Vesper

Artist Information

Biography

Hailing from New York City, Vesper crafted their unique cello-driven rock sound in the cramped rehearsal spaces and dank clubs of the city’s boroughs. Rising to the top of the Northeast rock scene in 2007 as runner-ups in the finals of WHRL 103.1FM's "Most Original Band Contest" and most recently beating out over 111 Northeast bands to win the prestigious SPAC 2010 Battle of the Band's, Vesper has established themselves as one of the most potent, imaginative and hard-hitting rock outfits to come on the scene.

Founded by Saratoga native Aaron Lewis, Vesper’s over-the-top epic sound is the combination of Lewis' signature visionary songwriting style with the dynamic and expressive tones of the cello, seldom heard in rock music.

Julia Kost and Valerie Kuehne, the two fiercest lady cellists you will ever meet, lace their powerfully bowed vibrations throughout the music (a sharp reminder that traditional classical training can be put to awesomely wicked purposes). The cello assault is backed up by the lurid bass cello work of Layne McNish and the tight drumming of Felice Aiello.

With the band's recently released music video for "Bleed" and self-titled full-length CD, Vesper continues to win fans over one blistering show at a time by bringing exploration, care and dynamic fearlessness to a genre long overdue for a revolution. Vesper needs only a moment to draw you in, shake you up, and send you away a changed and inspired music listener. Come and be a part of this revolution and let their music bring you to a state now famously known as "Vesperized".

Testimonials:

"First of all, I feel like I need a cigarette after that [performance] - my heart's racing! You were comfortable, you were confident, you were at home, you were mature - your wardrobe is great, the sound is great, the cellos were sexy as hell. I am going to give you guys a 9."
-Debbie Gabrione of Ten Year Vamp & SPAC 2010 Battle of the Bands Judge

"I love it - originality, you are the most original band here, unless somebody comes out wearing a chicken suit, they're not gonna top you in originality. You guys are talented, you're hard-working - Aaron, you're the great front man, you're a great singer. I'm going to give you guys a 9."
-Jason Irwin, Music Director of WEQX 102.7FM & SPAC 2010 Battle of the Bands Judge

"I was captivated. I could see [Vesper] playing on Saturday Night Live. I think it was effing amazing. I give [Vesper] a 10... they're in it to win it."
- Matt Baumgartner, Entertainment Blogger & SPAC 2010 Battle of the Bands Judge

“They’ve got the chops and radio ready songs, so don’t be surprised if they get what they’re looking for.”
- Ted Reinert, the Saratogian

"Vesper's sound is raging experimental rock paired with classic symphony sounds creating a sound that is haunting and riveting. There's something about the combination of these sounds that marinates in your ears, making it almost impossible to forget the uniqueness of this mix."
- Fusion, Utica's Weekly Entertainment Guide

“...Rock, punk, harmony that is undeniably tasty, but unafraid to plant a boot in your gut - Vesper is the smelling salts to an unconscious scene.”
- CE Skidmore, the Post Star

"The lyrics truly make Vesper a band which stands out... it takes a poet to translate everyday life into music which not only speaks to audiences, but rocks them into shedding the frustration of life during a live show. Vesper is no cliché rock band"
- Ellen E. Aldridge, Target Audience Magazine

“...music that is diverse, dramatic, and a sonic boom!”
- Laura Turner Lynch, Kweevak Music Webzine.

for booking and more info email Vesper at: info@vespermusic.net or call 917-648-9007

Vesper's "With Autumn I Fell" CD is on sale NOW at:
CDBaby: www.cdbaby.com/vesperband
iTunes: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playListId=266066903
and at all Vesper shows!

Instrumentation

Aaron Lewis ~ vocals, electric & acoustic guitars
Julia Kost ~ cello
Valerie Kuehne ~ cello
Felice Aiello ~ drums

Discography

Take a front row seat and find out why Vesper is already being hailed as the next voice of rock music!

Links

• MySpace
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Vesper on YouTube

Audio

• Bleed
  Listen  
• Coda
  Listen  
• First Frost
  Listen  
• Subway Sonata
  Listen  
• Plastiscene
  Listen  
• Four Winds
  Listen  
• Withdrawal
  Listen  
• Heavy Down
  Listen  
• Orphanage
  Listen  
• Hazier Daze
  Listen  

Lyrics

• Subway Sonata
• Orphanage
• Loveless
• First Frost
• Black is the Color

Video

Vesper ~ Bleed

Photo Gallery

Press

• Vesper [+ Show ]
  

  "Vesper's sound is raging experimental rock paired with classic symphony sounds creating a sound tha..."Vesper's sound is raging experimental rock paired with classic symphony sounds creating a sound that is haunting and riveting. There's something about the combination of these sounds that marinates in your ears, making it almost impossible to forget the uniqueness of this mix."
  
  - Fusion, Utica's Weekly Entertainment Guide, 9/10/09

• Vesper [+ Show ]
  

  Target Audience Magazine Vesper's EPK www.sonicbids.com/vesper starts out catalyzed by chords and...Target Audience Magazine
  
  Vesper's EPK www.sonicbids.com/vesper starts out catalyzed by chords and marching bass drum, with a beautifully tragic metaphor comparing winter's "first frost" with a withering relationship. The haunting repetition of "it snowed today" mellows out the hard rock quality of the music and forges lyrics which speak about common themes in uncommon ways.
  
  The seven tracks included in the EPK tease listeners into wanting the whole 13-track album, With Autumn I Fell. This four-piece band includes two cellists and a mix of violin, guitar and sitar. Stringed instruments which pull new ideas and visions from the mundane art of normal life.
  
  "Subway Sonata" shows the poetic beauty contained within a single Vesper song with a wonderful comparison to subway graffiti and a daily horoscope.
  
  "Waiting for a train that'll never come/ Take the PATH, but not the one that we strayed from/ Like blood we flow to and from the trains/ Down under through the cities veins"
  
  It takes a poet to translate every day life into music which not only speaks to audiences, but rocks them into shedding the frustration of life during a live show. Vesper is no cliché, rock band. They drive through every track with melody and while one could possibly "dance" to it, most would push and surf over fans at a show.
  
  The lyrics truly make Vesper a band which stands out.
  
  "The Ballad of You and I" speaks, "please wake up/ Love's slept in/ And its time to move on/ I'll pack the memories/ Grab your faith from the floor"
  
  Target Audience Magazine recommends Vesper's With Autumn I Fell even for fans of writing who never listen to music. Read the lyrics to inspire poetic ways of viewing the world. Watch them live to feel the sound of a difference in the world.
  
  Vesper is one band to watch and anyone in the New York area should try to catch them live. Visit www.vespermusic.net for more upcoming shows and a video soon to be released.

• "Tasty tunes with some jam" - From the Hipster's Vault [+ Show ]
  

  The Post Star Vesper will rock your world, if you give them a chance. This debut from the Sara...The Post Star
  
  Vesper will rock your world, if you give them a chance.
  
  This debut from the Saratoga rock band Vesper has me all hot and bothered. I feel like I just woke up from a heavily sedated dream. This band is rock, punk, harmony that is undeniably tasty but unafraid to plant a boot in your gut.
  
  It’s good - like rock used to be before emo cut itself and bled all over the scene. Remember guitar solos?
  
  Remember when women held more than a novelty “isn’t that cute” presence in a band? Remember when being a drummer required more than counting to eight? Vesper does. Aaron Lewis, Katie Cooper and Felice Aiello are the smelling salts to an unconscious scene.
  
  Tracks you’ll dig: “Lifemare Part One” and “Indian Summer.”
  
  If you’re into Vesper, check out: Sonic Youth, Fugazi, Yo La Tengo

• VESPER debuts “...With Autumn I Fell...” [+ Show ]
  

  Greenline Brooklyn News As the music industry focuses more and more on the single - on securing l...Greenline Brooklyn News
  
  As the music industry focuses more and more on the single - on securing listeners’ attentions for the shortest amount of time possible - Greenpoint band Vesper has stood forth confidently with their debut album “...With Autumn I Fell...,” where each song is a continuation of the one before, where there’s a story being told throughout, and where they’d like you to listen from beginning to end.
  
  “If I give you a single, I feel like I’m giving you a piece of a painting,” vocalist and guitarist Aaron Lewis said recently, in an interview at Enid’s on Manhattan Ave. “And who wants a piece of a painting? I want to give you the whole thing.”
  
  "...With Autumn I Fell...” is a dark exploration of the pain of love, the loss of innocence and identity, and the tragic comfort in the way life and the elements of life shut down around you. The 13 tracks echo the 13 weeks of the season, and each track is like a chapter of a Grimm’s fairy tale. The album arcs in concept and theme, building in the middle and closing down with a soft shudder at the end, the last track “Goodnight/Lifemare part three” readying you for winter.
  
  Although dark and darkly real, “Autumn” is consoling, like being read to before bed (the album’s packaging, in fact, is like a leather-bound book). Vesper plans to make three additional albums dedicated to each of the seasons.
  
  The idea for “Autumn” started with Lewis, a native of Saratoga Springs, NY. Lewis had been playing with bands in Seattle, and when they disbanded he returned to Saratoga Springs and got together with Katie Cooper, also a native of Saratoga Springs and also recently freed from bands that had broken up.
  
  “Aaron had told me about this album idea when we started playing together, and after a few weeks I thought, ‘Now is the time to do this.’ We started exploring it together and writing, and the concept grew and expanded in ways we couldn’t have imagined, which was extremely satisfying,” Cooper said.
  
  Cooper took up the bass, which she now plays in Vesper with authority, strength, and cool force. She also sings, and her voice, as skilled and beautiful as Tori Amos’ (listen to “Indian Summer”) is a perfect compliment to Lewis’ powerful and powerfully rich singing, which even in the context of hard rock remains eloquent (listen to “First Frost”). Drummer Felice Aiello provides the spine, experimenting with moody rhythms and time signatures.
  
  “Autumn” is balanced, the intensity of the rock tempered by classical interludes (there are both cello and piano on the album), hard and fast songs followed by softer ones, melody and dissonance playing hide-and-seek.
  
  “We are a band with a rock vibe and a classical edge,” Lewis said.
  “We are an extremely dedicated and hard-working band as well,” he added
  
  Vesper embraces their identity as a Greenpoint band (Lewis wrote the song “Subway Sonata” while waiting for the G train). They performed recently at Luna Lounge on Metropolitan Ave, and they will be performing at Club Europa on Meserole Ave on Thursday, December 20th as part of an evening of Greenpoint bands.
  

• Vesper brings ‘Autumn’ home to Saratoga [+ Show ]
  

  The Saratogian Vesper, a rock group based in Brooklyn and Saratoga Springs, has discovered a new ...The Saratogian
  
  Vesper, a rock group based in Brooklyn and Saratoga Springs, has discovered a new meaning to the hidden track.
  
  With the sequence set on their debut album “...With Autumn I Fell...” -- 13 songs, one for each week of the season -- there was no place for the title track, an instrumental with a bit of an Indian flavor.
  
  So Vesper went backwards. The listener has to rewind from track one into negative time code to hear the piece.
  
  Singer Aaron Lewis -- no, not the Aaron Lewis from Staind -- said the hidden track is only a quarter of a “Four Seasons” -type instrumental suite which he hopes to bring out eventually.
  
  But for now, Vesper is concentrating on the autumn album, released several weeks ago, and regional touring.
  
  The band will play a free show 9pm Saturday, Oct. 6th at Backstreet Billiards at 63A Putnam Street (in the alley across from the library).
  
  Vesper is led by Spa natives Lewis and Katie Cooper, who play guitar and bass respectively and split singing and songwriting duties roughly equally. Drummer Felice Aiello, originally from Pennsylvania, completes the group.
  
  The vocal interplay between Lewis and Cooper is certainly one of the band’s strengths. They harmonize well and “...With Autumn I Fell...” is a well produced album of darkly pretty sonic moments. Vesper knows the power of the soft-loud dynamic in emotional hard rock.
  
  The “Autumn” album is a thematic group of musical statements according to Lewis, “pun-intended”, on the fall of innocence and faith. It begins and ends with a music box. Its children’s book-style packaging subtitles the album “A Collection of Misery Rhymes and Lullabies.” Lewis said in looking at the seasons, fall seemed the natural starting point with its march toward winter, the beginning of dying, the experience of pain and loss.
  
  While Lewis and Cooper hardly break lyrical ground, they are perfectly effective. In the tradition of groups like A Perfect Circle and Stabbing Westward, Vesper wants an arena and a few thousand black-clad teens singing along to every word. They’ve got chops and radio-ready songs, so don’t be surprised if they get what they’re looking for.
  
  “First Frost,” the first single, sung by Lewis, and “Indian Summer,” sung by Cooper, are good starting points that can be heard on the band’s myspace page (www.myspace.com/vesper).
  
  “Ballad of You and I” is one of the album’s epics, with the singers trading duties and piano sprinkled through. “Loveless” shows the band rocking out in a more upbeat fashion, while “Wither” shows the influence of Cooper’s favorite band Tool.
  
  Lewis said one of his favorite places to play in Saratoga was the Parting Glass, where he worked his way up from dishwasher to Entertainment Director. But the band is looking forward to Backstreet Billiards.
  
  “That’s going to be a new place for us,” he said.
  
  Who would the band most like to share a stage with? Lewis said Cooper would choose Tool and Aiello would most likely love to go back in time and drum for Frank Sinatra. Lewis’ personal choice? Well, Led Zeppelin is reuniting in late November...
  

• Musician's Corner [+ Show ]
  

  Saratoga Today Known for their powerful live performances, Vesper was named runners-up in WHRL’s ...Saratoga Today
  
  Known for their powerful live performances, Vesper was named runners-up in WHRL’s “Most Original Band Contest” last year in Albany. In addition to gigs at Caffe Lena, Northern Lights, Revolution Hall and The Knitting Factory in New York City, the outfit has performed at First Night Saratoga for the past three years.
  
  In 2005, Vesper put out a self-titled EP. The group’s debut album, “With Autumn I Fell,” was produced by Lewis and will be available at all Capital Region Borders Bookstores, iTunes and various other locations in early September.
  
  For the next few months, Vesper will dedicate themselves to promoting the album and shopping for a label before setting off on a Northeast tour around Christmas time. Although Lewis said it would be nice to sign with a major label, ultimately the group is more interested in being able to make a modest living from their music.
  
  Fans 21 and over can get a complimentary copy of “With Autumn I Fell” and a sneak peek at the band’s new merchandise by attending Vesper’s CD release party Monday, Aug. 27 at the Saratoga City Tavern. Doors open at 8 p.m. and their set starts a half hour later. Tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the door, and Lewis said the show’s almost sold out.
  
  “With Autumn I Fell” consists of 13 tracks, one for each week of the season, as well as a hidden song. Vesper will be playing the entire album in sequence as a once-only treat for those in attendance at the City Tavern.
  
  To check out the band, visit www.vespermusic.net and www.myspace.com/vesper.
  
  Quotable Quotes:
  “We’re hoping people will listen to the CD from start to finish. We want to bring back the idea of an album being something you listen to all the way through,” Lewis said.
  
  “The entire album is a thematic performance of paradise lost—the wilting of the flower of youth and hope,” Lewis said of “With Autumn I Fell.”
  —Mike Ryan
  
  

• "Vesper's album meant to be heard from beginning to end" [+ Show ]
  

  The Daily Gazette At a time when major record labels are more singles-oriented than ever, a Brook...The Daily Gazette
  
  At a time when major record labels are more singles-oriented than ever, a Brooklyn band with Saratoga roots is releasing an album with a challenge to its fans: Listen intently to the entire hour's worth of music on "With Autumn I Fell."
  
  "It's meant to be put in and listened from beginning to end," Aaron Lewis, Vesper's guitarist and vocalist, said during an interview last week at an Albany cafe.
  
  "I think a lot of the music we listen to is like that, like [The Beatles'] 'Abbey Road,' " added bassist/vocalist Katie Cooper, "albums that are an experience from beginning to end."
  
  Debut effort
  
  Vesper, which also includes Brooklyn drummer Felice Aiello, is on the cusp of releasing its debut after a year-long effort that had the three Brooklynites making the commute to an Albany studio every free moment they had. With a CD release show planned for Monday at Saratoga City Tavern, Vesper is about to step up its efforts with more live gigs now that the self-released "Autumn" is complete.
  
  Lewis and Cooper, who both grew up in Saratoga Springs before moving to Brooklyn, don't go so far as to call their "full-album experience" a concept piece. It's more thematic, they say. And after some careful listening, Cooper promises, "a story line emerges."
  
  But they wouldn't discuss what that story line is. "We don't want to dictate to listeners what it's about, because that can be a really individual experience," Lewis said.
  
  But here's a hint: Autumn plays a key thematic role, with 13 tracks representing the 13 weeks of the season (there's also a hidden track that listeners can hear only by rewinding almost four minutes before track one).
  
  It's a dark-sounding, hard rock album that draws from varied, but somehow harmonious, influences such as Led Zeppelin, Tool and Tori Amos. The cello and other classical elements heard on several tracks,! Vesper's flair for the dramatic and the ambitious nature of the album make it hard not to think of progressive rock, too.
  
  "We have trouble pinpointing exactly what we sound like," Cooper said, "and though it's different sounding, it's still accessible. We think that's a big strength."
  
  Formed in early 2005, Vesper came about after Lewis and Cooper wrapped up their respective tenures in the bands Mourning Dove and K8E. Both songwriters, they found themselves getting together and playing their songs for each other, liking what they heard. Ultimately, the Vesper sound naturally evolved from the merging of both their writing styles.
  
  Skip ahead to their debut album's release, both Lewis and Cooper acknowledge that their push to have fans listen to the entirety of "Autumn" is bucking the trend in the iPod age of personalized playlists.
  
  Cohesive approach
  
  But part of the reason listeners gravitate to single songs, Lewis said, is because there are so many albums with filler material. Vesper's goal, rather, was to have something so cohesive that people will want to follow from beginning to end, without hitting the skip button. "I don't think there's much out there for people to listen that way," Lewis said.
  
  Besides, Lewis and Cooper think there are adventurous music fans out there willing to follow and figure out the story on "Autumn." Just look at the success of a band like Tool, Lewis points out.

Setlist

Vesper can perform one-off 30-60 minute sets or as long as three hours of live music. Although Vesper is mostly an original band, depending on the needs and the type of venue, the band also performs a plethora of cover songs; usually "Vesperized" with fresh and new arrangements by the band. What's your pleasure?!

Call 917-648-9007 or email: info@vespermusic.net and book Vesper today!

Basic Requirements

Calendar