GrooveLily Gives Passionate Performance For Homecoming

by

Andrew Havens

Those who missed the phenomenal group, GrooveLily, on Thursday, February 18 passed up a truly great show.

GrooveLily consists of Gene Lewin doing percussion, Valerie Vigoda on electric violin and vocals, and Brendan Milburn on piano, organ and vocals. Vigoda’s amazing talent on the electric violin and her angelic voice excellently complement the passionate and warm feel the band displays, particularly during her emotional solos with a six-string electric violin called a ‘Viper’.”

This concert featured almost all original compositions written by members of the band. GrooveLily has received many great reviews by such publications as NY Newsday, The Washington Post, The Music Paper, The Boston Herald, and Campus Activities Today.

CAB sponsored the concert as a homecoming event and an alternative to the usual Thursday night revelries here in Americus.

The next stop on GrooveLily’s tour is Orange County Community College in Middletown, NY on Thursday, March 4. For more information on GrooveLily, tour information and band merchandise, you can visit their web page at http://www.groovelily.com.

– Andrew Havens

Gettin’ in the GrooveLily

by

Steve Sherlock

Princeton prodigy finds roots in rock with her electric violin, drums and a keyboard.

The three-piece band GrooveLily may be different from all other rock bands in the ’90s.
No one plays guitar. Nor bass.
Keyboards, drums and an electric violin fill the missing hole.
“The absence of a guitar allows us some more freedom on stage,” explained violinist and vocalist Valerie Vigoda.

The Virginia-based band is venturing into Maine for the first time this weekend for three shows in three different venues. Tonight, GrooveLily will perform at the Left Band Café in Blue Hill. Then it’s down to Portland for a pair of appearances: Saturday at Geno’s and a Sunday evening performance at the Free Street Taverna.

The GrooveLily name sprouted during the summer of 1995 when the band played a series of gigs overseas in Amsterdam. Originally called the Valerie Vigoda Band, the group wanted a name that better reflected the collaborative efforts of the entire band.
“We were looking for a name that epitomized our sound,” said Vigoda. “Something melodic, lyrical…with rhythm. The visual image is a dancing flower. That’s our music. It’s lyrical, beautiful and makes you want to dance.”

Vigoda shares songwriting and singing duties with keyboard player Brendan Milburn. Rounding out the group is drummer Gene Lewin. With the violin and the keyboard leading the way, GrooveLily features a unique alternative sound. But this is not folk or Celtic music.
GrooveLily plays melodic rock with an edge.

While many of GrooveLily’s songs are ballads with fetching and enticing melodies, the lyrics are often introspective and reflective. But Vigoda and company do not fall into the angst trap. Anger is absent from the lyrics. As one reviewer recently wrote, her songs demonstrate that “you don’t have to be shallow to be happy.”

Concertgoers will be awed by Vigoda’s unique instrument. Seeking a way to sing and play violin at the same time, Vigoda discovered a flying-V-shaped electric violin called the Viper. “I love the way it’s designed,” said Vigoda. “The entire neck area is empty. You don’t hold it with your neck.”

Instead, she straps it on around her body. The violin rests on her chest and shoulder, allowing her to sing into a microphone while continuing to play. The violin also has six strings instead of the traditional four, giving the instrument a greater range and the versatility needed with the absence of a guitar.

A classically-trained violinist, Vigoda was the youngest female to be admitted to Princeton (age 14). While in college, she discovered a preference to playing her own creations rather than the classics and sought out a way to play her violin in a rock setting.
While working as an assistant engineer at a Maryland studio in 1993, Vigoda found time to record and produced her first CD, “Inhabit My Heart.” Milburn was mesmerized when he first saw her perform in New York. Soon after, the pair was collaborating and the name GrooveLily was born.

The first GrooveLily CD, the critically acclaimed “Jungle & Sky,” came out in 1996. The group has thrived performing on college campuses while seeking more recognition on the club scene.

GrooveLily received tremendous exposure last summer when Vigoda was selected to play violin for Cyndi Lauper’s recent tour with Tina Turner. Vigoda and her violin were prominently featured in TV appearances on “The Tonight Show” and VH-1′s “Hard Rock Live.”
Playing with Lauper was a terrific learning experience. “It was eye-opening,” said Vigoda. “It was really cool. I was used to playing in small clubs. I had never played in front of 25,000 people before. I learned a lot.”

Lauper helped Vigoda expand her vocal range and become more of a performer on stage instead of simply being a musician. In an attempt to get her to loosen up on stage during the early portion of the tour, Lauper would grab Vigoda by the hair in the middle of a song and pull her across the stage.
While shocking at first, she quickly got the message. “I feel like I became a better performer,” said Vigoda. “I’m better at presenting my music. The experience has given me a little more ambition.
This is what I want to do.”

She followed up that gig with a six-month tour with Joe Jackson in the US and Europe. While Vigoda toured with the elite, the rest of GrooveLily completed a five-song CD sampler and Milburn worked on a solo effort, which includes GrooveLily songs.
That CD is expected out next month. Many of the new songs will be featured this weekend as well as the standard numbers that first attracted the band’s loyal following. “We want the audience to have a great time,” said Vigoda.

“We have lots of fun on stage and people have fun at our shows. We love to play and we communicate that to the audience.”
With that philosophy, who needs a guitar.

GrooveLily
Free Street Taverna, Portland
Sunday, June 21, 1998

The road to stardom is filled with potholes and treacherous twists and turns, especially when entering unfamiliar ground. That was certainly the case this past weekend when the critically acclaimed band GrooveLily played three shows in Maine.

After a performance last Friday at the Left Bank in Blue Hill, the band proceeded to Portland for a pair of shows. A Saturday night date at Geno’s and a Sunday gig at the Free Street were not exactly prime territory for this rising melodic rock group.

After Saturday’s show, which lead singer and violin player Valerie Vigoda called “tough,” the group played before a tiny Sunday evening crowd. Instead of mailing in the effort, GrooveLily played as if they stood in front of a packed house. The performance won over the Free Street regulars, who were awed by the group’s violin and keyboard sounds.

Keyboard player Brendan Milburn won over the audience with his two-fisted rocking style. Vigoda mesmerized them with her beautiful voice and her violin. Unlike other violin players, Vigoda can do both at the same time, thanks to her flying-V-shaped six-string Viper. The instrument, which straps around her body and rests on her shoulder and chest, resembles a futuristic ray gun seen in popular science fiction. The sound it produces, though, is lush and vibrant. As Vigoda told the audience, “we’re playful, not angry.”
The third member of the group is drummer Gene Lewin.

The two-45-minute-set show featured songs from the group’s three prior releases, plus a couple of new numbers from Milburn’s upcoming solo release. GrooveLily opened with its pop favorite, “Tell Me What’s On Your Mind,” and followed that with such standouts as “Odometer Song,” “Goodbye Virginia” and “Gotham City Breakdown.” The final two numbers, “I Won’t Forget You” and “Phantom Lover,” featured Vigoda at her best on her unusual instrument. Despite the difficult weekend, GrooveLily considered this trek a success.

It won over some new fans, sold some CDs and added names to its mailing list.
A success, indeed.

– Steve Sherlock