Wednesday Night Music Preview

The final night of MUSEXPO showcases is kicked off at the Viper Room at 8pm by Fabienne Holloway, who wowed the crowd during the opening cocktail party atop the London West Hollywood on Sunday evening. At the tender age of 13 in 2005 she stunned the judges at the Stafford Borough Council "Raw Talent" competition, coming away the winner and gaining valuable studio time. At the same time she started a whirlwind survey of classic soul and R&B icons, ranging from Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles and Sarah Vaughn to more modern purveyors like Jill Scott, Erykah Badu and the Roots. Shortly thereafter she was signed to Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam and played some gigs in New York City, but she's now a free agent again--one with valuable experience and stints in Miami and Los Angeles, working with some of the top names in the business in the effort to enhance her voice and turn her dreams into reality.

Starting things off at the Whisky at 8:30 are Dallas natives Kingsfall, a quartet which has drawn favorable comparisons to such acts as Mutemath, Coldplay, Third Eye Blind and Switchfoot (for whom they opened at a Baylor University gig). It’s already been a big 2009 for the band: on February 20th, they were named the grand prize winner for Mike Pinder’s Bandwars, for which they received a personal phone consultation with Mike Pinder (Moody Blues), a 40-minute set at the Red Gorilla Music Fest in Austin, Texas, two days of studio time in a state of the art recording facility with a professional engineer, 1000 A mere 24 hours later, Kingsfall garnered another win when they were named the 2009 FAMECAST FENOMS. During a month of intense competition in December 2008, Kingsfall defeated 2,434 other artists to win the FameCast Rock Stage Contest, earning a $20,000 check and a feature in the March edition of SPIN Magazine.

At 9pm the Viper Room stage with be graced by 22-year-old London resident Samantha Heard, who has poured over eight years of songwriting into the 12 wholly self-penned songs on her debut album, Headsketches. She took up the piano at a very young age and quickly found a release through writing music. Seeking her muse, she packed up her guitar, left school and travelled the world, utilizing the experiences in her songwriting. Upon returning to London she started playing solo shows, quickly attracting the attention of producer Robin Millar (Sade), one of Britain's most successful record producers. Millar then brought in John Reynolds (Sinead O'Connor), giving Headsketches a production team who had between them recorded two of the most successful and iconic female artists of the last 25 years.

Back at the Whisky at 9:30 for Vancouver’s Hey Ocean, a four-piece featuring vocalist/flutist Ashleigh Ball, guitarist/vocalist David Beckingham, bassist Dave Vertessi and drummer Dan Klenner. Ball and Beckingham have a longstanding musical relationship and that rapport is obvious in their mesmerizing melodies and clever lyrical wordplay. The quartet released their first album, Stop Looking like Music, in 2006 and swiftly became one of Western Canada's most popular touring acts, sharing stages with the likes of Bedouin Soundclash, Xavier Rudd, Sarah Harmer and Wintersleep, winning over fans young and old with their onstage charisma, playful demeanor and passionate music. In 2008 they self-released their sophomore effort, It's Easier to Be Someone Else, including the tune "A Song about California," a bouncy, jazz-inflected piece of pop that can't help but get toes a-tappin'.

At 10pm the Viper Room will feature Swiss quintet Lovebugs, who are celebrating their 15th year together this year, coinciding with the release of their tenth album (three of their previous efforts hit No.1 in their native land, where they routinely sell Platinum). They marked the occasion in singular fashion, luring Irish producer Richard Rainey into their Basel studios after Rainey had spent the previous 12 months working on U2’s No Line on the Horizon. "I was struck by the Lovebugs' quality," says Richard. "They are fantastic musicians and they write great songs. I knew I wanted to produce this record." The resulting effort, the aptly titled The Highest Heights, brings their sunny, dancefloor-ready take on Britpop to a new level; in fact, the title track was chosen as Switzerland's entry for this year's Eurovision Song Contest, to be held in Moscow, Russia in May.

Closing out the Whisky will be SoCal’s own Rebelution, who have racked up an enviable record of success throughout the state of California and beyond. Starting out in the uproarious college town of Isla Vista, their roots-reggae stylings quickly won a following not only among aficionados of the genre, but also more mainstream music fans. After three years of honing their chops both onstage and in the studio, the group released its debut album, Courage to Grow, in June 2007. The album took them to the proverbial next level, garnering Rebelution airplay on major market stations like KROQ Los Angeles, 91X San Diego and KITS "Live 105" San Francisco, where they stayed in rotation for several weeks. To top it all off, the album was the iTunes Editor's Choice for Best Reggae Album of 2007; the album remains in the Top 10 Reggae albums on iTunes and is now the second most downloaded of the genre.

The final act of MUSEXPO 2009 will be another SoCal product, On Blast, who hail from Long Beach and take the stage at the Viper Room at 11pm. The group first attracted attention by sending out demos to every media outlet in the southern California area and was quickly rewarded when “World Famous” KROQ Los Angeles DJ Stryker introduced listeners to their music during drive time. The song became their first single, “Wanna Lose Control,” and inspired a mad scramble from a variety of A&R sources. The winner was new startup Streetlife Records, which is helmed by Pablito Vasquez and Jerry Heller--the latter of whom was the mastermind of the Eazy-E/NWA/Ruthless Records empire--and will be releasing On Blast’s debut album this summer.