Esquela

Artist Information

Biography

Esquela is an eclectic blend of happy juxtapositions: super-hip yet steeped in rural roots and classical sensibilities, indie and edgy yet organic and groovy. Esquela is a place where low-fi and bleeding-edge coincide happily, and where hooks are big, and plentiful. Esquela is quirky and different, yet familiar and immediately relatable in a warm, wonderful way. The band brings the point to life via masterful performances and deeply-considered material that never fails to set toes to tappin’ and smiles to crackin‘. Esquela is roots-rockin’ soul with a honky-tonk/indie edge, a sense of humor, and a sense of history.

Front-man “Chico” (John Finn: bass, vocals) has been writing and performing with lead-guitarist Keith Christopher since 2001. The Owl Has Landed (Esquela’s first album, released April 2010) is the inspired yield of years of soulful-contemplation, nurturing, battle-testing, and friendship: a lavish tapestry of inspired performances and lively orchestration, rich with vocal harmonies, guitars, and percussion.

Keith Christopher brings a wealth of professional experience, knowledge, and chops to Esquela, and to The Owl Has Landed (which he co-wrote with Chico). Christopher was a founding member of the Georgia Satellites (and current member of Dan Baird‘s band, Homemade Sin), and has worked with the likes of Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Billy Joe Shaver, Tony Joe White, Paul Westerberg, and Todd Snyder. Christopher is an accomplished songsmith, as well. As one of his many songwriting credits, the legendary Ray Charles recorded a Christopher song, entitled “Over the Top,” and featured it on his 1988 album, Just Between Us. Christopher is a uniquely-gifted multi-instrumentalist, a visionary composer, and a constant source of good humor and inspiration.

The Owl’s producer, Eric “Roscoe” Ambel, is an industry all-star veteran. Ambel has served as producer for such hit acts as Ryan Adams, Marshall Crenshaw, New Heathens, Freddy Johnston, Mojo Nixon, Robert Randolph, and Bottle Rockets, among many others. Ambel was also a founding member of Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, and the Del-Lords. He toured and recorded (guitar) with Steve Earl & the Dukes from 2000 through 2005, and was featured on Earl’s 2005 Grammy Award winning album The Revolution Starts Now. In working with Esquela on The Owl Has Landed, Ambel turned great ideas into inspiring, musical achievements.

Of all of The Owl’s essential elements and stirring components, lead-vocalist Rebecca Frame’s contributions shine the brightest. Her powerful delivery and soulful, emotional tone brings The Owl to a higher level, and immediately draws comparison to the likes of Janis Joplin, Susan Tedeschi, and Bonnie Raitt. She hits notes with strong, surgical precision, but not at the expense of the “rural roots” nature of the material. Frame is a tremendous, energetic talent, and she has earned international praises of the most complimentary variety since the release of The Owl Has Landed..

Esquela’s official music video for The Owl’s first single, “Hands on my Jammies,” was directed and co-written by ace filmmaker Andrew Huang. Huang was called one of the top “Directors to Watch” in 2008 by Creativity Magazine.

Since releasing The Owl Has Landed, Esquela has shared the stage with the likes of Marah, The Madison Square Gardeners, Jason Ringenberg, Mark McKay Band, Tom Clark and the High Action Boys, Eric “Roscoe” Ambel, and The Auctioneers.

The Owl Has Landed is a smart, endearing effort. Bigger than the confines of any genre-appropriate classification, The Owl bridges the chasm between modern musical technology and classical warmth and comfort by remaining mindful of its roots and purpose throughout. Loading up a project with great talent, from top to bottom, is never a guarantee in and of itself. However, The Owl Has Landed hits the bulls-eye in a most discernible fashion, and Esquela is a very cool band.

Instrumentation

Chico Finn- Bass, Vocals
Keith Christopher- Guitars, Vocals
Rebecca Frame- Vocals
Richie Touseull- Rhythm Guitar
Matt Woodin- Mandolin, Percussion
Todd Russell- Drums, Backing Vocals
Vinny Cimino- Drums

Discography

The Owl Has Landed (April 2010, Livestock Music)

Links

• Facebook
• MySpace
• Esquela @ ReverbNation
• Last.fm
• Esquela @ iTunes

Audio

• Commies Stink
  Listen  
• Jackie
  Listen  
• Here and Now
  Listen  
• Music is my Mistress (Cheatin')
  Listen  
• Richie
  Listen  
• Tin Horns
  Listen  
• Hands on my Jammies
  Listen  

Video

Hands on my Jammies Music Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• Great Disc! The Owl Has Landed by Esquela [+ Show ]
  

  Here is a disc I had in a stack for a month or so. Frankly, I can’t even recall getting it in the m...Here is a disc I had in a stack for a month or so. Frankly, I can’t even recall getting it in the mail and don’t know who sent it. So I pop it in the car cd player and thought, “Wow, what a great sound. Who are these guys?” Turns out the band is a group called Esquela and the disc, their debut, is called The Owl Has Landed.
  
  While the band as a whole are not newcomers, what first caught my ear in their music was a newcomer, vocalist Rebecca Frame. Man, I love her voice. Plenty of power and grit to hold up to the power music the band lays down. She totally had me by the third song on the disc, Jackie, which has now been stuck in my head for over two hours! The band has an edgy sound a bit like mid 70s Stones music.
  
  The band was formed by upstate-NY-native John “Chico” Finn (bass, vocals) and the and veteran Keith Christopher (lead guitar, vocals). Some of the bands energy makes sense seeing that Christopher was a founding member of the not-too-mellow band The Georgia Satellites who has recorded and performed with Kenny Wayne Sheppard, Billy Joe Shaver, Paul Westerberg, and Todd Snyder.
  
  Other standout trackes include the opening cut, Commies Stink, Hand On My Jammies, and Music Is My Mistress (AKA Cheatin’) which starts “You were with her last night at the local bar, night before she was in your car” and features a new percussion instrument, the dropped (beer I hope) can!

• Esquela's "Owl" flying high 'upstate' [+ Show ]
  

  Interview with John "Chico" Finn: 1.0 Being an ‘upstate’ NY band, is it easy to identify with, or a...Interview with John "Chico" Finn:
  1.0 Being an ‘upstate’ NY band, is it easy to identify with, or actually be influenced by, “The Band”? Well, a little of both. I can certainly identify with them as for how they got started – as Ronnie Hawkin’s band The Hawks – where they played all over Canada getting their chops down. That is what Esquela has done over the last year by playing out, doing as many gigs as we could and really getting to know one another and trust our musicianship. As far as The Band locating to Woodstock, I can understand why they did so. It is a beautiful area and fairly close to NYC .
  
  2.0 Is there an ‘upstate’ scene today? I think there is. The farther north you go from NYC, the more affordable it is to reside. I believe you would be hard pressed to find a nice property for less than $1 million in the Woodstock area. As with the East Village now gentrifying and the new East Village becoming Williamsburg & Bushwick, the same is true here in the Catskills. There are more artists of all sorts working their way further north. The Andes Hotel (Andes, NY) is one of my favorite venues up here because they support the local scene, are always busy and they take care of the bands.
  
  3.0 How did Esquela come together? Mainly, because of Keith Christopher, our lead guitar player. I’ve known Keith for close to fifteen years, since he was the bass player in my brother’s band, Disciples of Agriculture, and I was their manager. Soon thereafter, I started taking bass lessons from Keith and we continued this relationship and he and I would regularly team up in various other bands like TCR/Tony Clifton Revival where we only played CCR tunes with a Tony Clifton impersonator! We also played together in The El Mighty Chicos; Fate Denied Us Victory, Future Farmers of America, Pispoure and ultimately in Disciples of Agriculture. In most cases, Keith was playing guitar or drums and I would play bass. In 2008, Keith and I were riding back to the City after a gig and he asked if I wanted to hear a CD of Fela Kuti. I remember him saying “you probably won’t like it”. But he was wrong – it was so good that I think we listened to the record two times through during the trip. Fela’s music was very inspiring. I had just gotten an old version of Protools and I was messing around with it – started dropping down chords and beats and naturally brought Keith up to fill out most of the parts. I had some lyrics that I had been fooling around with…started putting them together with the songs and the next thing you knew we had a bunch of songs. My vocals were the scratch tracks and they just weren’t that good and I knew of this one really great singer in our area, Rebecca Frame. I brought her in to record as many as I could convince her to sing on. She liked some of the ones I sang on, so we left that and of course Keith did a great job on “Tin Horns”, so we left that one alone too. Once the record was coming together and Eric “Roscoe” Ambel was involved, Keith and I put a band together to play out. We knew it would be us two and Rebecca and from there it made sense to add Matt Woodin on mandolin and rhythm guitar, because he plays with Rebecca in their band, The Honest Mistakes. Richie Tousell is an old friend of Keith’s and they’ve played together a bunch over the years and the drummer who plays most of our gigs is Todd Russell who I grew up with.
  
  4.0 How much guitar did Eric Ambel play on “The Owl Has Landed? Roscoe really did a great job at adding subtleties to the recording. I believe he added guitar tracks to most of the songs – but ones that jump out the most are in “Richie” and “Here and Now”. He also added a honky-tonk type piano on “Richie”. He added keys here or there; vocals; accordion; percussion, etc. – whatever he felt the track needed. Keith can play any instrument. He would play the drums and make the drums sound like an instrument. He added keys when needed and played the rhythm tracks as well as the leads. Backing vocals, lead vocals, tambourine; whatever we needed, he did it.
  
  5.0 Are you happy with the way it turned out? Yes, especially after Roscoe finished with it. He took the rough parts and made it all smooth. Having never had done this before, I was very apprehensive and had self-doubt. But by having Roscoe step in and be a part of what Keith and I started, really gave me confidence that this was a nice piece of work. I am proud of it. Granted, it may not be for all or not be the most complicated musical compositions – but it came from the heart and I think that passion can translate.
  
  6.0 What are your favorite tracks on the record? I would say “Here and Now” and “Tin Horns” . “Here and Now” was written as a tribute to my Mother, who died in a one car car accident and it was a tragic and early end to a wonderful life. She was an artist and was very influential to me. In fact, the cover art, I did in 6th grade when she was my art teacher…on the back it says “A+ well drawn and well-placed on paper – the fact that the owl is small does not detract from the drawing because of good arrangement of other objects in picture – drawing small is your style”. We had a gig last month in Milford, NY at the Hoedown in the Blowdown, and I introduced this song to the audience and for the first time I said what this song was about and how she had died in Milford, NY. None of the band new this or what the song was about. Half way during the song, I was in tears on stage. That was a tough one to play through, but it was cathartic. The band really nailed it that day. I also like the way “Tin Horns” came together. I had a rough draft of a beat and mandolin and some lyrics. The next day Keith came upstate to my house and I told him about the song but I didn’t like the melody. He thought about it and a few hours later he asked if I liked this melody. He played it for me on guitar and I immediately started recording his acoustic over what I had. He then played drums and even bass on the track. My brother stopped by and whipped up two verses to add to the song and within four hours we had a rough mix of the song. It was the definition of collaboration.
  
  7.0 Any plans for a follow-up? Yes, after our next gig at Rodeo Bar on 10/3 – my girlfriend Wendy and I are expecting a little girl. So the band is on hiatus. However, I have another batch of songs in the hopper that Keith and I are planning on getting together for and laying down some rough drafts. My goal is to release another record in 2011.
  
  8.0 You host a private ‘Livestock’ event annually, how was this years festivities? ’Livestock’ went great. Someone asked me: “you’ve had this festival for 8 years and never have had a fight?”. When you think about it, alcohol and hundreds of people and no fights – it is a cool thing. That is the type of festival it is. Usually whatever artists play ask to come back; Steve Wynn, Graham Parker, Jim Lauderdale, Marah, College Farm, Grainbelt, etc.. Maybe it is just the type of artists they are or the festival is cool. This year Jason Ringenberg played as “Farmer Jason” which was a hit in the amphitheatre. He also graced the stage with Grainbelt and College Farm and did a few Scorchers’ numbers.
  
  9.0 How did you get the Nickname “Chico”? Unfortunately, I am a NY Mets fan and have been since 1977. In that era, the Mets were terrible as well. So bad that SNL would mock the Mets and they did a skit with Chico Esquela (Garret Morris) who was a Hispanic ballplayer making a comeback at baseball at the age of 42. Naturally, being an older brother who would pick on his younger weaker brother, Dan nicknamed me “Chico” and it stuck. Yes, I still follow the Mets.
  
  10.0 Tell the truth, did you guys have to buy new pajamas for your “Hands On My Jammies” video? I’ll never tell!
  

• Jersey Beat [+ Show ]
  

  Offering up ten tracks worth of supremely groovy and soul rootsy rock’n’roll done with a certain app...Offering up ten tracks worth of supremely groovy and soul rootsy rock’n’roll done with a certain appealing no-frills immediacy and a winning dearth of high-falutin’ pretense, this album goes down nice and easy. Lead singer Rebecca’s splendidly hoarse and gritty, yet reassuring and captivating voice belts out the smart and thoughtful lyrics with extremely warm and comforting aplomb. The gradual tempos and syncopated beats chug along at a pleasingly relaxed shuffling rhythm. Kudos are also in order for the sweetly harmonic arrangements. Best of all, there’s even an amusingly sweet and folksy low-key humor evident throughout. A total treat.

• (translated) Rootstime Review [+ Show ]
  

  John "Chico" Finn is a well known musician in Milwaukee at an early age already fully composed his o...John "Chico" Finn is a well known musician in Milwaukee at an early age already fully composed his own songs and simple melodies to funny, ironic and sometimes emotional lyrics to sing.
  
  He is the undisputed leader of "Esquela, originally a duo but a band with three core members:" Chico "Finn, recently polled singer Rebecca Frame, and the musical brains of the group, Keith Christopher, in ancient times ever founding member of the group 'Georgia Satellites'. From 'Esquela' recently published a debut album entitled "The Owl Has Landed". Containing ten original songs which we will need several listenings before they can really convince.
  
  It all sounds a bit messy and almost recorded live, all the carefree style of the seventies. There were many guest musicians in the studio were ordered to their contribution to these recordings to be delivered. The robust vocals of Rebecca Frame in the style of Bonnie Raitt or Janis Joplin betray a fierce rock past and still require some getting here.
  
  Started on this CD is the song "Commies Stink" that "Chico" Finn in the last years of his secondary studies and has written here as a "feel-good sing-along will be charged. Then brings Rebecca Frame "Here And Now" which is followed by a swinging rocker "Jackie" about an American football and star that at incomprehensible manner and with the support of the school board succeeds to a conviction for murder of two people manages to escape.
  
  As sarcastic as charged and appearing first single "Hands On My Jammies" sings "Chico" Finn bizarre sexual preferences with appropriate grains of salt can be seen as a funny song. The banjo played alt.countryballad "Music Is My Mistress" is then brought to us too sloppy to truly captivate. For the committed song "Tin Horns" Christopher Keith takes the same vocals. The powerful soul voice of Rebecca Frame comes after very well accounted for in the song "Richie" in our opinion the best song on "The Owl Has Landed" has become.
  
  As indicated earlier, we had hoped that the production of Eric "Roscoe" Ambel - previously with ao Ryan Adams, Marshall Crenshaw and The Del-Lords has worked - what more could have been polished. But maybe we do it wrong and it was precisely not the intention of Esquela.
  
  (Valsam)

• (translated) Alt Country Forum Review [+ Show ]
  

  Singer-songwriter John "Chico" Finn and guitarist Keith Christopher decided in 2009 to join forces. ...Singer-songwriter John "Chico" Finn and guitarist Keith Christopher decided in 2009 to join forces. Supplemented with singer Rebecca Frame, who has a reputation locally with her band (Rebecca Frame and The Honest Mistakes) and a number of renowned musicians, the album "The Owl Has Landed" recorded with producer Eric Ambel. John makes no secret and the fact that he was inspired by the Nigerian master Fela Kuti, who is best known for his swinging afrobeat. The album features tracks from the band Esquela like African Civil War, Whose Land Is It Anyway and to Fela Kuti Country entrusted with a distinct African atmosphere. The musical setting of these songs is fascinating and swings, but in a subdued and sultry way. Multiple spins are needed to discover its beauty.
  
  Besides intense pressure to "The Owl Has Landed" includes space for heartfelt songs played roots. On beautiful songs such as Here and Now, Richie and Music Is My Mistress's hear why the choice fell on Rebecca as a singer. Where the range is fairly limited John Finn has a powerful and raw voice with arrangements of Janis Joplin, Melissa Etheridge and our own Frederique Spigt. Rebecca knows the raw altcountrysongs to great heights. "The Owl Has Landed" nobody has a little valley (Tin Horns) sung by Keith Christopher. Furthermore, this excellent album with the cover design of the then twelve year old John Finn, a journey full of unpolished energy from Africa to New York.

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