Villa Vina
When you ask Villa Vina what their music sounds like they say,
“like Ignatious J. Reilly’s beautiful footsteps”. An absurdly odd answer,
but after hearing their music, somehow I get it .It is abstract expressionism forged
into structure by some very fiery imaginations. The core concept was fomented by
front man and lead vocalist Luke Destefano in the active underground music community
of Rhode Island, and eventually migrated to the eastern seaboard’s music Mecca-
New York City. Luke, a ridiculously proficient multi-instrumentalist, story- boarded
his compositions in his home studio and played all of the instruments out of necessity.
The sound that would emerge took a page from the 70’s prog-rock
play book (King Crimson, Yes, Genesis) and mid 90’s indie-rock (Fugazi, Drive Like
Jehu, Jawbox). When Luke moved to NYC , he met bassist, Tommy Orza, a former
member of the highly praised post-hardcore band, “On the Might of Princes” (Revelation
Records). Their styles clicked immediately and they recorded demos with Luke singing
and playing guitar, keys and drums. Tommy’s fluent bass complimented Luke’s songwriting
seamlessly and the core of a new band was solidified. Eventually the band teamed
up with local drummer Ben Gershman.
They subsequently recorded an amazing EP that generated a local
buzz in the Indie scene. Villa Vina then began performing in and around
the Tri-state area, wowing crowds at each show with their sincere passion and finely
honed technical skill. Eventually, they would lure in former “On the Might of Princes”
drummer, Chris Enriquez- a Bruford style tour de force rhythmacist, and the trio
had it’s high performance engine. Chris had recently come off tour from playing
with Criteria (ex Cursive/White Octave) and recorded a full length EP with the band,
Gracer (Revelation Records). With the addition of Chris Enriquez, the band became
a unstoppable force with new songwriting contributions and an unmistakable chemistry.
Villa Vina has a tightness of ensemble only acheived by a musical telepathy between
players and perfectly timed instincts.
Chris and Tommy have become the perfect foundation to Luke’s creativity,
and their contributions on songs like “All I Saw Was Black and “Transformer” are
a modern rhythm section master class. What separates Villa Vina from other bands
is the group’s incentive to be inventive. Villa Vina is delivering an alternative
to stale genres that are easily pigeon-holed and they continue pushing the envelope
as if on musical steroids. The bands’ influences span such a wide variety of styles
ranging from the colors of an early Pink Floyd to the energetic excesses of My Bloody
Valentine, and as wacky and intense as System of a Down with someone like Brian
Eno sitting in. Their songwriting process involves each member challenging one other
to be as creative as possible and play to their best ability. When it gels, believe
me, it is as good as it gets. When you factor this awesome technical skill with
their sincere “F@K the Establishment” passion, you have something so pure and powerful,
that you have to recognize!
View Artist Profile On SoundSugar:
soundsugar.net/VillaVina
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