Anya & the Jimmy Packes Band

"Roller Coaster" (one of four finalists in the VH1 Rock Category) "Access Denied" and "Madame Bonaparte" (Honor Awards in the Great American Songwriting Contest)

Anya & the Jimmy Packes Band can criss cross the country with a song for everyone. Anya, a track act before she found the musicians that really clicked, has been performing at motorcycle expos since the age of 15 (she's 19 and a straight-A student at UConn in Stamford, Connecticut where she just completed her Sophomore year). Anya penned "Biker Girl" as a thank you to the bikers of America for all the support and opportunity that's been given to her from the biker community. Titles like "No Date" (to the dance) take Anya back to high school when she had "no date" to the dance. "Access Denied" is for the computer set about a guy trying to get "the" password to the get a girl in town no one is able to date. "Meltdown" sings about the falsely accused - one who goes to jail due to another's lies on the witness stand. Another boy/girl song titled "Monday" is done with reggae rhythms and sings about a boy who promises to be true again after having just one date with another girl. Anya writes songs individuals can relate to. Her motto is "every star needs a sky to shine in", i.e., without an audience, a performer might as well sing in the shower.

August of 2005 Anya performed select songs for children attending the Muscular Dystrophy Camp in Suffern, New York. In addition to several college shows, Anya opened for Lucas Prada (where he sang "And She Said") earlier this year at Polusa Nightclub in Roselle, New Jersey where she will be performing again in September. The summer has been filled with several festivals, one at PNC Bank Center in Wallington, NJ and a weekend performance in Syracuse, New York. In 2002 Anya traveled to West Virginia with a song she wrote for Jessica Lynch and all soldiers fortunate enough to return home. WV folk and press embraced Anya and the song while the highlight, a dream come true, Anya met and hand-delivered her song to Mr. and Mrs. Lynch at their home.

Anya & the Jimmy Packes Band will start their summer season with a unique "all-age" show at Vertigo (an upscale nightclub) in Nyack, New York where Anya and the band will celebrate the release the CD titled "Meltdown" June 25 at 8:30 p.m.. Audiences have difficulty understanding how so much music can come from four pieces but, as Jimmy Packes says, when the arrangements are right, the singer is smokin' and the musicians are tight, everybody gets blown away! In addition to Anya and Jimmy's original songs, they're not opposed to adding great covers. Dion & the Belmont's "Teenager In Love" is done in an up-tempo ska version, Leslie Gore's "You Don't Own Me" has a surprise rap breakdown, Richie Valens's "La Bamba" always gives everyone a lift (Anya, like Richie Valens doesn't speak fluent Spanish), Bette Midler's "The Rose" brings tears and there is no dry eye in the house. A most recent addition with a great guitar arrangement backing Anya is one of Anya's favorites, Tom Petty's "Runnin' Down a Dream".

Anya's Eastern European roots (born in Poland with Austrian ancestors) blends interesting musical moods with that of Jimmy & his powerful rockin' guitar who is an Irish/Italian lad born in the Bronx. Jaime Sandoval brings South-of-the-Border rock drumming to the groove. Jaime, born in Chile, fine-turned his drumming chops right here in Boston at the Berkeley School of Music. Eugene Acosta flavors his bass guitar rock rhythms bringing his Philippino roots to the music. Several corners of the world meet here with Anya & the Jimmy Packes Band to create what Anya enjoys calling the music Organic Rock - "no chemicals - no pesticides - just home-grown power-packed and worldly rock 'n roll.

Audiences have likened Anya's voice to that of Brenda Lee, Madonna, Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Nellie Furtado and many others. Oftentimes it is human nature to make comparisons in order to judge the talent. Anya wants to be unique, but, more than that, she wants to bring something special to each member of the audience by reaching out and touching everyone musically so she can send them home with something special to remember about their musical experience.

Anya & the Jimmy Packes Band