The “Devola” virus

As much bands there are in NYC there are many female fronted bands, but probably the most noticeable of those bands is female fronted band Devola. Having a bit of a line-up change in late 2006 current band members include; Chuck Dick (Drums), Fancy (Guitar), Nick (Bass) and of course lead singer “Elizanightmare”. Devola released an album on September 27th of 2006 with 5 tracks, which is also available for purchase on iTunes for $9.99 or available individually for $0.99 each song. Devola’s album Where the Stories Stay is recorded fairly well and shows the “catchiness” of their songs, as terrifying as it may sound Devola songs are the type of songs that will not leave you alone when you’re trying to sleep, but I never said that was a bad thing of course, one example of this is the bridge of “I don’t want him but I’ll take him” has this back and forth kind of music moment between the guitar and bass complimenting each other very well while Elizanightmare sings her troubles over the on-going melodies then this leads to a powerful ending to the song which is dealt with a rhythm driven bass, palm muted guitar, double bass drums and mood driven vocals… again, very catchy and stays stuck in your head while your trying to have jello shots in the corner of the bar, which brings me to another point later on while explaining Devola’s live show. Yes people you read it just right, jello shots! Anyway if I’m writing an article about Devola you must know well enough to know that they are worth giving a listen to.
Devola’s live show is great and an experience in all aspects to witness. Lead singer Elizanightmare is quite active with the crowd and very influential by the crowds reactions and it shows, in the start of the song “I don’t want him but I’ll take him” Elizanightmare will not let the song start until every hand in the crowd is clapping the tempo of the song in the beginning, talk about crowd participation. Devola feeds off the energy of their audience during their live show and that’s always a plus considering that so many people are into this band and also come out to support Devola, a big reason is because of the simple fact that Devola is well known in the New York City music scene, in other words if you check out shows at these NYC venues and you still have not heard about the band known as Devola then you my friend have been living under a rock. Remember earlier I said something about jello shots? Yeah Devola has this thing, mind you… a thing that I have never seen a band do at their live show, Devola invites free jello shots for the people that come out to the show (limited supplies only of course), that’s what I call even more motivation to get your lazy ass up and come out to a show.
May 6th, 2006 the Thrash Bar in Brooklyn, NY, I was doing my usual round shooting bands when I noticed Devola’s name on the bill and I thought to myself; great, I get to finally check Devola out. I look up on stage and I notice hardly any equipment except for two acoustic guitars and three stools, so I thought to myself acoustic session? Elizanightmare walks up on stage sporting a nervous look and starts to make an announcement about how they are going through band changes and that this set is going to become an acoustic set, with the drummer of Devola playing guitar, kudos my friend… kudos. The set turned out to be really well; as the cliché goes “they got lemons, so they made lemonade” they made the best of it and totally pulled it off, I wouldn’t mind checking out a Devola show if they decided to book an acoustic show, in fact that’s not such a bad idea. Overall the current line-up is tight as a drum, with an odd timed drummer, melodic guitarist, responsive bassist and a very mood influenced singer. Make sure to check these guys and girl out, they are worth your time. Devola plays the Thrash Bar once again on March 29th with two previously reviewed bands back in December 2006 Near Forever and Milsted, come check out the show… besides, I’ll be there too. Thrash Bar is located on 256 Grand St between Driggs Ave and Roebling St, Williamsburg, Brooklyn (718-599-1000). Subway: L to Bedford Ave. Don't forget to check out Devola on their Myspace site: (www.myspace.com/devola)

“All is fair in love & war”
-Love and War

Be sure to go out, have fun, be drunk, buy albums and check out your local music scene.-Jason Franquiz

In Extremis "Absolutes & Opposites"

In Extremis “Absolutes & Opposites”-

Coney Island’s Siren Fest July 7th 2006, as I just finished shooting Near Forever’s 40 minute set on a hot cloudy July afternoon I walked back to my camera bag putting my Nikon D50 D-SLR away, I looked over my right shoulder to notice a young woman helping the drummer set up his equipment on stage, as I turned my head back to my equipment Near Forever’s bass player (Eric Velasco) taps me on my back and faintly whispers to me; “that’s a lucky guy… some chick is helping this guy set up” assuming that she was a band girlfriend or something of the sort, I turn back at him and say “yeah that’s pretty nice to have”. Only to find a few minutes later that it was the lead singer of In Extremis (Michelle). With a beer in my hand and my equipment finally put away I leaned up against the small gate which happened to be stage right, and then I witnessed new (to me) live music that I enjoyed very much. If you go out to enough shows you know just as well as I do that it’s hard to “run into” a good band, a band that wows you, and that is also part of the reason why most people tend to go see bands that they already know of, so they won't have to deal with "wasting time" on sucky bands they are not aware of.
With a 7-string guitar and a 5-string bass screaming out of cabs set up on stage and the band along with microphones set up on the floor instead of the stage, accompanying the “raised “ cabs was drummer (Hiam “beatbox” Shuri) using the entire stage as a drum riser. The set was played very strong and energetic overall, while playing the song “Fcuk Friends” during the mid-ending of the song when it turns really hardcore a small pit actually opened up which pretty much didn’t surprise me considering that the crowd was very much into this band from the moment they started to play. Once and a while singer (Michelle) would belt out powerful yet faint screams during the set, which can also be heard on the In Extremis album Absolutes & Opposites. The album itself sounds very good in quality and on point in general, with 8 songs you can’t go wrong for the selling price of $5 bucks, the case is also constructed very well with a lot of work put into it. The album was mixed and mastered by “The Jerry”, the same person to invite these wonderful bands to Coney Island’s Siren Fest, the record with mixed and mastered fairly well also. This is a band worth listening to, I know good music when it slaps me in the face even though my friends beg to differ, but take my word on this one. In Extremis is a very interesting and skillful band, and they are based out of NYC, with that being said it is your duty to check out your local music scene and don’t miss out. Check out In Extremis here: http://myspace.com/inextremis

Be sure to go out, have fun, be drunk, buy albums and check out your local music scene.-Jason Franquiz