Wow!
 
This past weekend was a great run on many levels. Echofission hit the road for the first time in a while and rocked the Festivus Festival in Hartford, CT and Sarah Street Grille in Stroudsburg, PA. In between, we stopped in at The Office in Montclair and played an outdoor show for their first annual microbrew fest. There we battled the wetter elements and walked away having played a solid electric and acoustic set, all the while remaining in a perpetual state of not being electrocuted :)
We will be back at The Office in Montclair for Octoberfest and Sarah Street Grille on Sept 11th.
 
We racked up some good miles and experience. There was bacon in Hartford and a road crew that followed us to Stroudsburg. Jaymie Gerard joined us on stage for some killer harmonies and played her tunes during our set breaks. www.jaymiegerard.com. "(w/ Borat accent) Nice!"
 
And who was the belle of the ball?  Delilah Rango made her debut on the drums at The Office. She was rewarded with those little crunchy puffy things that come out of the yellow tube thing. All was well.
 
So, Echofission is going to take a month to rest, spend time with friends and family and vacation a bit. We will also be working on some new tunes to introduce into the July, August and September shows.
 
Meanwhile, Geb will be performing at a number of venues with Jaymie Gerard under the name Twice. Check out the tunes and dates to find them at www.myspace.com/twicesound
 
Lastly, click on our 'Live' button to see the upcoming summer dates for Echofission. Mark your calendars. We would love to see you as usual :)
 
 

Free-flowing organic. That was the sound that came out of us last night at the Thristy Toad. Rango on lead and vocals, Matty on bass and vocals, Tim "the Pimp" Djembe on djembe, Nick on vocals, Jaymie on vocals and me on vox, guitar and harmonica were intuitively listening to each other and the sound it created was nothing short but magical.
 
We had the holy spirit running through us. You don't have to be a Christian rock band to have it pulsating through you. You just need to be in Lodi on a Seattle-esque June night. The stops and starts and the louds and softs were completely spontaneous and practically flawless. Tim never even played with us before. We called out songs as we played.
 
For those who were there you know what I'm talking about. You were part of the collective energy that fed the room.
 
Yeah!
 
GZ of EF 

Sat 5/23/09 show at Mexicali last night was big time! We are so grateful for all who attended, worked behind the sound and light board and shared the stage with us.
 
Craig Sheppard's tasteful bluesy harp, Dave Thomas's energetic and passionate percussion, Lizzy's mesmerizing violin and angelic vocals, and Aaron and Lo's other-worldly abilities made this performance beyond special.
 
Also, Scott Bailey. What can I say about this guy?!? Despite having freakin' food poisoning he attended to every sonic detail yesterday from 3pm to 1:30AM. Scott, the band is humbled by your work ethic and dedication to helping us reach that next level of sonic propulsion.
 
Thanks to Jeff for orchestrating intense and perfectly calculated lights. We felt like we were in space up there.
 
Thanks to Mod "The Jimmy" for those ambient sounds in between songs that kept the vibe going and for recording every piece of our music since 2001.
 
Praise be to Jim Yost who shot the music video segments last night! Jim, your dedication to this project is ultra-appreciated. Can't wait to hit up the other video shoot locations. Stay tuned for this video everyone, it's going to be grrrreat!
 
Lastly, to every person that spent their hard-earned money to come see us play. Without you we have no show, period end-of-story. You all are helping create a buzz not only for our band, but for NJ original music. Trust me folks, people are talking and the vibe in NJ is getting attention. Do I envision a next Seattle or San Fran anyone? :)
 
As for my Jerry Springer final thought, Dave Thomas and I were talking after the show and he said to me, verbatim, "You guys are the hardest working band I know". Coming from Dave who was in the incredible band Native, who knows music better than most fellas I know, that is really special. Dave, thanks.
 
I'm not gonna lie, I felt like we were a reincarnated version of The Band last night. That might be a stretch now that I type it out loud, but our band has always been like a chameleon when it comes to playing with featured guests; we kinda just slip into a supporting role and let the guests take over. So, I officially dub last night The First Waltz.
 
With humble love,
 
GZ from EF  

It has been one year since we released our album The Straights and last night was definitely the culmination of a successful and really fun year of playing music. Last night at the Toad was really amazing. It was a night of multiple reunions of people on many levels. We would like to thank the following groups of folks:
 
The Fair Lawn Forrest School Facebook Crew, and other Cutter alumni, with specific shoutouts to Melissa and Erica (goob!) for organizing everyone. Also, Liz for bringing a kickball :)
The requests for songs we received from the FL crew were mostly for our originals, and although we loved playing the covers for everyone, to have the original requested really made us feel great. Still, we loved playing Pearl Jam, Hurricane and Phish for you and seeing you all dance and sing along was the best!
 
The Saddle Brook Crew for representing large and always being our steadiest, most consistent fans over the years. You know who you are.
 
The Underpass crew, especially Joe Beets, who is loved by so many of us for giving us all the chance to play so many times over the years, and who still smells terrifically of incense (no joke he smells fantastic!)
 
Mike June and the Dirty Doves for reuniting this weekend after not practicing for almost a year. Mike flew up from Austin TX to do the gig and reminded us how cold it is up here so many times :). The Doves sounded ridiculously great and really tied the room together like the Dude's rug (Big Lebowski fans will get this joke).
 
Matty, Lizzy, Ed, Mike, Chris and Corrina for jamming with us last night and making the songs sound extraordinary. It was a celebration up there and each of them pitched in to make it all sound huge and fun.
 
And lastly to our long-distance fans and friends who came to join us, specifically Terrence who flew in from Chicago and Brad who flew in from Florida just for last night. That's flat out incredible.
 
So, Echofission and friends will be back at the Toad in April (show info listed below). We hope to see many of you again and have a blast. With no cover and a local destination, The Toad makes an ideal place for us to play and hang with you guys. Thanks for continuing to make it so much fun.

So far we have tons of gigs booked and some new tracks prepping for a new album.
 
We are really excited to be playing with some cool bands in teh next coming months. 
 
On 2/28/09 at The Thirsty Toad we will be playing with our dear friends Mike June and the Dirty Doves. Mike has graced us with his swagger once again, this tim, all the way from Austin TX.
 
On 4/18/09 at the Toad again jam friends Tycoon Dog will be hitting the stage with us. They are super cool and very talented.
 
And on 6/13/09 Alter Ego will hit the stage with us at the Toad. That's Nick's band; Nick from SR if you recall. That will be pretty sweet too.

Thanks to all those who reviewed our music on garageband.com and selected us for this honor.

Echofission thanks all of you who came to a show/s, bought our music, told someone we were a band and tolerable to listen to, anything that you did to help us!

It has been our favorite year by far. And to top it off, NJ's #1 online independent radio station, BlowUpRadio.com, named our 2008 album "The Straights" the #1 album of the year (blowupradio.com).
We highly respect that station and its guru Lazlo and we appreciate his support.

What's in store for 2009? You can be sure that an email will get you. Some gigs, yep. And we have already begun the process of recording the next album.

Thanks you all for your support

Sat December 27th
The Thirsty Toad
Lodi, NJ
10:00PM, NO COVER

Lots of gigs, radio and online interviews, and lots of good times. We even got royalties this year! It's been great. Thanks to everyone for everything, from voting to coming to gigs to buying our music.

We just won the November 08 Contemporary Music Artist on Ourstage.com. And the opening track to The Straights album "Brand New God " won Rock Track of the Day on Garageband.com. See, you guys helped again. Thanks.

And as we close out this year join us on Sat 12/27 at The Thirsty Toad in Lodi, NJ for 2 sets starting at 10pm. We will play the greatest hits of 2008 (hah)!

We extend our deepest appreciation to Create A Vibe LLC and New RIders of the Purple Sage for having us open up for them last night at the illustrious Mexicali Blues.

The crowd was fantastic and really welcomed our sound and involvement in the evening.

Thanks to everyone who came to the show!

Peace,

Echofission

Two of our songs will be played on Mon, Oct. 20th at 10:25pm and 10:45pm ET. You can hear our tracks on foxsports.com/radio.

TUNE IN!!!

Jambands.com let you vote and they listened. Thank you for making us New Groove of the Month. Click on the banner to read the interview we did with Jambands.com

Best Male Vocals and Best Melody awarded to Lucky week of 8/18/08
Track of the Week awarded to Illumination week of 8/25/08
Best Melody awarded to Door week of 9/1/08

THESE THREE TRACKS CAN BE FOUND ON OUR LATEST ALBUM 'THE STRAIGHTS'. Check em' out!

Click below for info and Tickets!

Festivals festivals festivals folks! We love playing festivals. When people gather for hot air balloons, just a day outside or for a larger geo-human cause, we love being a part of it. Not only do we get to play for people that we never met before but then we have stuff to do after rather than your typical bar or club-oriented post-show activities.

At festivals you can taste different foods, watch different artists and feel the energy of people and the sun. Feels good.

Our next endeavor is something that we never did before. And that's play on a boat. It's already listed on our Live page here at echofission.com. It is going to be quite the experience.

To all those who bought albums, attended shows, voted for us online, visited our links, told someone else about us, and just flat out listened to our music, we thank you.

2008 has seen the arrival of the Echo-children Delilah Rango and the anticipated arrival of Andrew Jaskewicz. Both will make their debut at The Black River Music Festival on 8/16/08 in Chester, NJ to watch their fathers perform for the first time.

They will be signing autographs with thier drool :)

We are a lucky bunch of walruses.

The night started with Rising Appalachia, a very ambient chill-groove of an outfit that was the perfect antidote one needed when driving through the tumultuous NYC streets, especially from NJ looking for a parking spot. Thanks guys and gals.

Then our pals Brian Fitzpatrick and the Band of Brothers. Alt country/folk troupe out of NJ that gets the night moving and makes you feel good you decided to come out for the evening.

Then we rocked. I'm sorry we did. The Sullivan Hall sound crew and Mod lit that stage up like a typical Hammerstein Ballroom night and the sound was pumping.

Finally the Thursday Night AllStars; the Village People playing in The Village. All of different creeds all playing one tight jam.

Great night, thanks to all who came.

Echofission

Ladies and gentlemen, click right up and witness our multi-faceted website...it is sure to appeal to the masses upon masses of Echo-fans worldwide! Even Bhutan.

As a thanks to you for visiting our new website, click on 'music' and DOWNLOAD FOR FREE our Amplify the Sun EP, our first self-titled album, and unreleased/soundtrack/b-sides music.
We even put lyrics up so you know what the hell we are singing about and can sing along in the cubicle, in the subway, the hallway during passing time, or in your automobile!

The 'media' section contains live youtube clips of us playing as well as some of the recent interviews we have done. That is, if you want to see us in the digital flesh or hear us when we don't have our instruments to shiled our thoughts from the world.

'Echo-Net' lists all the places and folks we tend to associate with on a regular basis. Much love.

Go to 'board' and leave a comment about the band, Sri Lankan civil war...whatever your heart desires!

Our 'live' page lists the gigs we are playing so you can hang with us.

And the 'about' button is, well, self-explanatory.

Thanks for visiting,

Echofission

To get Echofission to play various festivals like Bonnaroo and Newport Folk Festivals in 2008, as well as win top prize in multiple music genres, sign up for FREE as a fan at www.ourstage.com and vote for Echofission.

GO TO ECHO-NET AND CLICK ON THE OURSTAGE.COM BANNER OF YOUR CHOICE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE ECHOFISSION SONG...WE HAVE SONGS FROM VARIOUS ALBUMS IN ACTIVE CONTESTS!

To get Echofission played on Q104.3: http://www.q1043.com/cc-common/artist_submission/player.html?art=148292

Wow, what a show! Thanks to all that attended and to Brian Fitzpatrick and The Band of Brothers and the Scott DeCarlo Band for sharing the bill with us that very fine evening.

Visit our media section to see and hear live songs from the CD Release show.