Katey Sagal plans to rock the house at Don the Beachcomber
Katey Sagal is well-known as the sarcastic, lazy housewife Peg Bundy on television’s “Married... with Children.”
Success continued when she veered dramatically into the role of the ruthless matriarch of a biker gang on “Sons of Anarchy.”
But as versatile as Sagal is as an actress, she still has the heart of a singer and songwriter. She started her musical career as a background singer for Bette Midler, Etta James and Olivia Newton-John.
And though her acting career took off, and garnered her a Golden Globe, Sagal couldn’t ignore the longing to continue pursuing music.
Now she has a new band, Katey Sagal and the Reluctant Apostles, which is set to perform Jan. 27 at Don the Beachcomber in Huntington Beach.
“I always played music and I’ve always had bands beginning at age 14 or 15, and this is a throwback to what I have,” Sagal, 62, said by phone from Los Angeles, where she lives.
Sagal, who is married to “Sons of Anarchy” creator Kurt Sutter, teamed up with the crime drama television series’ music director, Bob Thiele Jr., and formed the Reluctant Apostles, which is made up of “Sons of Anarchy” family and friends.
“When ‘Sons of Anarchy’ ended [it ran from 2008 to 2014], we still wanted to play music together, and we imagined songs that we really liked,” Sagal said.
Her bandmates include Billy Harvey, Davey Faragher, Michael Urbano and John Philip Shenale. They are all accomplished artists in their own right, Harvey having performed with Patty Griffin and Charlie Mars, Faragher with Elvis Costello and Richard Thompson, Urbano with Smash Mouth and Shenale with Tori Amos and Jane’s Addiction.
The musicians just finished a record, and they want to play in local nightspots and let people know they are around, Sagal said.
“With this band, it’s evolved into soul psychedelic with folk leanings and lots of vocals,” said Sagal, noting that one can also hear the influence of blues sung by various stars of the genre.
“It just rocks,” she added. “I can’t tell you enough how great these guys are in the band. It’s just super fun and people really dig it.”
Sagal, who was born in Los Angeles to a show business family, developed an interest in music around age 5 when the Beatles arrived in America. Her father, Boris, directed the Elvis Presley comedy “Girl Happy,” and she got to meet the King himself when she was 11.
By 15, she had learned to play the piano and guitar, but Sagal grew interested in acting when her father encouraged her to play supporting roles in television movies and episodes of “Columbo” and “The Bold Ones.”
She continued pursuing music in the mid-’70s and landed gigs as a backing vocalist before getting her first major acting role — as a newspaper columnist in the television sitcom “Mary,” starring Mary Tyler Moore. It ran from 1985 to 1986, finding considerably less success than “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” which ran from 1970 to 1977 and broke ground by featuring a single career woman.
Though the “Mary” series was short-lived, Sagal’s role led her to being cast as Peg Bundy, on “Married... with Children,” where she played the role of a dysfunctional housewife for 10 years.
After the show’s end, Sagal starred on “Futurama” and “8 Simple Rules” before she landed her dramatic role as the mother figure of the outlaw biker gang in “Sons of Anarchy.”
The role allowed her to return to her musical roots.
Sagal sang on the show’s soundtrack at least once each season, and her voice was featured on two albums of music from the series that were released in 2011 and 2012. A year later, she took time off from acting and headed to the recording studio to work on her third album, “Covered.”
The recordings interpreted the works of some of her favorite songwriters.
Today, she sings lead on a number of songs for the band and also plays the bongos and guitar during concerts.
“We’re always excited to play, and we want everyone to have a really good time,” Sagal said. “Music is about feeling something, and we have so much fun together that it’s infectious.”
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IF YOU GO
What: Katey Sagal and the Reluctant Apostles
When: 7 p.m. Jan. 27
Where: Don the Beachcomber, 16278 Pacific Coast Hwy., Huntington Beach
Cost: Tickets start at $15
Information: (562) 592-1321 or donthebeachcomber.com.
Twitter: @KathleenLuppi
