ioi

BIO
Category: Music

bio?

IOI was born out of the ashes of a previous musical journey that had lasted over ten years. The founding members of IOI, David Bochkay and Kel Pilshaw, had hardly finished watching the remnants of their band Dresden fade from red to black when they decided that there was something more on the musical horizon for them. Long conversations about early influences ranging from Depeche Mode and Pink Floyd to Bjork and Brian Eno revealed that ambient, sample based and synth driven music was common ground on which the two could reinvigorate their creative sensibilities. They decided quite early that IOI would be about communicating emotion and inspiring the audience. Live shows would include projected video and surround sound, all designed to enhance the emotional impact of the music in the clearest way possible.

With this new musical framework in mind, it was immediately decided that the two only made up a few small pieces of a greater puzzle, and with the right co-conspirators they could add something human and emotional to the often sterile world of electronic music. The search was on to complete the circle.

Thanks to fate and a common set of ideals, Grammy nominated engineer/producer Larry Phillabaum became the first to join the fold. The duo became a trio and they began working on material. Equipment ranging from networked computers to Vox AC30's and vintage Les Pauls littered the studio where they worked. David's Edge inspired post punk guitars, anchored by Kel's old school John Paul Jones heavy bottom, held in suspension by Larry's guitar atmospheres and Eno/Lanois synth textures resulted in a sonic landscape both beautiful and compelling.

All that remained was to find that voice… and soon she presented herself as veteran singer Linda Grace. Linda's unique and captivating style was developed both by the rigors of training and by experience gleaned from years of performing on NY/NJ stages. Her voice has warmth, compassion and an edge that truely completes the "IOI" sound. A good band works at an exhilarating pace. Ideas become music in seconds and somehow the afterimage of that creative energy gets imprinted on the work. If IOI is about anything, it is about using modern and vintage tools to journey far away from our roots and comfort zones, all the while respecting and remembering the places from which we came.