Tons of news in Solyoni land my friends. Please take notes.
We begin with a recap of last month's historic Singer/Songwriter Showcase at the Hopvine Pub featuring Dan Lurie with members of the Solyoni collective. This performance is already being hailed as one of the greatest concerts in music history, right beside that Fleetwood Mac reunion they always show on PBS, and any number of performances by Cher. A concert event this legendary deserves it's own page, so we've created one. The Solyoni Hopvine Showcase page features video footage, exclusive photographs, and if you concentrate hard enough, authentic smells from the show. So check it out by clicking here. You'll be amazed.
Prairie Monsters update: Solyoni's Dan Lurie, Dominic Aulisio and hopefully multi-instrumentalist/diva Bethany Gordon will meet up in Ohio in mid-October. From there, they will drive Aulisio's Grandpa-style Mercedes to Wilmington North Carolina to continue work on the long awaited Solyoni roadtrip album, Prairie Monsters. The group will be teaming up with Robert Lurie, flamboyant guitarist/occasional rapper for the Solyoni collective, who lives with two cats in the small coastal town.
Lastly, in an effort to make things a little less confusing in the Solyoni world, we've decided that Solyoni is now one big ol' musical collective. Everything written by Dan Lurie or Dominic Aulisio is a Solyoni song. Any musician who adds a missed guitar note, drum beat, banshee-like cry, etc. to a Solyoni song is instantly a member of the Solyoni collective. What does this mean? It means the Brotherhood of The Yakuza name will be dropped. All songs recorded by Brotherhood of The Yakuza are now Solyoni songs and will be part of an upcoming full-length Solyoni album. So now you have two Solyoni albums to look forward to. Both Prairie Monsters and the as-yet untitled full-length album featuring songs from the Brotherhood of The Yakuza ep, are both being worked on, and should be completed within the next 6 to 8 months. Want to learn more about the many dashing members of the Solyoni collective? Check out our new The Solyoni Collective page. You might be surprised by some of the faces you see.
That's all for now. As you can see, we're going to be very busy over the next few months. If at any point you get the feeling we've dissapeared, rest assured we will have huge, important, and hopefully wittier updates on all this action sometime around early November. At that time, it is strongly encouraged that you wear diapers.
Wednesday, August 6, 2003
Tuesday, June 24, 2003
Real live music
Wow! Concert season is in full effect in Seattle. First, Boston plays the White River Ampitheater. Now, Dan Lurie, of Solyoni and Brotherhood of The Yakuza fame, plays the Hop Vine Pub! Lurie will be the third and final act of the Singer/Songwriter Showcase Monday June 30. Lurie will take the stage at exactly 9:30 p.m. for a 45 minute set of alarming original tunes. Accompanying Lurie on stage will be celebrity guest musicians including Aaron Semer and Jon Kilian of The Plains, and José Sandoval of Weapons of Ass Destruction (W.O.A.D.). The show is free thanks to Mr. Lurie's ongoing battle with Ticketmaster.
If you are in the mood to spend money however, a new Solyoni Music Family anthology entitled Hits & Misses (2000-2003) will be available for $5. The CD contains over 40 minutes of material from The Solyoni Music Family, ranging from Solyoni's rare debut album Swamp Dirges, to unreleased demos of future projects, and scaldingly hot Brotherhood of The Yakuza romps. We hope to see you Monday night at the Hop Vine Pub on 15th Avenue on Seattle's Capitol Hill. For directions, click here.
If you are in the mood to spend money however, a new Solyoni Music Family anthology entitled Hits & Misses (2000-2003) will be available for $5. The CD contains over 40 minutes of material from The Solyoni Music Family, ranging from Solyoni's rare debut album Swamp Dirges, to unreleased demos of future projects, and scaldingly hot Brotherhood of The Yakuza romps. We hope to see you Monday night at the Hop Vine Pub on 15th Avenue on Seattle's Capitol Hill. For directions, click here.
Saturday, May 24, 2003
Don't call it a comeback
"Some said it couldn't be done. Others said it was an impossible dream. But 5 minutes into scarecrow country, we were nowhere near where we needed to be." Dominic Aulisio - 5/14/2002, two days into last spring's Solyoni road trip debacle.
TODAY we are proud to announce Solyoni is back! Exactly one year after the ill-fated roadtrip of Solyoni co-frontmen Dominic Aulisio and Dan Lurie, the duo reunited in Seattle for a fevered week of musical exploration. While Lurie and Aulisio failed to accomplish their first goal (seeing Bullettproof Monk before it left theaters), they did find time to team up for the first live Solyoni performance in over two years. And before the week was up, the duo joined forces with Cary Logrande, Aaron Semer, and Jon Kilian, acclaimed members of the Solyoni Music Family's Seattle contingent. The group assembled in The Basement of The Little Mustard House and knocked out three extremely experimental tracks, "Trucker Shoe Polish Shoe Shine Machine," "Albert Lee Hey Hey," and "Vacuuming the Snow."
Now, as a special treat to our fans, solyoni.com has added an exciting new page that captures some of the highlights of last week's action. It's the Return of Solyoni page! Click here to see photos and exclusive video clips! of Solyoni in the studio recording brand new tracks for the long-awaited and still unfinished Prairie Monsters album. Enjoy!
TODAY we are proud to announce Solyoni is back! Exactly one year after the ill-fated roadtrip of Solyoni co-frontmen Dominic Aulisio and Dan Lurie, the duo reunited in Seattle for a fevered week of musical exploration. While Lurie and Aulisio failed to accomplish their first goal (seeing Bullettproof Monk before it left theaters), they did find time to team up for the first live Solyoni performance in over two years. And before the week was up, the duo joined forces with Cary Logrande, Aaron Semer, and Jon Kilian, acclaimed members of the Solyoni Music Family's Seattle contingent. The group assembled in The Basement of The Little Mustard House and knocked out three extremely experimental tracks, "Trucker Shoe Polish Shoe Shine Machine," "Albert Lee Hey Hey," and "Vacuuming the Snow."
Now, as a special treat to our fans, solyoni.com has added an exciting new page that captures some of the highlights of last week's action. It's the Return of Solyoni page! Click here to see photos and exclusive video clips! of Solyoni in the studio recording brand new tracks for the long-awaited and still unfinished Prairie Monsters album. Enjoy!
Sunday, March 16, 2003
Letters from Rob Pilatus
Wow. Have we got a treat for you? Indeed. Solyoni.com is proud to introduce a brand new section to our website. It's called "Letters from Rob Pilatus." The former Milli Vanilli star has inexplicabley taken up an interest in the Solyoni Music Family. We weren't sure how to react, so we've created a forum for Pilatus to sound off on all things related to Solyoni and Brotherhood of The Yakuza, and some things that don't have anything to do with anything. Do yourself a favor and check out Rob's words of wisdom by clicking here!
Friday, January 17, 2003
All the news you can't use
Happy Festivus and merry New Year. Well as you know we've been paying much more attention to Brotherhood of The Yakuza lately here at solyoni.com. So with the dawn of a new year, now is the perfect time to provide a complete update on both bands in the Solyoni music family, yes the legendary Solyoni and the increasingly volatile project Brotherhood of The Yakuza. We'd also like to mention that the crack video team at Velvet Fallopian Tube Productions is scouring the archives so we can finally post long-awaited video footage of classic Solyoni performances as well as the recent Brotherhood of The Yakuza holiday romp. We'll let you know when the videos are up and running.
We begin with Brotherhood of The Yakuza: Brothers Dan and Robert Lurie had an extremely active Christmas week in Seattle. For the second straight year, the duo invaded the Main Street Ale House in Kingston for a set of music so intense locals were asking for water and begging for Hall & Oates covers by the time the Brotherhood took the stage for their encore. Be careful what you ask for.
Two days after their inspired set, the brothers Lurie teamed up once again with Aaron Semer of The Plains to record a new song entitled "Plantain(sp?) Farmer." For now, we're keeping this one in our vault, but it's a shoe-in for The Brotherhood's first full length album slated for completion this summer. The group already has 5 or 6 songs in the can, and plans to record 6 more masterworks which are apparently still hiding in our brains somewhere.
As for Solyoni: The band that started it all has been on a long hiatus. Geographic boundaries have limited the demented trio's ability to collaborate lately, but don't be shocked if Solyoni's long-awaited concept album, Prairie Monsters, containing songs penned during the fabled road trip of frontmen Dominic Aulisio and Dan Lurie, finds it's way into record stores by the end of the summer. When the timing is right, the group will hit the studio and finally unveil the musical version of a road story so twisted we didn't even have to make it up. Just to wet your appetite, here's a list of possible songs for inclusion on Prairie Monsters:
1. Amusement Park Untitled
2. The Legend of Wiley Granger and the City With no Sidewalks
3. Gold Mime Robberies
4. Albert Lee Hey Hey
5. Menu at a Restaurant
6. Cooler Full of Plums
7. Trucker Shoe Polish Shoe Shine Machine
8. Toenail Moon
9. Hill Boys
10. Indiglo Sky
11. Vacuuming the Snow
12. The Stagecoach Inn
13. Everybody's Got a Robot Song
14. Kidnapping Meteorologists
15. The World as Conceived as Being Sucked into a Hole
We begin with Brotherhood of The Yakuza: Brothers Dan and Robert Lurie had an extremely active Christmas week in Seattle. For the second straight year, the duo invaded the Main Street Ale House in Kingston for a set of music so intense locals were asking for water and begging for Hall & Oates covers by the time the Brotherhood took the stage for their encore. Be careful what you ask for.
Two days after their inspired set, the brothers Lurie teamed up once again with Aaron Semer of The Plains to record a new song entitled "Plantain(sp?) Farmer." For now, we're keeping this one in our vault, but it's a shoe-in for The Brotherhood's first full length album slated for completion this summer. The group already has 5 or 6 songs in the can, and plans to record 6 more masterworks which are apparently still hiding in our brains somewhere.
As for Solyoni: The band that started it all has been on a long hiatus. Geographic boundaries have limited the demented trio's ability to collaborate lately, but don't be shocked if Solyoni's long-awaited concept album, Prairie Monsters, containing songs penned during the fabled road trip of frontmen Dominic Aulisio and Dan Lurie, finds it's way into record stores by the end of the summer. When the timing is right, the group will hit the studio and finally unveil the musical version of a road story so twisted we didn't even have to make it up. Just to wet your appetite, here's a list of possible songs for inclusion on Prairie Monsters:
1. Amusement Park Untitled
2. The Legend of Wiley Granger and the City With no Sidewalks
3. Gold Mime Robberies
4. Albert Lee Hey Hey
5. Menu at a Restaurant
6. Cooler Full of Plums
7. Trucker Shoe Polish Shoe Shine Machine
8. Toenail Moon
9. Hill Boys
10. Indiglo Sky
11. Vacuuming the Snow
12. The Stagecoach Inn
13. Everybody's Got a Robot Song
14. Kidnapping Meteorologists
15. The World as Conceived as Being Sucked into a Hole
Sunday, November 17, 2002
Legal proceedings
Big news out of The Yakuza camp this week. Here's the story as reported by the Associated Press:
LURIE BROTHERS NEWS
5-4 SUPREME COURT RULING FORCES EDGY POP-ROCK ACT TO CHANGE ITS NAME
AP-In the most bitterly contested string of legal rulings since the Florida Recount, the United States Supreme Court has finally weighed in on the burning question of who gets to retain the coveted band name "The Yakuza." By a 5-4 vote, the Justices have decided in favor of the Chicago-based band who originally held that name, despite the mushrooming popularity of the newer, edgier Seattle-based Yakuza helmed by Brothers Daniel and Robert Lurie.
In defiance of the majority ruling, Justice Clarance Thomas wrote a somewhat convoluted dissenting opinion, which read, in part: "The landmark case of Plessy vs. Fergusson establishes a clear precedent that the name 'Yakuza' should rightfully belong to the group of musicians who sing about Burt Reynolds."
Yakuza drummer/banjo player Aaron Semer, no regular fan of Justice Thomas, nevertheless had this to say of the dissenting opinion: "It's just a shame, really, that such an eloquent argument could not sway the other Justices. What does that say about our country?"
Jon Kilian, another member of the West Coast Yakuza, held a packed press conference two hours after the ruling to announce his intention to move to Canada out of protest.
After consulting with their attorneys, the Brothers Lurie unveiled an ingenious two-prong strategy. Quoth Dan Lurie: "Rob did an IMDB search and discovered that an alternate title to the film The Yakuza (The Robert Mitchum thriller from which the band's name is derived) was The Brotherhood of The Yakuza. So we are now The Brotherhood of the Yakuza. Actually, I like this new name better, because, you know, we're brothers. Plus, it allows us to retain our 10 Japanese fans."
Brother Rob added, "On the advice of our attorneys, we are sending a copy of our debut EP back in time to the year 1995, before the other Yakuza was formed. We will proceed to unearth this copy and then sue the other Yakuza for stealing our name."
In response to a clarification question from FOX News, Lurie added, "Yes, Dan discovered the secret of time travel, by accident, while he was at a party at Ohio University. But this is the first time we've used it since that debacle with the Mary Celeste." Lurie refused to elaborate on this comment.
Undaunted by the legal setbacks, The Brotherhood of The Yakuza intends to go ahead with recording plans for Christmas 2002. Says Jon Kilian: "Dan recently discovered AC/DC and he's been playing these really meaty rock riffs. His falsetto singing is also coming into its own. Think Dirty Mind-era Prince. Rob just bought a couple of House of Pain records at a garage sale and he's now writing nothing but rap lyrics. You think I'm kidding, don't you?"
Brotherhood of The Yakuza's first full-length LP, tentatively titled The Friends of Audrey Green is due out Summer 2003.
LURIE BROTHERS NEWS
5-4 SUPREME COURT RULING FORCES EDGY POP-ROCK ACT TO CHANGE ITS NAME
AP-In the most bitterly contested string of legal rulings since the Florida Recount, the United States Supreme Court has finally weighed in on the burning question of who gets to retain the coveted band name "The Yakuza." By a 5-4 vote, the Justices have decided in favor of the Chicago-based band who originally held that name, despite the mushrooming popularity of the newer, edgier Seattle-based Yakuza helmed by Brothers Daniel and Robert Lurie.
In defiance of the majority ruling, Justice Clarance Thomas wrote a somewhat convoluted dissenting opinion, which read, in part: "The landmark case of Plessy vs. Fergusson establishes a clear precedent that the name 'Yakuza' should rightfully belong to the group of musicians who sing about Burt Reynolds."
Yakuza drummer/banjo player Aaron Semer, no regular fan of Justice Thomas, nevertheless had this to say of the dissenting opinion: "It's just a shame, really, that such an eloquent argument could not sway the other Justices. What does that say about our country?"
Jon Kilian, another member of the West Coast Yakuza, held a packed press conference two hours after the ruling to announce his intention to move to Canada out of protest.
After consulting with their attorneys, the Brothers Lurie unveiled an ingenious two-prong strategy. Quoth Dan Lurie: "Rob did an IMDB search and discovered that an alternate title to the film The Yakuza (The Robert Mitchum thriller from which the band's name is derived) was The Brotherhood of The Yakuza. So we are now The Brotherhood of the Yakuza. Actually, I like this new name better, because, you know, we're brothers. Plus, it allows us to retain our 10 Japanese fans."
Brother Rob added, "On the advice of our attorneys, we are sending a copy of our debut EP back in time to the year 1995, before the other Yakuza was formed. We will proceed to unearth this copy and then sue the other Yakuza for stealing our name."
In response to a clarification question from FOX News, Lurie added, "Yes, Dan discovered the secret of time travel, by accident, while he was at a party at Ohio University. But this is the first time we've used it since that debacle with the Mary Celeste." Lurie refused to elaborate on this comment.
Undaunted by the legal setbacks, The Brotherhood of The Yakuza intends to go ahead with recording plans for Christmas 2002. Says Jon Kilian: "Dan recently discovered AC/DC and he's been playing these really meaty rock riffs. His falsetto singing is also coming into its own. Think Dirty Mind-era Prince. Rob just bought a couple of House of Pain records at a garage sale and he's now writing nothing but rap lyrics. You think I'm kidding, don't you?"
Brotherhood of The Yakuza's first full-length LP, tentatively titled The Friends of Audrey Green is due out Summer 2003.
Wednesday, September 18, 2002
One Hundred Years Ago They Were Called Samurai
The wait is over!
Two months ago we told you about The Yakuza, the smolderingly hot new group in the Solyoni music family. Those of you who have been unable to sleep for the past two months wondering if The Yakuza's debut album would ever be released can close your eyes and don your night caps at last. That's right. The powerful and important new ep One Hundred Years Ago They Were Called Samurai is available now.
The Yakuza, featuring solyoni's Dan Lurie, Black Rider recording artist Robert Lurie, Jon Kilian, and Aaron Semer of The Plains, signed the final papers with Velvet Fallopian Tube Productions last week and now have full clearance to distribute their debut CD. Order yours today by sending an email to solyoni@hotmail.com. Include your mailing address, and we will ship you a limited edition copy of the CD critics across the map are calling "a savory mix of acoustic sensibility, senseless electricity, and sweet basil."
For further details on the release, full-length reviews, MP3s, photos and more, visit solyoni.com's The Yakuza page now!
Two months ago we told you about The Yakuza, the smolderingly hot new group in the Solyoni music family. Those of you who have been unable to sleep for the past two months wondering if The Yakuza's debut album would ever be released can close your eyes and don your night caps at last. That's right. The powerful and important new ep One Hundred Years Ago They Were Called Samurai is available now.
The Yakuza, featuring solyoni's Dan Lurie, Black Rider recording artist Robert Lurie, Jon Kilian, and Aaron Semer of The Plains, signed the final papers with Velvet Fallopian Tube Productions last week and now have full clearance to distribute their debut CD. Order yours today by sending an email to solyoni@hotmail.com. Include your mailing address, and we will ship you a limited edition copy of the CD critics across the map are calling "a savory mix of acoustic sensibility, senseless electricity, and sweet basil."
For further details on the release, full-length reviews, MP3s, photos and more, visit solyoni.com's The Yakuza page now!
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