BIOGRAPHY
VORTEX PARK was founded in 2005 when singer/songwriter, Alex Wolf, teamed up with double bassist, Justin Roberts, and began playing the Atlanta local scene. With Roberts’ solid and thumping bass lines and Wolf’s thoughtful lyrics and extremely eclectic writing styles, Vortex Park made an early impression on its audiences. Brad Stott and Rurik Nunan later joined, adding a dynamic rhythmic presence on percussion and a wailing and melodic violin giving Vortex Park depth and emotion that continue to attract new and diverse audiences.
Vortex Park consistently plays the Atlanta scene, including venues such as Five Spot, Smith's Olde Bar, The Earl and Red Light Cafe, just to name a few. In 2008, Vortex Park crossed the state line, playing shows in Alabama, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The band is currently in the studio working on an EP, with plans for a Spring 2009 release and a tour in support soon afterwards.
As Vortex Park continues to evolve and receive loyal support, the band members’ determination and dedication to creating an exciting, relevant and unique experience for their fans has even further strengthened.
ALEX WOLF - Guitar and Lead Vocals - Returning to the stage in 2006 after a 11-year hiatus from playing out live, Wolf makes good use of his vast array of influences in order to write unique, eclectic songs with lyrics that range from story-telling to political relevance to raw emotional confession. As a seasoned guitarist of 25+ years, Wolf’s guitar work shows much experience with the determination to really “go for it” as well. In the early nineties, Wolf fronted Athens-based grungy-groovy rock band, Both Sides, who shared the stage with many great artists, most notably Widespread Panic and Col. Bruce Hampton & the Aquarium Rescue Unit, played most of the finer stages in the regional southeast and recorded with legendary producer/engineer, Johnny Sandlin. Wolf was born on August 20, 1970 in Washington D.C.
JUSTIN ROBERTS - Double Bass - Roberts started off playing guitar in the Atlanta-based rock band, To Whom It Concerns, who won a number of competitions that lead to a sponsorship from Miller Lite and went on to play Lollapalooza 2003, the Riverbend Festival and 99x Big Rock opening for The Roots and The Donnas. Then Roberts began playing double bass in the bluegrass band, Smokey’s Farmland Band, which played Harvest Festival 2004 with Medeski, Martin & Wood, Tony Rice, Derek Trucks, Bob Weir and others. Roberts makes use of his rock and bluegrass influences in order to provide Vortex Park with a solid, thumping foundation with the natural ability to find the choice notes and accents that help make the music even more interesting. Roberts was born on February 25, 1978 in, Alabama.
RURIK NUNAN - Violin and Backing Vocals - Nunan was born on March 17, 1983 in Moscow, Russia to an American father and Russian mother. Soon afterwards, he moved to Atlanta, GA and began studying classical violin at the age of four. In addition to his experience performing in various youth orchestras, Rurik was exposed to a wide range of folk music such as Balkan, Greek, Russian, and of course, the many sounds of American folk and popular music. After four years at Loyola University of New Orleans and complete immersion in classic jazz, Cajun music, and modern New Orleans jazz and funk, Nunan’s musical palette was replete with the many styles and influences that he now draws on in his playing. In addition to Vortex Park, Nunan plays in a variety of other settings and frequently adds his violin to projects ranging from bluegrass to progressive rock and even hip-hop.
BRAD STOTT - Percussion - Stott was born in West Michigan on November 18, 1977 and started studying percussion at age 10 through the local school system. Throughout high school, he was lucky enough to travel the US and Europe competing and performing while studying under several esteemed members of the Robert Hohner Percussion Ensemble including Dave Zerbe (Aretha Franklin, Michael Feinstein) and Doug Corella (The Verve Pipe, The Cells). While pursuing an engineering degree, Stott added further diversity to his musical influences by studying Jazz and Latin music under Mike Irish (Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Bellson, Dave Samuels) and playing with several jazz combos and the Latin/jazz group Salsa Norte. It was during this time that his repertoire grew to include hand percussion, which has become such an important aspect of his style today. After college, Stott played with Brant Losinski (Rootstand) and also performed with the rock band Still Listening, sharing the stage with such acts as The Waiting, Smalltown Poets, Clear, Considering Lily and Shane Barnard. In 2001 Stott moved to Atlanta and focused his musical energy on guitar for a few years, until he was inspired to dust off his drums and contribute to the unique sound that is Vortex Park.
|
MARKETING
Vortex Park consistently and aggressively markets themselves in order to grow its fanbase with some conventional methods along with an innovative technique, Underneath, explained below.
Vortex Park's website has proven to be invaluable to their growth. It's simple design combined with its interactivity and the constant updates keep vistors returning. Their mailing list has over 600 names and they have a strong email campaign informing their fans of upcoming events. Vortex Park not only offers their live album, "Premiere Show", as a free download on their website, but they also have duplicated over 1000 CDs of the album and continue to hand them out around Atlanta. The CDs are distributed in paper sleeves on which they print custom promotions for upcoming events and shows.
Vortex Park proactively communicates with its fans/friends on MySpace and Facebook while reaching for new listeners, as well. They've accrued over 1000 MySpace Friends and 13,000 profile views. They also utilize many other web marketing tools such as: BandMix, Eventful, JamBase, MOG, AtlantaBuzz and AccessAtlanta, just to name a few.
In November of 2007, Vortex Park converted Wolf's garage into a 32-seat listening room where they perform and record they shows in front of a studio audience. They named the room "Underneath"and sell tickets to the shows on their website. Other artists and agents have contacted and booked shows Underneath. These artists' fans come to Vortex Park's website to purchase tickets, so as other artists are out promoting themselves, they also indirectly are promoting Vortex Park.
With local artists' work for sale adorning the walls, a crystal clear Bose Tower sound system and extremely comfy couch seating, Underneath makes longterm fans out of anyone who walks through the door. Click here to see the current schedule for Underneath. Click here to read more about Underneath.
|
