Members of local six-piece band Envy Alo might be isolated at home, but they have become tighter than ever during quarantine. Collaborating remotely from their home studios using the program Splice, the band’s Home Splice Sessions videos have been a hit online with their fans as they set their sights on Beanstalk: At The Drive In!, Colorado’s first socially distant music festival at a drive-in theater.
CLICK FOR VIDEO OF HOME SPLICE SESSION RELEASE “TELL ME”
“The Home Splice Sessions really just came out of us wanting to keep making music while stuck at home,” says keyboardist and founding member Aaron Pettine. “I brought the program Splice to the band where we could all collaborate on the same files online, and the next thing you know we had three or four originals done that we’ve wanted to lay down for a long time in the studio. It’s really made this time apart feel more connected and has us all feeling optimistic for the future.”
The band has been releasing a new Home Splice Session release every week since April, and has no intentions of slowing down. The songs consist of homemade individual takes on video from each member--Callie Morrocco on vocals, Kevin Supina on saxophone and vocals, Aaron Pettine on keyboards, Kevin Hinder on guitar, Karl Summers on bass, and Nate Etter on drums. The takes are then combined by videographer Mark Pietrovito to create a live mosaic of a music video.
CLICK FOR AARON PETTINE’S HOME SPLICE RIG RUNDOWN VIDEO
The band featured a Home Splice Session set of five new originals on the successful digital music festival Live From Out There in April and has a cover of Tom Misch and FKJ’s tune “Losing My Way” due out on May 31st. Based on the success of the videos, the band plans to remaster and release a collection of the tunes on Spotify as The Home Splice Sessions LP in the coming months. They are also working on a tutorial videos series of home studio rig rundowns to help other bands create similar content.
“It’s been a completely unique and satisfying new way to create music,” says drummer Nate Etter. “Kevin Supina our saxophonist has been in Wyoming through most of this, we don’t live together, but we’re still catching up weekly on Zoom calls and connecting musically in ways that I don’t think we always got to live. We’ve all stepped into a studio mindset and improved our musicianship. It’s more about ‘what can I do to make my part great?’ and less about ‘let’s get into this deep group improv’.”
Envy Alo was quick to team up with The Magic Beans when they found out they were also trying to find innovative ways to keep making music during the pandemic...this time in a live setting. The weekend of June 26-27 Beanstalk: At The Drive-In! will be the state’s first outdoor live music festival at Holiday Twin Drive-In in Fort Collins. Both days of the festival sold out in hours.
CLICK TO LEARN MORE ABOUT BEANSTALK: AT THE DRIVE-IN!
The festival will feature live bands who will be streamed to the big screen and audio will be transmitted through car radios. The festival will adhere to all State and Local social distancing guidelines with cars parked in every other spot. On Saturday, Envy Alo opens the show at 5 pm followed by sets from The Kitchen Dwellers, The Magic Beans, and Cycles.
