Indie rock combo, Celina Rescott & The Embers perform at The Casbah on June 3, part of a bill that also features Evan Diamond & The Library and 500 Days of Summer.
The bands original members are Celina Rescott (vocals), Tristan Brooks (lead guitar), Jackson Shaffer (bass guitar / backup vocals), PJ Sweeney (drums), recently joined by newest member, Evan Diamond Goldberg (guitar).
Originally from the East Coast, Rescott moved to San Diego in September 2021. “I had visited the west coast a few times prior and was enamored with the culture,” she recalled. “My sister had been living here at the time so I finally just decided to pull the plug. I was living in Boston at the time working as a pharmaceutical sales rep. I found another similar job out here and made the move. After about two years of being here, I made the decision to pursue a more entrepreneurial path and have been on that journey ever since.”
Rescott’s passion for music started at an early age. “I always had the sparkle in my eye and the passion in my soul,” she said. “My parents got (me) into piano lessons when I was in the second grade and I can always remember wanting to sing more than I did play piano but the two went hand in hand. I hated taking lessons but I’m glad they made me stick with it because now I’m able to accompany myself on the keys and it’s become the backbone of how I create music.” Listening to the likes of a wide-ranging list artists including Céline Dion, Whitney Houston, Hayley Williams, Lady Gaga and Edith Piaf, Rescott found inspiration. “I saw all the pop stars and Broadway stars when I was growing up, on big stages, and wanted to be that when I was older. I don’t think I ever really felt it was a possibility though. Aside from my piano teacher, I never really knew anyone who was a “musician” for a living.”
Her move to San Diego was the catalyst for Rescott’s move to music as a career. “It wasn’t until I moved to San Diego and saw so many people doing it that I realized what kind of possibility there really was,” she said. “Even still, I’m learning what it’s like to be a musician and all that encompasses it beyond what my naive self thought it may be, the glamour and glory. It’s much more a labor of love. It’s also like an abstract painting- a lot of different things converging to create a somewhat confusing image- but one that makes sense to me. The daily ins and outs of my life tend to be the inspiration behind my writing. I write about my experience of emotions, of events, of possibilities, of make believe scenarios. All of my songs currently released have been centered around experiences of relationships with other people. That tends to be the easiest for me and really where I feel I need to get the feels out per se. It helps to make sense of what’s going on in my head and to release it.“
How does Rescott describe her sound? “I recently decided “Pop Rockera” is the defining sound,” she said. “I have a musical theatre background and the sound of my voice tends to reflect that – cinematic and dramatic – but I write with a pop sound in mind and then I have a rocker stage presence and power that comes out as well. That’s my own perception of it though. What other people think, I’m not so sure. I’ve been equated with Paramore and Florence the Machine. When I write with The Embers, the music takes on a wholly new edge and sound as well that is just different. We’re definitely not writing straight pop songs. We’re definitely not writing straight rock songs. It’s somewhere in between and I like it.”
Following the release of her EP, Mind Games, in 2025, Rescott and The Embers latest single is “Screamin’ My Name.” Its creation was not without some difficulties. “I really like this song,” she remarked. “It’s got some serious energy and heat behind it. What’s funny is how the song came to be. I had an idea for a song a while back and had some lyrics written in my phone. It hadn’t come to fruition. Then, last summer when I was hiking in the Adirondack mountains with a friend, we happened to be caught out on the trail pretty late at night. PSA to all the hikers of the 46 High Peaks, don’t underestimate the time it’ll take to get back down Mount Marcy. Rookie mistake. Any good hiker knows though, late at night, you have to make noise to keep bears away. We were also 12 hours into the hike at that point so we were also insanely fatigued. We had to keep morale up and my friend I was hiking with said how about you try writing a song. So, I just started yelling out some lines and stringing thoughts together. I wrote them down after – the first verse. When I was back in San Diego, I had a musical epiphany that the lyrics I’d written down a while back would fit in with these lyrics. That happens a lot. Two separate ideas will come together to create a song. Once The Embers and I got together to work on it, it became the groovy piece that it is.”
Rescott just returned from touring in Europe, with another road trip set for later this summer. How did Rescott put the tour together? “We were in the studio recording “Screamin’ My Name” and I was like “guys, what if we played in Europe,” she explained. “I had the experience of booking our first mini East Coast tour last summer and I figured the process would be much the same. It was kind of just a pipe dream at first but I just randomly sent out our materials to some venues and then it kind of fell to the wayside.” A month or so later, one of the venues got back to Rescott offering a gig. “I remember texting the guys being like “uh….someone actually wants to book us.” So, then I followed up with some others and another got back to me a few days later. Once we had two, I asked if they wanted to really pull the trigger and everyone said let’s do it so I really got to work on landing us a few more shows. Over a few weeks, we had 5 booked across 4 cities and 2 countries and that was a solid plan for us. It was an ecstatic, surreal feeling, seeing the work pay off and then having the anticipation of actually going to Europe to play our original music. In short, hard work and tenacity is how it came about.”
Beyond San Diego area shows that include a monthly covers spot at Patrick’s Gaslamp Pub, Rescott heads to the East Coast for a short run of shows in August.
- August 05 at The Holding Company (w/ Jessie Lark and Sara Jade)
- August 17 at The Cantab Lounge Underground in Boston, MA
- August 20 at The Little Hazy Stage at The Bank of New Hampshire Pavillion (before The Fray)
- August 22 at Funkin’ Waffles in Syracuse, NY
Meanwhile, Celina Rescott & The Embers will be releasing a Beach Break Session with Pacific Beach based, The Music Company (TMC), later this summer.
“Upcoming recording plans include two singles, and a cover- one we’ve been playing for quite some time with our own spin on,” Rescott said. “We’ll likely be recording at Amplified Studios as we have in the past and Tristan Brooks will be engineering the tracks for us. Quite lucky that my guitarist is also a producer and engineer! I also have a solo track titled “Lifelong Friend.” I’ve had this song done for a while and will be working on it in collaboration with Tristan Brooks to produce it. It’s a really personal song.”
What’s Rescott’s favorite thing about being a musician? “I get to make people smile,” she said good naturedly. “One of my gigs is singing in nursing homes and assisted living facilities and it might be one of my favorites. They always appreciate my performances so much. I’ve had a number of memories of residents coming up to me to say that my singing brought them back to a specific memory or time. It’s really special.”
Rescott notes that “it can get taxing to be performing all the time. Whenever I get burned out, I remind myself that it’s not just for me. The talent that I have, the service that I provide really moves people and creates experiences that sticks with them. When I step outside of it, for the most part, I get paid to have fun and how lucky am I to be able to say that?”
