local music

MEET THE BAND:Andy Grammer (vocals, guitar, piano) OUT ON THE STREETS OF SANTA MONICA: Singer-songwriter Andy Grammer started busking in the streets of Santa Monica. He says he learned a couple of key things from that time period. “Back then, I learned if you have something magic, people will stop,”...

MEET THE BAND:Toronzo Cannon (vocals, guitar) BORN ON THE SOUTH SIDE: Born in Chicago, Cannon grew up on the city’s notorious Southside. He says he didn’t initially know it had such a rich blues history, but he’d eventually discover Theresa’s Lounge, a hot blues joint that was in his neighborhood....

MEET THE BAND: Raveena Aurora (vocals) A CUTURALLY RICH CHILDHOOD: R&B/indie pop singer Raveena Aurora grew up in Queens, New York, where her parents immigrated from India after the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. She was raised in a traditional Sikh household but still managed to absorb healthy doses of R&B, soul, jazz...

MEET THE BAND: Biz Markie (vocals, turntables, beatbox) OLD SCHOOL: Markie grew up in Long Island listening to early hip-hop. “The first tape I ever heard was Busy Bee Starski. That inspired me to get into hip-hop,” Markie says. “I got rejected. That’s what ‘The Vapors’ is about. I said...

MEET THE BAND: Alyse Vellturo (vocals, guitar, drum programming, bass programming) AN EMO-ROCK-POP HYBRID: Vellturo grew up listening to lots of hip-hop before gravitating to indie rock. “My transition into rock was the Strokes,” she says. “I worked at a record store, and they would pay me in CDs. I...

MEET THE BAND: Cody J. Martin (vocals, guitar) HE’S A LITTLE BIT COUNTRY: Martin writes songs that, as he puts it, rest “where folk, blues and country music intersect.” He originally played guitar in numerous bands throughout high school but started his solo career about 10 years ago after gravitating to...

MEET THE BAND:Phil Verhoef (vocals, guitar, trombone), Greg Yanito (vocals, guitar), Todd Nelson (drums), Mark Loncarevic (bass), Kevin Hegedus (guitar), and Mike Chipchak (drums) BEYOND BORDERS: The seeds of what would become the band were planted at a Jayhawks/Freddy Jones Band concert at the Odeon Concert Club in Cleveland in...

MEET THE BAND:Ty Hurless (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Geno Stroia II (bass, vocals), Tim Veillon (guitar, vocals), James Rannefeld (drums), James Reynolds (keyboards) OHIO BOYS: A tribute to Tom Petty, the Damn Torpedoes formed some ten years ago when singer-guitarist Ty Hurless, who grew up in the Canton/Massillon area, graduated from...

MEET THE BAND: Lydia Night (vocals, guitar), Genessa Gariano (guitar, backing vocals), Brooke Dickson (bass guitar), Drew Thomsen (drums) SHE LOVES ROCK ‘N’ ROLL: Night, 18, says she can remember listening to the Ramones and Joan Jett when she was just a child. Both acts left a lasting impression. “I...

MEET THE BAND: Nilufer Yanya (vocals, guitar) THE BENEFIT OF HAVING ARTISTIC PARENTS: British singer-songwriter Nilufer Yanya says that when she was younger, she really didn’t think about the significance of having parents who were visual artists. “Now, I can see looking back at how it helped me choose something...