ANTIGONE RISING
- THE
ALL-FEMALE-BOOT-STOMPIN'-COUNTRY-ROCK BAND -
LAUNCHES PLEDGE
MUSIC CAMPAIGN TO FUND TWO BRAND NEW EPs:
"WHISKEY &
WINE - VOLUME 1" & "WHISKEY & WINE - VOLUME
2"
5% OF PROCEEDS TO
GO TO GLAAD
BENEFACTORS TO
RECEIVE ADVANCED DIGITAL
DOWNLOAD OF
'WHISKEY & WINE - VOLUME 1'
Cyberspace - Antigone Rising, the all-female-boot-stompin'-alt-country-rock
band from New York, has launched a Pledge Music campaign to raise funds,
guerrilla style, for the recording, promotion, marketing and touring for
their upcoming TWO new EPs, 'Whiskey & Wine - Volume 1" and "Whiskey
& Wine - Volume 2"
The fundraising campaign kicks off today at http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/antigonerising with 5%
of the proceeds to be donated to GLAAD upon hitting the targeted goal. The
campaign is also granting backers the opportunity to get an exclusive
advanced digital download of "Whiskey & Wine - Volume
1" before it's available anywhere.
Asking their fans to be an integral part of the new project, Antigone
Rising is offering exclusive incentives for ultimate access into the band's
2014 exciting musical journey. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
for all their fans!
Antigone Rising, the band that exploded into the spotlight in 2005
becoming the first band on Starbuck’s Hear Music (Lava Records) selling over
150,000 copies of their debut LP, is set to release not one, but TWO
5-song EPs this year.
The first EP, "Whiskey & Wine - Volume 1,"
featuring the singles Everything Changes, Whiskey & Wine, Call
Me Crazy, Magnolia on the Breeze, Get To You, is already completed and
will drop March 25, 2014. The second
one, "Whiskey & Wine - Volume 2," still in its production
phase, is set to come out October 28, 2014.
Starting on March 25, 2014, the band will
begin a never ending cycle, one song at a time, releasing a music video,
followed by an acoustic or alternate mix version. The goal is to provide
audiences a variety of online content from video interviews to blog posts all
year long. Treating each song as a single, the band will dedicate 6 to 8
weeks on the individual promotion of each of the five songs featured on
'Whiskey & Wine Volume 1', and will keep the cycle going all through Fall
when 'Whiskey & Wine Volume 2,' gets its October 28 release.
In the meantime, Antigone Rising is hitting the road again with tour
dates lined-up across the US including an upcoming performance early
February on the leadership and equality cruise sponsored by Olivia, along
with The Indigo Girls.
The fab four comprised of Nini Camps (lead
singer), Dena Tauriello (drums) and founding sisters Kristen
Henderson (bass/vocals) and Cathy Henderson (guitar/vocals), are
showing no sign of slowing down!
Since then they’ve been shaking things up ever
since, touring with acts such as The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, The Allman
Brothers Band and Rob Thomas. After the 2011 release, 23 Red, Antigone Rising
traveled to the Middle East, spending time in Israel and the West Bank
as cultural ambassadors for the United States Embassy. More recently,
founding member Kristen Ellis-Henderson was featured on the front
cover of Time Magazine‘s groundbreaking Marriage
Equality issue (April 8, 2013).
As the band puts the finishing touches on a new EP,
they’re thrilled to introduce the first video. “That Was The Whiskey” was co-written with
Nashville song writer Lori McKenna (Faith Hill, Little Big Town,
Hunter Hayes) and is getting praise from critics as a foot stompin’
country/rock mash up, perfectly marrying the band’s ability to rock with their
gift for writing undeniably catchy songs.
1) So why don’t you introduce yourself?
I’m Cathy Henderson, co-founder and lead guitarist
of Antigone Rising. Currently the band consists of four (4) members including
myself. They are Kristen Ellis-Henderson (co-founder and bass guitar), Nini
Camps (lead vocals and rhythm guitar) and Dena Tauriello (Drums).
2) How did you put this band together?
AR has been a constantly evolving band, with myself
and my sister, Kristen Ellis-Henderson at the core. We’ve played in bands since
we were in Jr. High School, and frankly have never been without a band since!
Antigone Rising itself was born in Greenwich Village with two other girls we
used to play with in college. We started gigging in the local village bars
almost every night, and the band evolved into what it is today. Although the
original members have changed, Dena Tauriello has been the drummer for nearly
all of AR’s lifespan, and Nini Camps joined us as our lead singer in 2008. Both
we met while playing the NYC circuit.
3) What’s the story behind the band’s name?
The story of Antigone is rooted in standing up for
your beliefs, regardless of the situation or the outcome. In Greek legend,
Antigone insisted on giving her brother a proper burial after he was killed in
battle, deemed a traitor by the king and left to be eaten by vultures (so the
story goes…). She stood up against authority for what she felt was right
regardless of consequence at a time when women were outwardly treated as
inferior. In a sense, it’s what we are committed to doing as well. We believe
in ourselves and our music, and will stop at nothing to continue doing what we
love.
4) What are your musical influences?
My personal guitar influences are many including
Lindsay Buckingham, David Gilmour, Jimi Hendrix, George Harrison, Neil Geraldo
(Pat Benatar) and all the Allman guitarists! Big musical band influences are
The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac and the Allman Brothers. The band as a whole brings
in influences from different genres including folk, pop, rock, country and
Latin music. I mean.. really the influences are endless as we continue to be
inspired by each other as well as the many artists we tour with and meet along
the journey.
5) “That Was The Whiskey.” How was the filming
experience and what’s the concept behind the video?
The whole idea behind the “Whiskey” video was to
create a hometown bar feel that exists in “anytown, USA”. And what better way
to capture that than to shoot it in our hometown bar out on Long Island? Very
good friends of ours own a local bar called “Still Partners,” and allowed us to
film it all there. We invited all our close friends to join the fun, including
previous members of Antigone Rising (Jen Zielenbach, Peppy Kokines and Suzanne
Obolsky), who without them, we wouldn’t be where we are now. Our roots! The
video story line was two fold with the first being AR coming home for a
hometown show and the second following a girls night out / bachelorette party
that goes awry after a few too many whiskey shots! We think it’s pretty
relatable!!! (Most) Everybody’s had a night out on the town and regretted a
little something the next morning! Just blame it on the whiskey!
6) How was it to work with Lori McKenna?
Lori McKenna is such an exceptionally talented
songwriter and performer. We had met Lori a few years back when we were down in
Nashville writing songs, and bumped back into her last year at the 30A
Songwriters Festival down in Florida. It was AR’s show at this festival that
actually inspired “That Was The Whiskey”. We had the last slot on Saturday night – everyone was just on fire and it was Nini’s
birthday. And…. the birthday shots started circulating, so the story goes.
Luckily, Lori, along with Kristen and Nini, were able to capture it all in a
song!
7) So there’s a new EP on the way, what can you
tell us about it? Any official release date, title in mind?
We have been working hard in the studio when we are
not touring. We are really excited about the new material and have been lucky
enough to be able to record at Nini’s home studio. This has allowed us the time
to really dive deeper into the tracks and to experiment a bit more with sounds
and arrangements. We actually have been adding tracks to the project which is
now possibly turning the EP into a full length CD. This would push the release
date to early 2014. No title yet. We will be posting updates on this to our
website and Facebook page.
8) What’s next in AR’s world?
Our future will always include writing, recording
and touring our music. That’s just in us, and we will never stop that. In
the near future, we will be touring the US over the next year (with a primary
focus on the east coast). We’ve got a few ideas brewing for the longer term
(can’t spill them yet!), including the possibility of touring internationally.
In the meantime, we have digitally released “That Was The Whiskey” as a single
from the upcoming CD – which can be found on iTunes, as well as on all the
major music platforms (Pandora, Spotify, Sound Cloud, etc.). The video to
“Whiskey” can be viewed from our site and Facebook pages (see below for URLs),
as well as on CMT.com among
other places.
9)Where can we find more about your music?
People can always reach us on our Facebook page (facebook.com/antigonerising).
We love when people stop by and comment on whatever’s going on at the moment.
We can also be contacted through our website antigonerising.com. All our music is available
on iTunes, Spotify, Pandora and Sound Cloud.
