User:Joseandres446/sandbox

Nico Vega

On March tenth, I was at the Roxy Theatre to watch Nico Vega perform. In order to describe the performance I saw at The Roxy, I would first have to describe the band and what they represent. Nico Vega is a Los Angeles based band that falls in the category of Folk/Rock/Progressive style genre. As I have learned this semester, folk/rock is a settle combination of folk melodies performed with rock instrumentation. This type of sound was popularized in the 60’s by infamous bands like The Byrds, The Beatles, and Bob Dylan towards the mid-60’s. But what’s unique about Nico Vega is their innovative way of placing progressive spin into the folk/rock genre, especially in the lyrical content (which many times messaging is obscure and hard to follow). The band is made up of three members: Dave the drummer, Richard the electric guitarist and Asia the female vocalist. At the live performance, their dynamic chemistry is (on stage) sexual and pleasuring to watch. Two instruments are usually played at their performances but at this show they introduced a Black-female bassist, which (in my opinion) ruined the chemistry between the members. Not because she was black. The event itself lasted an hour but I felt I waited an hour just waiting to get in the Roxy theatre. Nico Vega was the only band headlining that night. The performer before them had an all ages concert so the Nico Vega’s audience had to wait outside on Sunset. Each song had a unique introduction by Asia as she talks about life and unity of man. The people there to see Nico Vega weren’t diverse. It was mostly white young adults and couples. I had the feeling I was amongst locals. I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with some of the band members when they performed at Cal State Fullerton outside on the Amphitheatre. Also the guitarist, Rich, is friends with my ex-girlfriend. He screened t-shirts for her company Save The Seed. According to two of the members, Nico Vega wants to become the reflection of their audience. They pride themselves on unity, brotherhood and the rebellion against the “beast.” The “beast” is what they refer to as the oppression that American corporations place upon the working class and the money that’s made off of them. But besides the political messaging in their lyrics, most of the band’s songs emphasizes on brotherhood and the empowerment of man. For example, they ask the crowd to interact with one another by acknowledging the individuals next to them. Before each song Asia likes to talk about her views on mankind and the connections we blindly take for granted. Although most of what she says is beyond my realm of understanding, in a nutshell, she preaches about man-made rituals, saints and gods as false idols in America’s history. Then she ties in the idea of “Love” and “Brotherhood” as a solution to end all wars against man. Asia’s attire consists of a long black robe that hangs to the floor and when she raises her arms forward she resembles much like Mother Mary. The sound of their music is guitar driven as Rich muffles has tones with a heavy distortion. He also uses a delay pedal and a polyphonic octave generator. This tweaks the pitch of his notes causing a futuristic echo behind each strum. For guitar solos, he uses the delay pedal and Wah pedal to cause a wall of sound behind his licks. Asia also places a delay over her voice. The drums are probably the most prominent sound in their songs. Dave is known to hit the snare quite hard and on many occasions breaks his snare or breaks his drumsticks. With modern guitar effects and heavy drum tones, Asia captivates the crowd with powerful words and repetitive chants that could easily be mistaken as howls or vowels sung at a tribal gathering. The reward I get from attending a Nico Vega concert is being a part of a small community with a shared appreciation for Folk/Rock music. Nico Vega promotes audience to pull down “walls” and share all life’s experiences as one. I have seen Nico Vega perform several times before and each experience was as exciting as the next.