this song lasts FOREVER
this song lasts forever NEWS - 1.15.09 Wakarusa announced its initial artist lineup for the fest, to be held June 3 – 6 at Mulberry Mountain in Arkansas.  Artists include STS9, The Disco Biscuits, Slightly Stoopid, John Butler Trio, Blues Traveler and Zappa Plays Zappa among others.  Early bird tickets are available for $129. SXSW Music is continually adding to the list of bands that will be performing showcases at various venues in downtown Austin, TX during the March 17 – 21 fest.  Roxwel will be there in the thick of it all, bringing you coverage of the mass chaos! The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival has announced its lineup with Pearl Jam, Simon & Garfunkel, Aretha Franklin, Van Morrison, Lionel Richie, Anita Baker, The Neville Brothers, Allman Brothers Band, My Morning Jacket, Darius Rucker and Widespread Panic topping the bill.  Held April 23 – 25 and April 29 – May 2, single day tickets start at $40. Phish frontman Trey Anastasio will be hitting the road in February with Classic TAB.  The tour begins February 8 in Charlottesville, VA and ends February 28 in Knoxville, TN.  For all tour dates, check out his website. After a killer 5-night NYE run at NYC’s Nokia Theatre, The Disco Biscuits have announced their 2010 Winter/Spring tour that includes 26 dates thus far, including dates at the Ultra Music Festival in Miami, Red Rocks, and Wakarusa.  For a full listing, check out their website. Phoenix has added a few North American tour dates before they head to Japan, Australia and Europe: 01/22/10 Fri Orpheum Theatre Vancouver, BC 01/23/10 Sat Showbox SoDo Seattle, WA 01/24/10 Sun The Crystal Ballroom Portland, OR 01/26/10 Tue The Fillmore San Francisco, CA 01/27/10 Wed Knitting Factory Reno, NV 01/28/10 Thu The Joint @ Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas, NV 02/01/10 Mon Marquee Theatre Tempe, AZ 02/03/10 Wed Estudio Cavaret Guadalajara, MX 02/04/10 Thu Escenica Monterrey, MX 02/05/10 Fri Jose Cuervo Salon Mexico City, MX Summer Camp Music Festival has also announced its initial artist lineup.  The fest will be held May 28 – 30 in Chillicothe, IL.  moe., Umphrey’s McGee and Yonder Mountain String Band are among the performers.  Tickets start at $120. Be sure to check out Austin City Limits first ever hip-hop hour on Saturday, January 16 – K’naan and Mos Def will be performing.  Check your local listings for the time.

this song lasts forever NEWS - 1.15.09

Wakarusa announced its initial artist lineup for the fest, to be held June 3 – 6 at Mulberry Mountain in Arkansas.  Artists include STS9, The Disco Biscuits, Slightly Stoopid, John Butler Trio, Blues Traveler and Zappa Plays Zappa among others.  Early bird tickets are available for $129.

SXSW Music is continually adding to the list of bands that will be performing showcases at various venues in downtown Austin, TX during the March 17 – 21 fest.  Roxwel will be there in the thick of it all, bringing you coverage of the mass chaos!

The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival has announced its lineup with Pearl Jam, Simon & Garfunkel, Aretha Franklin, Van Morrison, Lionel Richie, Anita Baker, The Neville Brothers, Allman Brothers Band, My Morning Jacket, Darius Rucker and Widespread Panic topping the bill.  Held April 23 – 25 and April 29 – May 2, single day tickets start at $40.

Phish frontman Trey Anastasio will be hitting the road in February with Classic TAB.  The tour begins February 8 in Charlottesville, VA and ends February 28 in Knoxville, TN.  For all tour dates, check out his website.

After a killer 5-night NYE run at NYC’s Nokia Theatre, The Disco Biscuits have announced their 2010 Winter/Spring tour that includes 26 dates thus far, including dates at the Ultra Music Festival in Miami, Red Rocks, and Wakarusa.  For a full listing, check out their website.

Phoenix has added a few North American tour dates before they head to Japan, Australia and Europe:

01/22/10 Fri Orpheum Theatre Vancouver, BC
01/23/10 Sat Showbox SoDo Seattle, WA
01/24/10 Sun The Crystal Ballroom Portland, OR
01/26/10 Tue The Fillmore San Francisco, CA
01/27/10 Wed Knitting Factory Reno, NV
01/28/10 Thu The Joint @ Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas, NV
02/01/10 Mon Marquee Theatre Tempe, AZ
02/03/10 Wed Estudio Cavaret Guadalajara, MX
02/04/10 Thu Escenica Monterrey, MX
02/05/10 Fri Jose Cuervo Salon Mexico City, MX

Summer Camp Music Festival has also announced its initial artist lineup.  The fest will be held May 28 – 30 in Chillicothe, IL.  moe., Umphrey’s McGee and Yonder Mountain String Band are among the performers.  Tickets start at $120.

Be sure to check out Austin City Limits first ever hip-hop hour on Saturday, January 16 – K’naan and Mos Def will be performing.  Check your local listings for the time.

Posted 2 years ago
Tagged: wakarusa, music, festival, 2010, sts9, disco biscuits, sxsw, bands, new orleans jazz and heritage festival, jazz fest, new orleans, phish, trey anastasio, disco biscuits, tour, dates, phoenix, summer camp, austin city limits, mos def, k'naan, .
Top 10 Live Performances of 2009…That I Saw 1.  Phoenix @ La Zona Rosa, 12.17.09 – This is most definitely “the show of the year” for me.  I just can’t stop gushing about and crushing on these talented and humble musicians that make up Phoenix, hailing from France.  I got to meet them before this show too, which was pretty cool. 2.  The Disco Biscuits @ Crystal Bay Club, 4.4.09 – My favorite band playing my favorite venue in Tahoe (where I used to live for a couple ski seasons) that’s not only super intimate but is also a casino.  What’s not to like about that?  Oh yeah, and they encored with the song I was dying to hear that night.  Perfect. 3.  The Black Angels @ The Mohawk, 10.30.09 – I really can’t get enough of these local Austinites, and since no one else can either – evident from their constant national and international touring – I don’t get to see them all that much, unfortunately.  But this show was a blast.  If drony, psychedelic rock peaks your interest, check ‘em out! 4.  Ghostland Observatory @ ACL Music Festival, 10.3.09 – Having been in Austin for two solid years now, I somehow did not see Ghostland until ACL ’09.  After nearly a full day of rain, the gloom lifted right before this show.  The energy was just flat-out amazing, as was the light show. 5.  Nico Vega @ Emo’s, 5.13.09 – Aja Volkman has the most commanding stage presence of any female I’ve ever seen perform.  Explosive live performance, soulful vocals…just can’t get enough of her. 6.  The Disco Biscuits @ Stubb’s, 9.19.09 – My interview with the band that began in a port-a-pottie and ended right after the show is probably what made this night so special…and bizarre.  Of course, the fact that they killed it doesn’t hurt either. 7.  K’naan @ ACL Music Festival, 10.2.09 – I was surprised by several ACL performers, but this was the surprise highlight of ACL for me.  Having been completely unfamiliar with K’naan, I had the luck to happen upon this show and found his lyrics to be powerful and his background awe-inspiring. 8.  Lotus @ Ace’s Lounge (post ACL), 10.3.09 – This show was after my favorite day of ACL, which also happened to be the rainy one, and I definitely dried out at this show and then immediately worked up a sweat from all the dancing.  They had to shut down early (at about 3:15am versus 4), but the band did some crowd-surfing, and I scored the setlist. 9.  SOJA @ Flamingo Cantina, 10.14.09 – Another surprise here.  I really had no idea who these kids were but was feeling up for a Wednesday night reggae show at one of the chilliest venues in Austin.  Good thing because it was irie, mon. 10.  Eyedea & Abilities @ Habana, SXSW, 3.19.09 – Two white dudes from Minnesota aren’t what come to my mind when I think of hip-hop, at least until I saw these guys.  Think slam poetry combined with some sick nasty beats, and you get Eyedea & Abilities. I’ve got 6 videos in my Top 10 playlist since the bands I typically like don’t really do the whole music video thing.

Top 10 Live Performances of 2009
…That I Saw

1.  Phoenix @ La Zona Rosa, 12.17.09 – This is most definitely “the show of the year” for me.  I just can’t stop gushing about and crushing on these talented and humble musicians that make up Phoenix, hailing from France.  I got to meet them before this show too, which was pretty cool.

2.  The Disco Biscuits @ Crystal Bay Club, 4.4.09 – My favorite band playing my favorite venue in Tahoe (where I used to live for a couple ski seasons) that’s not only super intimate but is also a casino.  What’s not to like about that?  Oh yeah, and they encored with the song I was dying to hear that night.  Perfect.

3.  The Black Angels @ The Mohawk, 10.30.09 – I really can’t get enough of these local Austinites, and since no one else can either – evident from their constant national and international touring – I don’t get to see them all that much, unfortunately.  But this show was a blast.  If drony, psychedelic rock peaks your interest, check ‘em out!

4.  Ghostland Observatory @ ACL Music Festival, 10.3.09 – Having been in Austin for two solid years now, I somehow did not see Ghostland until ACL ’09.  After nearly a full day of rain, the gloom lifted right before this show.  The energy was just flat-out amazing, as was the light show.

5.  Nico Vega @ Emo’s, 5.13.09 – Aja Volkman has the most commanding stage presence of any female I’ve ever seen perform.  Explosive live performance, soulful vocals…just can’t get enough of her.

6.  The Disco Biscuits @ Stubb’s, 9.19.09 – My interview with the band that began in a port-a-pottie and ended right after the show is probably what made this night so special…and bizarre.  Of course, the fact that they killed it doesn’t hurt either.

7.  K’naan @ ACL Music Festival, 10.2.09 – I was surprised by several ACL performers, but this was the surprise highlight of ACL for me.  Having been completely unfamiliar with K’naan, I had the luck to happen upon this show and found his lyrics to be powerful and his background awe-inspiring.

8.  Lotus @ Ace’s Lounge (post ACL), 10.3.09 – This show was after my favorite day of ACL, which also happened to be the rainy one, and I definitely dried out at this show and then immediately worked up a sweat from all the dancing.  They had to shut down early (at about 3:15am versus 4), but the band did some crowd-surfing, and I scored the setlist.

9.  SOJA @ Flamingo Cantina, 10.14.09 – Another surprise here.  I really had no idea who these kids were but was feeling up for a Wednesday night reggae show at one of the chilliest venues in Austin.  Good thing because it was irie, mon.

10.  Eyedea & Abilities @ Habana, SXSW, 3.19.09 – Two white dudes from Minnesota aren’t what come to my mind when I think of hip-hop, at least until I saw these guys.  Think slam poetry combined with some sick nasty beats, and you get Eyedea & Abilities.

I’ve got 6 videos in my Top 10 playlist since the bands I typically like don’t really do the whole music video thing.

Posted 2 years ago
Tagged: top 10, 2009, live, shows, performances, austin, texas, tahoe, stubb's, la zona rosa, mohawk, acl, sxsw, emo's, flamingo cantina, phoenix, disco biscuits, black angels, nico vega, ghostland observatory, k'naan, lotus, soja, eyedea and abilities, .
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Nico Vega @ Emo’s, ATX - 10.21.09 (interview & live performance)

Los Angeles rock trio Nico Vega recently stopped in Austin for the third time – as far as I can count – in ’09.  First, they were here for SXSW, followed by two gigs at Emo’s (inside stage) in May and October.

Touring in support of their first full-length studio album, Nico Vega, Roxwel was lucky enough to score an interview, along with an acoustic rendition of “Beast,” during SXSW.  And then we caught up with them again before their October 21 show at Emo’s, where we also shot their performance of “Protest Song,” “Living Underground,” “Taxi Cab,” and “Fe Fi Fo Fum.”

If you’ve ever listened to Nico Vega, it’s undeniable that Aja Volkman (vocals) has been influenced by strong and commanding female singers.  In fact, Aja tells Roxwel that seeing the iconic Tina Turner at the Staples Center last year had a major impact on her, seeing the sort of emotion that went into Turner’s voice and performance.

“It was really inspiring to me just to see a woman be so powerful, despite what she was battling,” she said.

Aja’s explosive live performances and soulful vocals are pretty inspiring themselves, and the band’s bio on their MySpace page seems very fitting:

“For us Nico Vega is a way of life. We are 3 people who play music together. We write as a band and help each other develop our ideas. The root of the music is the relationship between us. Nico Vega is about collaboration. We are a family and we honor each other by listening and allowing each other to grow. We push each other to be better and to carry each other when we feel weak.

Nico Vega represents a modern day saint. A warrior that has led us to a more fulfilling, lighter way of being. She represents people and unity. She fights for all of us and teaches us to fight for each other. She is an idea that has evolved into a message and she fuels us in our bellies. She is the person we are all capable of being, but she holds the bar high above our head so that we must reach to be better human beings. We all have honesty inside of us, we all know how to love, we are all made of the same flesh, and we are all stuck here together. Nico Vega reminds us that we can learn to fuse these ideas together and grow more solid as a unit of man. Alone we are lost, we fail, we grieve, we search, we struggle, we feel small. Together we are solid, found, loved, and powerful. We are our own greatest natural resource. Our ego falls away when we listen to each other. It is when we stop believing that we can learn from one another that we stop learning altogether. Only then are we alone. We are no different from each other; the same flesh, the same pain, the same love, the same heart. Our greatness is no threat. The more beautiful we are individually, the more powerful we are together. It is our Ego that betrays and lies and tells us that we are threatened when we are not.

You are a part of our family and we will always make music to communicate our love and gratitude for you. If you come to our show, throw your hands up so we can feel you… you will feel us.”

This description sheds some light on Nico Vega as a whole, as well as the creation of individual songs, which is a collaborative process among the three – and a far cry from being formulaic.   It’s really all in the moment, according to the threesome.  The only recurring theme seems to be what the experience of their live shows should produce for both the band and fans: a release.

Check out the full interview and see what else Aja, Rich Koehler (guitar) and Dan Epand (drums) have to say about music that has changed their stage presence, their songwriting process, what they’re thinking before a show, and how it’s been working with MySpace records.

Also, check out their full live performance of “Protest Song,”“Living Underground,”“Taxi Cab,” and “Fe Fi Fo Fum,” or watch each song as a single (by clicking on the individual links).

Posted 2 years ago
Tagged: austin,, interview,, nico vega, roxwel, 2009, aja volkman, dan epand, rich koehler, sxsw, music, video, live, protest song, living underground, taxi cab, fe fi fo fum, .