Bobby Yang
Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2013 | SELF | AFM
Music
Press
by Rodney Ho
Recently, on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent,” a Detroit native named Sonia Lee played a rock-inflected classical piece on a violin that judge Piers Morgan compared to “when kids run their fingernails against a chalkboard.”
Too bad the 10 million viewers couldn’t have seen Atlanta’s Bobby Yang, who did two packed gigs Friday night at Eddie’s Attic in Decatur. Yang, 33, is a brilliant, classically trained rock violinist who can listen to an Eddie Van Halen solo a couple of times and copy it with verve and emotion. (Yang said a video of him riffin’ on Van Halen’s “Eruption” is readily available online and has been viewed millions of times.)
“I want the violin to be important in rock music,” he told Buzz on Saturday.
Yang, who was on Fox’s short-lived talent show “30 Seconds to Fame” in 2001, actually considered going on “America’s Got Talent” but found the release form too restrictive.
In a 13-song run during Friday night’s late show that focused on classic rock, he and his tight three-piece band featured a jaw-dropping “Hot for Teacher,” an elegiac version of Def Leppard’s “Photograph” and his signature, mesmerizing take on Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir.” With flowing, blond-tinted locks and a goofy green T-shirt with the phrase “Yang It,” he was a bundle of intense energy onstage. The bow, he said, “is the extension of my soul.”
Like many Asian-American kids, he was forced by his parents to play the violin. But when they wanted him to be an engineer, he stuck with the violin, working under respected strings guru Paul Kantor at the University of Michigan. Kantor led Yang to Aspen, Colo., where he became a fixture on the music scene, crossing paths with A-list celebs such as Jack Nicholson, Goldie Hawn, Bruce Willis and Kevin Costner.
He moved to Atlanta in 2002, where he ended up working with Collective Soul and Butch Walker. He also met his wife and business manager, Misti, while she was selling Mini Coopers at Hank Aaron’s BMW dealership. Yang credits his increasing local exposure to 96rock’s the Regular Guys, who have had him on several times, but he frequently flies to Colorado to play gigs for big shots, including Costner a couple weeks ago. In the meantime, Yang’s working with former “American Idol” contestant Vanessa Olivarez, who told Buzz on Friday he was part of her new alt-country band South 70. - Yang’s yen for rockin’ violin
"[Kevin Costner] also has a crackerjack band backing him; it’s a shame we didn’t get to hear more solo work from Modern West, especially fiddler Bobby Yang, who totally tore up the stage." - by Joy Tipping
"One standout band member was fiddler Bobby Yang, who stole the show every time he was featured. He spent most of the set quietly playing away, deftly adding notes to each song without being overpowering. He was given the chance to shine with a few solos, and was most impressive during a lengthy section of the song "Down in Nogales." - by Kevin Coffey
"Rock violin has proven to be quite the kick ass genre as we learned today from Mr. Bobby Yang and his band." - The Regular Guys
"Onstage, Bobby Yang transforms into a leaping fireball that spews blazing, virtuosic rock music. No tepid crossover pabulum from this classically trained prodigy. Yang is the real thing, and the raw expressive energy of rock is as much the core of his musical soul as Mozart, perhaps more so." - by Mark Gresham
"From Haydn to Hendrix, Bobby Yang is ready to rock the string world." - by David Templeton
"Bobby Yang shreds that fiddle, taking bow in hand and ripping solos. You won't believe your ears. He seriously kicks ass! Bobby is working 10 times harder in the studio than our young, Western slackers. It's only a matter of time..." - The Jack Boston Morning Show
"Bobby Yang is incredible. The first time I saw him play I fell out of my chair. Listening to him play makes me want to learn how to play the violin." - The Ron & Don Morning Show
Whether leaping burning Led Zeppelin riffs or standing still enough to balance a bar glass on his head while zooming through a Paganini, violinist BOBBY YANG has gotten noticed in Atlanta during the few short years since moving here from Aspen, Colo. A musician of genuine range and depth, Yang is fully engaged in his performance, whether rock or classical. Some critics may dis violin as a delicate instrument with itty-bitty strings, but Yang makes it rock true with a signature style in live concert, without the tepid pabulum that comes from so many billed as “crossover” artists and without merely throttling your brain with sheer volume. - Best Local Instrumentalist
"[songs were] shot through with lightning by Bobby Yang who sawed his violin as if it were on fire." - by Buzz McClain
Discography
2013 Bobby Yang "The Lost Cosmonaut" full-length album
2007 Bobby Yang and his Unrivaled Players (second album) "YANG IT! Live at Eddie's Attic"
2005 Bobby Yang (debut album) "No. 1 Tribute"
String Arrangements:
2012 Tawiah "(untitled)" [Warner Bros. Music]
2012 Kevin Costner "Best of Kevin Costner & Modern West" full-length album [Universal Music Group]
2011 Kevin Costner "Untold Truths/Turn It On (The Story So Far)" full-length album [Universal Music Group]
2010 Devon Allman "Space Age Blues" full-length album [Provogue Records]
2010 Marcus Johnson "This Is How I Rock" full-length album [Three Keys Music]
2010 Kevin Costner & Modern West "Turn It On" full-length album [Universal Music Group]
2009 Collective Soul Collective Soul (Rabbit) full-length album [Roadrunner Records]
2008 Kevin Costner & Modern West Untold Truths full-length album [Universal Music Group]
2007 Avril Lavigne Imagine album single [Amnesty International Make Some Noise Campaign]
2007 Cowboy Mouth Avenue album single [Eleven Thirty Records]
2007 Rocketscience featuring Aerosmiths Steven Tyler Writers Block album single [Offshore Records]
2007 Rocketscience Van Go album single [Offshore Records]
2006 Progressive String Quartet Tribute to Pantera [Tribute Sounds Records]
2006 Default Count On Me album single [TVT Records]
2006 Quietdrive Rush Together album single [Sony/Epic Records]
2005 Butch Walker Letters full-length album [Sony/Epic Records]
2005 Default All She Wrote radio single [TVT Records]
Photos
Bio
Melding his classical training with years of Colorado mountain woodshedding, Bobby Yang is reinventing the sound of the acoustic violin. His inimitable sound combines the virtuosity of the violin with the dirt of a bluegrass fiddle and the rawness of a guitar. He has surrounded himself with musicians who share his madness, his Unrivaled Players, while touring internationally.
Alongside classic rock jams, he is performing his latest album "The Lost Cosmonaut," a heroic and heartbreaking album of original instrumental music, on his current tour. It's a soundtrack for the most inspiring film you've never seen and features lush instrumental songs with memorable melodies. At each show, Bobby shares the story of The Lost Cosmonaut, an astronaut who was a hero of the race to space in the late 50s.
For his signature classic rock jams, Yangs violin acts as both the lead singer and guitarist, as the songs of Led Zeppelin, RUSH, and other rock legends, become instrumental jams.
In his own words: Its time for the violin to get dirty. And to clarify, he means the acoustic. His rendition of Eddie Van Halens Eruption solo, a solo featured on Van Halens debut album, is touted as better than the original, and Yang does it acoustically, without pedals or effects, on a wooden violin.
He perfected his classical chops while earning his Masters in Violin Performance with Paul Kantor at the University of Michigan and is a frequent soloist with symphony orchestras, including a breakthrough Harris Concert Hall performance of Mozarts 3rd Violin Concerto with improvised cadenzas and a last movement in-cadenza tribute to Hendrixs Hey Joe. This cadenza was a prelude to his current musical success.
Bobbys passion for rock has led him to new venues, including regular in-game performances for the NBA and NHL, rock clubs from NY to CA with his band, and music festivals including Stagecoach at Coachella and the Downtown Hoedown in Detroit with Kevin Costner. Bobby's original compositions have earned the admiration of Top 40 musicians who invite him to write string arrangements for their pop and rock singles. In the studio, he uses the violin to create orchestral layers, composing parts for the cello, viola, and violin, and then performs each part on a separate track to create a recorded orchestra.
In August of 2009, Bobby was featured on Collective Souls album 'Rabbit'. He worked closely with Butch Walker crafting string arrangements for several songs on Walkers album 'Letters'. His work with Walker earned him the opportunity to record with Avril Lavigne, Cowboy Mouth, and Default. He has also worked with acclaimed 311 producer Ron Saint Germain.
Bobby has released three albums: the debut No. 1 Tribute, his second album, YANG IT! Live from Eddies Attic... YANG IT! - his personal motto - is a call for people to do their best and to do it with their own personal panache; the opposite of WING IT! And, now, "The Lost Cosmonaut."
When he isnt performing with his Unrivaled Players, Bobby is Kevin Costners fiddler in Costners new band Modern West. He is also featured in Costner's 2008 movie "Swing Vote".
While some violinists are clamoring to revolutionize the string world with the electric violin, Yang is proving that perhaps it isnt the violin that needs changing; its the violinist.
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