Exhale Retro

September, 2025

In the beginning

It’s 2010. Obama is president. I just finished 9th grade, and I’m about to have the first summer of the rest of my life.

Enter: Taylor Wong. The guitarist who won the local Skip’s Stairway to Stardom battle of the bands. He, now 20, and absolutely famous in my teenage eyes, wants to start a band. And he wants me to be in it.

Me: The bass player who fell in love with everyone who walked by and wanted to be a Red Hot Chili Pepper.

We jammed and had a blast. Taylor helped us move a piano into my mom’s living room. We spent Thursdays and every weekend together. Writing songs, practicing, gigging, driving from Roseville to Sacramento to Elk Grove. He wore some divine cologne that was just delicious. He was sweet and enthusiastic. But, damn, he could really play guitar.

Enter: Orrey Severet. Whose cologne was on par with Taylor’s, could crack a snare that burst your eardrum, and became my best friend. Were we dating? Were we siblings? No one could tell, and it didn’t matter to us. All we knew was we loved each other and could write a song in an instant. With the three of us, each practice was better than the last. My first text message to him was “Hey, it’s Emma the bassist!” and, of course, Emma the Bassist became my name in his phone for the next 10 years.

July 9, 2010

“The best room in my parents’ house is our garage. For years, it had a ‘55 blue and white Chevy. About three years ago, we cleared it out, moved in a drum set, 4 amps, a turntable, old records, and posters of David Bowie, Talking Heads, and Frida Kahlo. We put up different lights so the atmosphere is really relaxed, creating a kick ass band room. A lot of band practices have happened in there. All, being great, cannot compare to one particular practice with Exhale.

Orrey had been writing killer lyrics, and we were hauling out new riffs, but were stuck on one song. Taylor couldn’t find a melody. Orrey presented us with these passionate lyrics about a couple where the boy liked the girl much more than she liked him. I started to get an idea for the melody. We played it through. Everything clicked into place.

We used Boggle to name the song Hot Glue before changing it to Unspoken. This band practice was groundbreaking for us. We wrote a brand new hit single, and the guys found out I could sing!

September 10, 2010

Exhale played with The Kelps and Buffalo! Buffalo! at The Boardwalk in Orangevale. If the sound guy likes your band, he’ll make you sound good. His name was Claude. If he doesn’t like you, well… you’re SOL.

During sound check Stuck in the Middle with You came on. I had just watched Reservoir Dogs for the first time (against my mother’s wishes), so I was singing along. So was the sound guy!! He said, “You’re funny, I like you.” Thank god for that!

Orrey had just replaced his drumheads for the show, and the snare head wasn’t “sitting” quite right. Claude came on stage and told Orrey to stand, with all his weight, on top of his snare drum; Orrey looked at him like...are you sure? He did so anyway and has been implementing this technique ever since. Trust Claude.

Soon we will be playing at Slim's in San Francisco (edit: we got 2nd place!).

In the middle

We recorded our first single, Unspoken, at One Eleven Studios with Kevin Prince. Wrapping at 3 am, we hung out in the back of Taylor’s red pickup before driving to Orrey’s house to swim.

September 20, 2010

This past weekend, FRIDAY, SATURDAY, & SUNDAY, EXHALE recorded two songs, Hey! Hey! Hey! And Weather King at One Eleven. Mark Gilmore came into the studio on Friday to interview us. It was a fantastic weekend.

August 16, 2010. 12 PM

“I’m waiting for Mark Gilmore’s Local Licks on 98ROCK to play Unspoken. Chili Peppers and Nirvana played before our song. Mark is so kind. I’m on the radio right now. WHAT?!?!?”

Mark even let Orrey and Taylor do a stinger one time, you know, like, “Hey, this is Orrey, and this is Taylor from Exhale, and you’re listening to 98 Rock!”

Then it all changed.

March 31, 2011

“Taylor moved to Boston to go to Berklee College of Music. Then, Orrey got accepted there to start next fall. I got into the 5 Week Summer Program. Taylor will pick me up from the airport. We will play one last Exhale show in Boston!”

We broke up. Funny thing, memory. I’d forgotten why until now. I’m glad 15-year-old-me took such meticulous notes.

Since then

Taylor moved to Boston to study music, started his own music teaching business, got married, and had four kiddos! Oh- and got four black belts within that time.

Orrey lived in Boston and Los Angeles, ran a successful web design company, recorded 3 other albums, and collated his catalog of 10,000 songs into Spotify Playlists.

Emma co-founded Girls Rock Sacramento, recorded 3 other albums, taught music at The Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, became the Volunteer Coordinator for Gaia Music Collective, and now works for the Girl Scouts of Northern California.

Fast forward

It’s July 2025. Orrey texts me: “What if we re-release Unspoken?”

I said, “Hell yeah. What if we write a new song?”

Fifteen years, six voice memos, one text to Taylor, and two sessions at One Eleven with Kevin later: here we are. Our nostalgia is ready to burst. Thank you for coming along for the ride.

With love,

Emma