Music
Press
"The Loft was easily one of the stand-out bands I saw during SXSW-week." - Sean Claes (Managing Editor, INsite Magazine - Austin, TX)
"The Loft are quickly becoming favorites of ours with their intense Southern jam rock that falls somewhere between the Black Crowes soulfulness and the full on rock of Gov't Mule or Drive By Truckers." - Chris King (Owner, Sticky Fingerz Little Rock, AR)
"Soulful, funky, creative, and cool." - Jesse Jarnow (jambands.com)
"Their music is tumultuous, spirited and quintessentially rock 'n' roll..." - Leslie Carol Boehms (Sidelines Murfreesboro, TN newspaper)
"Contagious, mind-blowing energy. This is The Loft, in a nut shell." - (The Daily Beacon, Knoxville, TN newpaper)
"...they are definitely living on the cutting edge of rock. They’re just doing it with a throwback style...
The Loft is a band emerging from the shadows by doing things the right way: touring, writing good songs and bringing rock back to its roots in Soul and the Blues..."
- By: Jason Andreasen @ Tiger Weekly, Issue 580
"They’ve gotten praise for both open-ended, edgy numbers and driving pieces mixing aspects of Southern rock and blues, but accessibility might be the most important attribute in the continuing popularity of The Loft, a band whose regional and local profile has continually expanded over the last few years..." - By: Ron Wynn
"Though The Loft has gone unknown and unsigned as of yet, the Nashville sextet isn't a garage band on its way out. Instead, the band's sound is a drug that everyone will want to take." - The Daily Beacon: Knoxville, TN
"These bluesy, southern-style rockers offer up some old and new songs that sound like the Black Crowes with a Hammond organ player." --George Dionne
- www.rock-is-life.com
Discography
2004 - Soulful Southeast Exhibit
2006 - Tombstone Tapes
2008 - Best of Live & Rarities
Photos
Bio
When vocalist John Banzhoff, his bass-slinging brother Phil and their childhood friends, rhythm guitarist Chris White and drummer Jon Biggs got together with lead guitarist John Burke and released their first album “Soulful Southeast Exhibit” in 2004, things took off instantly. Since this time, the band has moved out of the Gallatin “loft” in which they made their humble beginning and have begun to focus more on writing, promoting themselves and steadily touring, opening for such esteemed artists as Lynyrd Skynyrd, Gov’t. Mule, Drive by Truckers and Hookah Brown (featuring Black Crowes guitarist Rich Robinson). Presently the band is being credited to “combine elements of rock, funk and blues into a sound that's uniquely their own, yet 100% undeniably rock ‘n’ roll,” as they tour nationally on an almost constant basis. Over the past few years, the band has played over 600 shows and has still managed to cut two additional independent releases (“Tombstone Tapes, 2006” and “The Loft: Best of Live/Rarities, 2008”). The guys are fresh out of the studio with Producer Joe West (Emmylou Harris, Warren Zevon, Dropping Daylight, etc.) and are preparing to release two brand spankin’ new tracks, as well as an upcoming album in early 2009.
The band’s high energy live shows are built on a basis of heartfelt, honest and intense lyrics as well as a performance that one has trouble forgetting. This working class band features a lead singer comparable to few others, though he has been compared by many to an early Rod Stewart or Otis Redding or Chris Robinson. From the time that John Banzhoff takes the stage barefoot, mic in hand, shirt clenched in fist, emotions ready to be put on display…to the time that the show ends with the sea of smiling, sweaty fans begging for more, every single member of the band has managed to find a way to personally connect with virtually every person in the audience. From Banzhoff’s friendly and down to earth conversation with the audience in between songs, to his brother Phil’s backing vocals and remarkably charismatic disposition on the bass…from Burke’s 70’s style intense guitar execution, to the smooth and articulate strumming of Chris White on rhythm guitar, moving along to the backbone of the songs you hear with the mesmeric hammering of the drums by Jon Biggs…this group knows how to get the crowd singing and dancing from the moment their set begins. There are no words that can truly do this band’s sets justice. It absolutely takes seeing it for yourself…and once you come out…well, you will hear and see what you have been missing out on all of this time…
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What the band has to say about all of it…
“To me it’s not necessarily about selling out amphitheaters…it’s about building a strong club following and having a packed house at each show…and making a little bit of money to get you down the road, because at the end of the day, it takes that to keep going…” - Jon Biggs, Drummer
“Why do I do this? Because I love music and I love meeting people. Because I like being on the bus every day, going town to town, waking up in dirty clothes, the whole thing…I love to rock out to anyone who will listen. When you rock somebody and you know it…well, then that makes it all worth it…” - John Banzhoff, Lead Vocals
"At least fifty percent of us are going to hell..." - John Burke, Lead Guitar
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A few tidbits about The Loft:
- Over sixty of the band's shows are available for download at http://www.archive.org, a free, non-profit archive of recorded music and video. With downloads well into the thousands on some shows, it has proved to be effective tool in spreading the band's music into markets they've yet to play live. Two of the band's shows which are hosted on the site were chosen as "Live Music Archive Spotlight Show of the Week" - an impressive feat considering the archive boasts well over 200 bands and several thousand recorded performances (including such heavyweights as the Grateful Dead, Little Feat, and the Derek Trucks Band).
- The band has appeared numerous times at well-known festivals such as Austin’s South by Southwest Festival which has led to extensive publicity and industry attention.
BOOKING:
Ari Nisman
Degy Booking International
ari@degy.com
(732) 544-8000
MANAGEMENT/PROMOTIONS:
Kristi Finigan
Hype Promotions, Inc.
kristi@hypepromos.net
(630) 800-0995
LINKS:
Official Band MySpace
www.myspace.com/theloft
Official Band Website
www.lovetheloft.com
You Tube
www.youtube.com/theloftrocks
Official Street Team
www.myspace.com/lovetheloft
Links
