Deni Bonet
|
Lilith Fair artist Deni Bonet is a classically trained violinist who traded in her black recital clothes for a pair of go-go boots and an electric blue violin. She quit the classical world early in her career because she hated having to wear black and sit still! Deni has either recorded or performed with REM (most recently as a special guest on their UP! tour), Sarah McLachlan, Chris Whitley, Daniel Lanois, Gravity Kills & Robyn Hitchcock amongst many others. She was an original member of the cast of the nationally syndicated radio show, MOUNTAIN STAGE; singing and performing in her own right and accompanying guests on the show - anyone from Richard Thompson to the Indigo Girls to Warren Zevon to Allen Toussaint. Deni left the show to pursue a solo career, deciding that West Virginia was not a hotbed of alterna-pop activity, and with a mission to prove that there is more to the violin than concertos and hoedowns!
Performance highlights for her own band include showcases at CMJ, Intel, SXSW, NXNE, Bumbershoot and taking her act on the road with Lilith Fair. Her band has performed at Lilith Fair, to amazing reviews, with most reviewers picking her as the standout act on the outside stages. In 1998, Deni had a hugely successful show at SXSW. On a bill that included John Hammond, Kathy Mattea, and Robyn Hitchcock, she won over the sold-out audience and earned herself a standing ovation. This precipitated an immediate invitation to play at NXNE in Toronto, with a full-page preview in NOW! Magazine. She has been a regular at Intel (with a nice mention in Entertainment Weekly) & CMJ festivals in New York, at Bumbershoot in Seattle and has become an in-demand act, headlining various festivals along the Eastern seaboard.
Deni's music is best defined by the term alterna-pop. As the Wall Street Journal (that renowned rock newspaper!) suggested, think "Sheryl Crow meets the B 52's" and you'll be close. The Music Paper described her as like "Debbie Harry fronting the Dave Matthews Band". A constant thread runs through Deni's songs — infectious grooves, stinging, ironic lyrics and a pop/alternative sensibility, which doesn't have a problem with melody, so long as the attitude is right. All this while still managing to keep her tongue planted firmly in her cheek. She is really fun, and has great songs, which has meant airplay on WDST, Woodstock; WXPN, Philadelphia & WBCR, Brooklyn and many other stations, which cover the range of modern rock, college and AAA formats. In fact WDST loves Deni's first EP so much that they continue to play it over four years after its initial release. Her demo tape was cited by Mike Mills of REM in Mojo Magazine as one of the three things he is listening to at the moment.
She has toured independently in the U.S. opening for Patti Smith, Lisa Loeb, Cracker, Midnight Oil, The Tubes, Marshall Crenshaw, Robyn Hitchcock, The Beautiful South, The Nixons, Luka Bloom, and The Bogmen. Her two visits to Turkey have provided some great photo opportunities and, of course some wonderful musical moments playing at a major international festival in Istanbul, in clubs around the country (including "Manhattan" in Ankara!) and an unplugged session at the major rock radio station in Turkey.
For additional information, music & video samples and purchase details for the debut album Bigger is Always Better, please visit Deni's website.
Homepage: http://www.denibonet.com
Discography
"Phat & Stoopid EP" "E.P."
Appearances with Other Artists
|
||||||||
"Well,
if this doesn't make you grin, you must be dead!" - this was Deni Bonet's
quote during the recording of Bigger Is Always Better, Deni's brand
new debut album. Sure, we all have problems in our lives, but Deni's
philosophy is - why wallow in misery when music's great ability is to
take us beyond life's trivia? And if you can laugh at your own problems,
well, that gives you the right to laugh at other people's too!
