Photograph by Anastasya Korol

High-rise, low notes: Sean Hicke and his bass survey the local scene.

Bassist Sean Hicke didn’t always play the upright. In fact, the San Diego native got his musical start on its electric cousin. “I was playing in punk bands and whatnot in middle school,” says the 26-year-old. “But I kinda got switched over to saxophone and clarinet because of school bands. I actually started college on saxophone before switching to bass after a year.” That’s when Hicke became enamored of the large acoustic instrument, despite its unwieldly size. “I really liked playing bass, but never really got too many opportunities to play it all that much, and it was a tough sell to convince my parents to get me one as a kid. After I made the switch, I was able to use an instrument from the school for six months before I got my own.”

Before Hicke left San Diego a few years back, he recorded his debut album Sunflower Sutra, featuring locals like Louis Valenzuela on guitar, Matt DiBiase on vibes and Julien Cantelm on drums, all recorded by Chris Hobson at Rarefied Recording in North Park. A number of circumstances had inspired the relocation. “My girlfriend” — Camellia Aftahi, also a bassist, but of the classical persuasion — “was going to grad school in Cincinnati, Ohio. We tried the long-distance romance thing for a while, but I decided to move back there.” After freelancing in Cincinnati for a year, (mostly doing rock gigs), Hicke and Aftahi decided to try their luck in New York City for a year. Aftahi had an admin fellowship at Juilliard, and Hicke survived doing online teaching and as many freelance gigs as possible.

“The pay scale was pretty atrocious back there. I had a lot of fun in New York, but what I was able to make versus the cost of living in New York ultimately prompted us to head back to San Diego.” But even that decision involved some practical logistics that needed to be resolved. The couple no longer had a car, and they had to either fly back to town (neither had a suitable flight case for their instruments), rent a car (finding one that would fit both instruments ultimately proved impossible), or come up with an alternative. “Camellia had actually traveled via Amtrak for auditions back East in the past. So, we started investigating it and checking the prices, and it turned out to be a little bit better of a deal. And it ended up working out fairly well.”

The couple essentially plotted three separate train trips, totaling about 70 hours of travel time. “We took a train from New York to Chicago,” Hicke recalls. “Then Chicago to Los Angeles, and finally Los Angeles to San Diego. Of course, the stressful part of each trip was actually boarding with our basses, because there’s always the risk that the conductor will say ‘no.’ The first two trips, we were lucky, in that we were able to board early and find spots to store them. We actually got to put them next to us in the seats with no problem, which was cool, because we ran into a major problem on the last train from L.A. to San Diego. At the last second, they added a car and switched the door where you would board, so we went from being the very first people in line to being the very last, and the seats were much smaller. The conductor said it would be a safety hazard, so we had to store them with the general luggage compartment. Luckily, the person in charge let us in and allowed us to secure the instruments. But that was a super stressful situation.”

Now that they’ve survived the trip back home with their basses intact, Hicke and Aftahi are ready to get back to work. “I’m really looking to dig my heels into the San Diego scene, and make this what I do,” says Hicke. “It’s been a ton of fun so far. I’ve been able to reconnect with people that I haven’t played with for years, and I’ve been able to hook up with people that I would have never even dreamed of playing with the last time I was in town. I feel very fortunate to be playing the gigs I’m playing.”

Aftahi has also found local work. “She’s starting to build her own freelance situation in town. The process is a little different for classical musicians. She’s doing some teaching and working on an application for the doctorate program at UC San Diego.”