponymous album won the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Media Award for Best Album in 1994. Both ''No Bomb Is Smart'' and ''

Tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries as the result of a combina ...

'' garnered multiple

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

nominations for Rutstein in the pop and folk categories. In 2002, the Santa Cruz Guitar Company created its "SONiA" model guitar in Rutstein's honor.

Discography

Disappear Fear

* ''Echo My Call'' (1988) * ''Deep Soul Diver'' (1990) * ''Disappear Fear'' (1994) * ''Live at the Bottom Line'' (1994) * ''Seed in the Sahara'' (1996) * ''

Get Your Phil ''Get Your Phil'' is the sixth studio album released by Disappear Fear. This release marks the return of the harmonizing vocals of sisters: Sonia Rutstein (SONiA) and Cindy Frank (CiNDY); which have not been featured since the group's 1996 album, ' ...

'' (2011) * Broken Film (2013)

SONiA

* ''Almost Chocolate'' (1998) * ''Me, Too'' (1999) * ''Live at the Down Home'' (2001) * ''No Bomb Is Smart'' (2004)

SONiA & Disappear Fear

* ''

DF 05 Live ''DF 05 Live'' (stylized as ''DF 05 LiVE'') is the first live album and first overall album by American folk band Sonia & Disappear Fear. The album was released on October 18, 2005 by Sonia Rutstein's own Disappear Records label. The songs on th ...

'' (2005) * ''

'' (2007) * '' Splash'' (2009) * '' Blood, Bones & Baltimore'' (2010)

SONiA disappear fear

* ''SONiA disappear fear - LiVE at MAXiMAL'' (2016), solo DoCD recorded in Rodgau, Germany * ''By My Silence'' (2019) * ''small house no secrets - composer´s cut'' (2019)

Band members

Current members

;Disappear Fear *Sonia Rutstein (SONiA) - lead vocals, guitar, piano, harmonica (1987–present) ;Additional musicians *Christopher Sellman - bass (1993-1997, 2019) *Howard Markman - lead , vocals (1988–present) *Ezell Jones - drums *Tony Correlli - piano/sound engineer (2010–present) *Don Conoscenti - lead guitar (2013–present) *Isaac Tabor - bass, guitar (2013–present) *Helen Hausmann - violin (2004–present) *Laura Cerulli - drums/percussion (2005–2013) *Dylan Visvikis - piano, backing vocals (2010–present)

Past members

*Michael Bowie - upright bass (2010) * John Grant - guitar, bass, loops (1987-2007) *Debbie Flood (drums) *Susan Charnley (bass) *Seth Kibel - tenor sax, baritone sax, clarinet, flute (2010) *Brian Simms - keyboards, accordion, backing vocals (1993-1997) *Marc Lawrence - drums (1993-1997) *Dominic Vigliotti - bass *Cindy Frank (CiNDY) (1987 - 2019) *Glenn Workman - keyboards (2008)

References

External links

SONiA/disappear fear websiteAllmusic
*Extensive career interview and discography by JD Doyle fo
Queer Music Heritage
{{Authority control All-female bands LGBT culture in Baltimore LGBT-themed musical groups American folk rock groups American folk musical groups