Velvet_biography
Re: World Change (2008)
Velvet are pioneers worldwide of live, improvised house music. The Victoria, B.C. based ensemble has toured to rave reviews across North America. They’ve been featured at such festivals as SXSW and the Winter Music Conference and they’ve played with such diverse acts as The Chemical Brothers, Fishbone, Maceo Parker, Dj Shadow, Mark Farina, Champion and Funkadelic to name a few.
An institution in Victoria, their Sunday Sessions residency at Steamers Public House was one of the longest running original music club nights on the continent, having spanned over 12 years. Velvet has evolved and morphed into many shapes and sizes throughout
this time - beginning as a smooth, jazzy house ensemble to the current
sound: acid-blues over stinky down-tempo and house beats. Through a
series of hand signals and other non verbals, the band will often
improvise the dancefloor into a frenzy. When asked how they can come up with songs seemingly at will, singer and musical director Kuba Oms explains,
“We get in a mind frame for spontaneous composition… we try to allow ourselves to receive the goods by listening. Personally, it’s like a form of therapy for me… whatever’s on my mind that particular day or week, I can say it or play it – let it out. It’s a excellent platform for expression.”
Noteable artists to have performed onstage with Velvet are Cobblestone Jazz, Nelly Furtado, Vinyl Ritchie, Moka Only, DB Clifford, Rochelle Van Zant and many, many more. The current lineup is arguably the best yet: Kuba is joined onstage by the core of Thomas Shields, Jeff Scotney and Dallas Budd… waiting in the wings and often sitting in are Dallin Paul, Kelly Nordstrom, Noah Becker, Matt Skillings and Rick May.
The Sunday sessions have spawned several live recordings available on the L.A. based Kufala Recordings www.kufala.com (Digniti/Kufala).
The forthcoming release, World Change will be their first formal studio release on founder Kuba Oms’s imprint, Digniti Records.
Contact: skearney@redstonescap.com
