The Ashe Mountain Times
“GrooveLily — Band Returns To Electrify Festival With Vigoda’s Violin”
By Mike Shands
The Ashe Mountain Times
July, 2001
The violin will take on a whole new meaning this weekend when GrooveLily takes the stage at Christmas in July.
Led by singer and electric violinist Valerie Vigoda, GrooveLily will return to the festival for the second year in a row to play at the Oldham Variety Stage (East Stage A) Friday, July 6 from 9 to 11 p.m., Saturday, July 7 from 9:30 to 11 p.m. and Sunday, July 8 from 4:30 to 6 p.m.
Self-described as violin-laced, smart pop rock, the band draws from folk, rock and jazz influences. A classically trained violinist, Vigoda has toured nationally and internationally with Cyndi Lauper, Tina Turner, Cher and Joe Jackson.
In addition to Vigoda, other full-time GrooveLily members include pianist and co-writer Brendan Milburn and drummer Gene Lewin. Together they form a shining beacon that stands out in a modern music field of pop clones such as Brittany Spears, Backstreet Boys and N-Sync.
The group’s songs beckon listeners to take a step back from the humdrum of Top 40 tunes while also realizing life isn’t all doom and gloom portrayed by grunge rock artists.
Instead, the songwriting tandem of Vigoda and Milburn chooses to emphasize love, relationships and finding a positive way to work through life’s challenges.
Music critics aptly describe GrooveLily as “Paula Cole attacking Ben Folds Five and Dave Matthews with a pointy electric violin.”
If listeners pay close attention, though, they will also discover the band’s roots lead all the way back to the Beatles’ early love songs of the 1960s, then wind their way back through the innovative aproaches of XTC and the piano-driven melodies of Bruce Hornsby.
Vigoda said she is influenced by intelligent and passionate songwriters such as Hornsby and Jonatha Brooke.
“I love unexpected harmony.” she said.
GrooveLily has received favorable reviews from dozens of newspapers, magazines and other publications, including “The Washington Post,” the Boston Herald,” and “New York Newsday.”
The band was recently a featured guest on the nationally syndicated radio show “World Cafe,” which has launched the careers of artists such as Ben Folds Five, Bare Naked Ladies and Shawn Colvin.
That wasn’t Vigoda’s first time to be featured in front of a national audience, though. As a member of Lauper’s touring band she and her violin were featured in TV performances on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,” “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” and VH1′s “Hard Rock Live.” Vigoda also toured Europe with Joe Jackson and was featured on the PBS “Sessions” series.
A New York University musical theater composition graduate, Milburn has played with Ben Harper and Clarence Clemons. His talented, two-fisted attack on the piano is reminiscent of Ben Folds and early Billy Joel.
Lewin, a Princeton graduate, also earned a master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music, where he played with Clark Terry and Paquito D’Rivera. His work has been compared to that of Dave Matthews Band drummer Carter Beauford. Lewin brings a touch of jazz to the group.
GrooveLily’s visual hook is undoubtedly Vigoda’s flying V-shaped electric violin, called “The Viper.” It features six strings instead of the traditional four. This gives Vigoda a wider and deeper range, allowing her to fill in more for the guitar’s traditional place in a rock band.
The Viper is also different from normal violins in that Vigoda doesn’t have to hold it with her neck and chin. She straps it around her body, placing the instrument’s weight on her chest and shoulders. This leaves her free to face the audience and sing while she is playing the violin.
Playing an instrument came naturally for Vigoda, who grew up in a musical family. Her father was a professional jazz pianist who has worked with Sting and Quincy Jones.
“I was 8, and I really wanted to play the trumpet, but my baby teeth had just fallen out,” Vigoda said. “They said it would be another year before I could play the trumpet so I decided on the violin. It wasn’t really a conscious choice.”
Vigoda excelled in more than music. She also advanced rapidly through school, becoming the youngest woman ever to be admitted to Princeton University (age 14). She also joined the ROTC and later the U.S. Army. There she advanced to the rank of second lieutenant before ending her tour.
Joining the military was a way for Vigoda to assert her independence. “I wanted to be my own person and try something new,” she said.
It was at Princeton that Vigoda decided to try something new with the violin. She began to pull away from classical music and toward rock.
“I had a desire to make my own mark on the world,” she said. “I could be just another violinist among a thousand (classical) violinists, or I could possibly stand out in rock and roll if I could incorporate the violin.”
The next step for Vigoda occurred while she was playing keyboards in a Boston band.
“They found out I could play the violin and wanted me to use that,” she said. “The hardest thing was learning how to play the violin and sing at the same time.”
Vigoda went on to create the Valerie Vigoda Band, which included her father on keyboards. She finally crossed paths with Milburn in 1994, when the San Francisco native first heard her perform.
“I totally fell in love with her voice,” Milburn said.
He decided they should think about joining forces on stage and wrote a few songs to prove his ability. “I started dropping tapes off at her apartment building,” Milburn said. “It took a long time. I had to convince her I wasn’t a stalker.”
Vigoda eventually agreed with Milburn, and he joined her group first as a guitar player, then moved to keyboards after her father stepped out of the band.
Then in 1995 the band members decided to change the name of their group. They wanted a name that embodied the band’s sound – something melodical, and lyrical with rhythm. The visual image that came to mind was a dancing flower.
After three or four years together on the road and in the studio, Vigoda and Milburn took the next step-they got married in 1998, giving GrooveLily a truly family feel. “It feels like Gene is part of the family, too,” Vigoda said.
This is GrooveLily’s second time to play at Christmas in July, but the group is no stranger to festival settings. The band has played recently at festivals in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Vermont, New York, Wisonsin, Georgia and Connecticut.
GrooveLily has also played at colleges, clubs, coffeehouses, special events and conferences in at least 32 states and Canada.
“I love playing house concerts with no microphones when it’s so intimate, just us and 50 people,” Milburn said. “And I love playing festivals.”
At one of the band’s most recent performances, GrooveLily played for 5,000 people while closing a show after Peter, Paul and Mary in Kerrville, Texas.
That may be a sign of bigger things to come for the group which is looking at 100 to 200 performance dates next year.
“We just signed with a second booking agent, and we’re starting to get some radio play,” Milburn said.
Vigoda is also starting to get some television play. “Last week one of my songs was played on TV for the first time, on “The Young and the Restless,” she said.
As for GrooveLily’s goals, Vigoda is ready to conquer the music world. “I have seen the brass ring. I have been next to the brass ring, and we are going for it,” she said.
“We are pretty much focused on this right now. We understand this is our time, but we also have to enjoy ourselves as we go along.”
Milburn can’t believe he’s made it this big, but is also eager to see how far the band can go. “I’ve already gotten farther than I ever expected to,” he said. “I’m getting to do what I always wanted to do, so I’m just completely blissed out most of the time.”
When the band takes the stage in West Jefferson this weekend its lineup will include bassist Jon Warcholak and guitarist Chris Tarrow. “We have just started bringing them on tour the past couple of months, and this is the farthest we’ve brought them away from the Northeast,” Vigoda said.
GrooveLily fans can find out more information about the band and order CDs by looking online at www.groovelily.com.