"Bands I Know" Series - Part Two - Matt Vrba

I have played off and on the last few months with singer songwriter Matt Vrba, whose brand of 'high octane Americana' has caught the ear of Nashville Star, a countrified version of American Idol.

Matt is in the running to be one of the primary competitors on the upcoming season and has made is so far that he'll likely at least be in the first episode. He's beaten out something like 10,000 competitors so far to get where he's at. Rockin!

Coincidentally, Matt was planning on moving to Nashville even before he found out about the show. So the stars seen to be aligning - no pun intended. He hit the road in a moving truck Monday but will be back in town to play May 9 at Ponderosa Lounge.

Last Saturday, we played a 'going away' gig at the Dublin Pub in Portland, and I posted some of the highlights on YouTube. Here are a couple of clips:

Danville Train


Trucker Song

"Bands I Know" Series - Part One - Luce

I thought I'd take this week to post some interesting stuff about some bands that I know personally. I'll start off with Tom Luce, a guy I went to high school with, who sang in my first heavy metal band, Osiris.

I lost touch with Tom between graduation and about 1999, but we re-connected and I have enjoyed tracking his career, which is still going strong.

When Osiris reunited for our 20th High School Reunion a couple of years ago, Tom was supposed to join. But due to his house burning down and all of his band's gear getting stolen on the road - both in the same week - he couldn't make it.

We forgave him, barely.

Much as Rush did with Feedback, Luce has decided to recharge its collective batteries and stretch a little by recording an EP of cover songs.

The below video is a cool overview of how and why they did it. Enjoy.