Artists

In addition to the Core Artist Lineup for the European Tour, each Bicycle Music Festivals will feature 5-15 local bands. There are also several world class musicians accompanying the following headliners, including Thomas Spellman, Alex Meek, Ed Montgomery, Louis Gaspar, and many more.

Ginger Ninjas

“mind shaking love groove folk funk roots rock explosive international pedal powered mountain music for a pleasant revolution.”

In 2007, the Ginger Ninjas became the first band in the history of rock and roll to tour by bicycle, unsupported by automobile. On a 5000 mile odyssey from their home in Northern California to the pyramids of southern Mexico, they promoted transportation cycling while also exploring the frontiers of pedal-generated electricity, using their own bikes to power a hyper-efficient sound system. The audience took turns getting on stage to pedal the bikes to make the sound, taking crowd participation to a new level. Originally conceived as a one-time adventure/statement/experiment, the band became addicted, and now has its sights set on a world tour.

“Before the Mexico tour, I honestly didn’t know if what we were setting out to do was even physically possible,” says front man Kipchoge Spencer. “A couple of months in, we realized that it wasn’t just possible, but there was something easy about the rhythm of it (despite the grueling uphills with 200 pound bikes), and the next logical thought was, ‘let’s tour the world this way.’”

The Ginger Ninjas’ mobile human-power stage is the first of its kind in history. Coupling super efficient digital amplifiers, lightweight components, and generators attached to working bicycles (as opposed to purpose-built stationary bikes), the system allows a band to play off-grid anywhere, wall outlet or no, and to also carry the system to a gig on the same bicycles (Xtracycle sport utility bicycles, a company started by Spencer). This enables a new kind of completely self-sufficient bicycle touring, sans automobile support. On the band’s most recent tour, the system and touring style enabled them to avoid generating close to 60,000 pounds of CO2, or 95% of what a similar sized band creates in a similar tour.

The band’s lead vocalist and songwriter, Spencer, seems to find a natural flow of lyrics that touch on profound social, ecological, existential, and interpersonal topics while keep the music fun and infectious. They skip through genres, from folk punk to folk funk to Latin ballads, simple ska, and fantasy American bluegrass, with the grabby rhythms and brainy rhymes.

They call their style “mind shaking love groove folk funk roots rock explosive international pedal powered mountain music for a pleasant revolution.”

A feature film of the first tour is set to be released in the fall of 2010 from the award-winning Argentine director Sergio Morkin, and his crew will film the current tour as well.
www.gingerninjas.com
www.myspace.com/gingermyninja

The Genie

The genie is quite simply one of the foremost guitar innovators alive today.  He is the creator of a unique live-looping method called ‘scratch guitar’ as well as a unique brand of live-remixing called ‘g-mixing’, layering dance music live on stage with two loop pedals and his Strat. As his audience watches, he creates sounds that don’t seem like they could come from a guitar, and music that people expect to hear on records made in the studio with computers and multiple instruments.  Bringing together a hybrid of genres, including jazz, dubstep, latin, reggae, hip hop, blues, middle-eastern, Indian and electronica,  he utilizes unconventional slide techniques while manipulating knobs on his pedals with his toes to create and layer beats and melodies. The result is a show of such gymnastics and innovative technique that it entrances even non-music lovers of any generation or persuasion. One of the few solo performers in the world who could headline a rave without a turntable, the genie also keep it humble, making magic regularly for the folks on the street corner.

Honing his “scratch guitar” showcase as full-time performer for the past seven years has elevated him into an elite level of performance and today he is considered one of the best live-loopers in the world. In 2007 he was profiled in Guitar Player Magazine (June) and was featured on Current TV in a piece entitled “What is Scratch Guitar”, which was voted number 1 and aired on national TV in the US and UK. In 2008 he was selected for sponsorship by the Line6 company, the producers of the DL4-delay modeler, his loop pedal of choice.
youtube.com/thegeniemusic
myspace.com/thegenie
(recent live recording at Love Eternal Rave)
http://www.mixcrate.com/mix/5758/the-genie-Love-Eternal,-recorded-live-2-13-10-Pittsburgh,-PA-

Amanda Mora

“The depth of her writing, melodic and harmonic senses, singing talent, and overall artistic vision completely floored me! I knew I had stumbled into some of the best new music I have been associated with in years. She is completely unique and has the breadth and depth to keep up this quality of work for years to come. Get ready.” – John Inmon, Blue Sugar Studios

This up and coming Texas based songwriter crafts original music that reflected a fierce dedication to her creative muse with lyrical and musical sensibility that ignites the imagination and assumes the listener’s intelligence. With her captivating blend of acoustic pop, 20-40′s jazz and western swing, folk, and American roots music, she will take you on a poetic and ever amusing journey as only great storytelling and melody can.

Her self produced debut release of 2009, The Ribbon, won her national airplay on college, community, and NPR stations across the United States and a growing fan base in Western Europe among the contributors to the Euro Americana charts.

Performance highlights of 2009 include shows in support of Alejandro Escovedo, Patrice Pike, Eliza Gilkyson, and Sarah Jarosz. Mora was also selected as a South West Regional Finalist in the revered Mountain Stage New Folk Contest 2009, featured on Martha’s Vineyard’s “Acoustic Cafe” Program with Alice Hammond, selected for the Texas Matters Mix Tape, and recorded in KUT’s Studio 1A for a feature on John Aielli’s Aielii Unleashed and sold out shows at Austin, TX’s famous Cactus Cafe. She has toured extensively in the Southwest United States.

www.amandamora.com www.myspace.com/amandamora

Stitch Craft

“… A powerful mix of freak folk, gypsy jazz, latin fusion, and atmospheric indie rock that leaves you buzzing.”

“A winding tale of chasing kites and sewing seeds in the soil and the stories that blow and grow life into our lyrical bodies. Our community creates the music that we absorb and reflect back with insistence and intensity. Our stories spin and sail into each other’s to create patchworks of meaning – like the quilts that comfort us in the face of inevitable loss – like the soup that feeds our hungry ghosts; we honor the participation of the player, the muse, and the audience in their dance with life, death, adventure and self realization. Music is a lover and a healer to all of us.”

Lead songstress Heather Normandale’s rhythmically full-bodied, finger-picking guitar styles blend with heart-hitting vocals to create a very intimate, raw, and accessible musical experience. StitchCraft expands it’s musical potential in big ways, inspiring free-form dance, hypnotic engagement and sonic leaps of faith from your sense of daily hum drum to a feeling of awe and appreciation for the beauty the world has to offer.

Their newest album, Through the Hoolaboo, released in May, 2009, creates a densely rich and atmospheric soundscape with powerful vocals, orchestral arrangements, and a creative range of instrumental influences.
www.stitchcraft.com
www.myspace.com/stitchcraft

CelloJoe

The wildest beatboxin cellist in the west!

CelloJoe is an anomaly in the world of cellists.

By combining cello with beatboxing, he has created a unique genre: classical hip hop. Looped and layered beatboxing beats (vocal percussion) and funky cello form a rich soundscape for intelligent lyrics; CelloJoe spreads joy, laughter and consciousness raising vibrations. CelloJoe’s eclectic sound also incorporates the style of old time, jug band, blues and kids’s music. 

CelloJoe is the world’s first long distance musical bike touring cellist. In 2007-2008, he rode with the pleasant revolution, a 5,000 mile bike tour from north san juan, california to Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico. In May 2009, he did a 500 mile bike tour through Utah with SHAKE YOUR PEACE! In August 2009, he rode from Portland, Oregon to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in the Pleasant Revolution Northwest Bicycle Music Festival Tour.

http://www.cellojoe.com
http://www.myspace.com/cellojoe
http://www.youtube.com/cellojoe