Courageous Rue

Courageous Rue began with the same raw materials that most bands start with: a couple of guys, a handful of songs, and a desire to rock. Core memeber Nelson Velazquez and Len Anzelde joined up with drummer Matt and bassist Xander to bring Rue style love to Chicagoland. They rocked venues such as Wise Fool's Pub, The Elbo Room and Martyr's with the melodic rock tunes "Kinderbat (She's Dracula)", "Face First Into a Brick Wall", "3 Point Shot" and "Dose of Reality." When Xander and Matt left to persue other projects Nelson and Len brought in Chris Harris on drums and Jason La Fleur on bass. This revamped Courageous Rue lineup continued to play the Chicagoland scene and build their fan base by rocking the PA systems of clubs like The Cubby Bear, The Big Horse Lounge and Goose Island. Soon though, the currents of life caught hold of bassist Jason and co-founder Len Anzelde and carried them away from the Rue. Personnel changes like these often signal the end of a band, but Nelson and Chris chose to turn these events into an opportunity.

They began working on new songs and a new sound emerged from Courageous Rue. The sound, founded in pop rock, evolved to include more of a funk/blues influenced party sound akin to the Spin Doctors, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Huey Lewis and The News. Bassists Bill Houseworth and Rue alumnus Sandro lent their bass skills to the songs "Reciprocal", "Love Costs a Thing", "So Sorry" and "F.D.P." which the group played at a number of venues like the Cadillac Bar and Grill, Goose Island and Wise Fool's Pub.

At present, Nelson is applying his showmanship skills to being a successful actor appearing on theatre stages around Chicago and in upcoming movies on the big screen. Chris is helming a successful real estate business and is looking at supplanting a 9-5 job with a self-sustaining business so he can return more formally to a music career.

In September 2007, Courageous Rue released its long awaited Courageous EP. It was featured predominantly as pre-show music for Second City's Outreach and Diversity's show "Wii The People" in the fall of 2007.

Currently the Rue has released a ten-track effort entitled RueTape 2010 on a donation basis. This will be part of its strategy to give fans low-cost to free music while asking them to support future efforts.