'DBST' by trioVD. Taken from the forthcoming album 'Maze', released 21st May on Naim Edge Records.
If there's one thing that the Kilkenny Arts Festival is good at is providing the room for you to break out of your comfort zone when it comes to the different strands of the festival. For me, last night, venturing into Set Theatre for trioVD's mind-blowing set was just that. Comfort zone, gone. Walls, knocked. Roof, blown off. Bass, thumped. Mind, blown.
The programme billing set the bar weeks ago, laying down the gauntlet to the band by challenging them to tear the roof of Set in the same way that And So I Watch You From Afar did last year. I was at that it, stuck in the middle of the crowd and in the aftermath of their performance, Langtons were lucky to have any of the building left standing, my ears not right for days as a result. Thankfully this time my ears don't have the same ringing aftereffects (perhaps due to better care on my part) but last night's late night show left you feeling the force of TrioVD's 'riot jazz' in every inch of your body. I picked up a copy of their 'Fill It Up With Ghosts' release the week before the festival. Whatever misunderstandings I had about the album, the song structure, where all cast to one side when the band took to the stage last night, opening up with the title track 'Fill It up With Ghosts' before moving through some more of their 2009 release and some tracks I didn't pick up on during the week.My notes from last night's show echo conversations with others today who were at the gig: Mind blowing, fantastic, amazing, intense and beyond and in walking away from the gig after midnight last night, I couldn't have been any more impressed. That said, it wasn't going to be amazing for everyone, far from it. The style of music that trioVD deliver couldn't be any more removed from the average street connotations that jazz music conjures up but last night saw three musicians (Chris, Chris and Chris) rook a guitar, saxophone and drums as well as I've seen any trio in a long time. It was frantic, energetic and high paced to the degree that at times you (or at least me) had to take a step back to try get a hold on how everything was being put together on the stage. There were a few calls from the band to come up and dance in front of the stage, and while the offer was enticing to some extent, I don't think I'd be qualified to dance to something like it. Just when you think you're nodding to the groove of the tune, it changes, and changes again, and back, and again, and really keeps you guessing. These guys are talented. They're incredibly, incredibly talented and last night they put on a powerhouse of a show. It was one of those shows where if you let the music take you over, you were drawn right into the heart of it, and had your head blown off in the process. For a start like that on day one, it bodes extremely well for the next nine days of music. - Ken
Take a listen - trioVD - Fill It Up With Ghosts
fill it up with ghosts by trioVD
Hold your breath for trioVD's second album. It's coming out soon and sounds like nothing you've ever heard before.
trioVD are unlike any other band on the planet. Their music cannot be described without juxtaposing one genre with another equally as far flung in polar opposition.
Their 2009 debut album Fill It Up With Ghosts redefined preconceptions of contemporary British jazz, winning MOJO Jazz Album of the Year and Jazzwise Album Of The Year, and yet, despite the ever present ‘J' word their shows are populated by voracious crowds of old-proggers and muso-teens who aspire only to possess the heel-toe of drummer Bussey, the sweep-pick of guitarist Sharkey or the growl of saxophonist de Bezenac. But despite its abundance, virtuosity is not what makes trioVD so special. It is the uniform vision that the trio possesses as a group, and an ability to express this with mind-blowing coherence, which makes trioVD a hit with the most open-minded of music fans.
trioVD are the jewel in the leftfield crown of LIMA (Leeds Improvised Music Association), where the three musicians met in 2005, coagulated by their mutual love of rock, dance, metal and anything harmonically or rhythmically out of the ordinary. The band's first improvised gig as a trio, on Valentine's Day 2006 forced them to adlib the name ‘trioVD', which stuck with them, as the group organically began writing more and more original material. Their debut London gig at the prestigious and packed Vortex set them on a path that saw their debut album draw critical mass from Time Out to BBC Introducing, with standing ovations from The Garage in London to North Sea Jazz Festival. The group were also commissioned by The Guardian to record a reimagining of Radiohead's Nude for London Jazz Festival.
In November 2011, trioVD debut for Naim with their conceptual E P ‘X', dedicated to the behemoth British televisual institution of a similar name, featuring conceptual compositions inspired by and celebrating its numerous personalities including compositions titled Tulisa, Barlow, Walsh and Kelly, already receiving support from the influential John Kennedy on XFM along with the BBC's Jazz On 3.
2012 looks bright for trioVD, with a full album release penned for Spring and a wealth of international performances from rock festivals to jazz clubs, as always appealing to anyone and everyone who is prepared to have their mind blown by the most original of original music out there in the world today.


Agent: James Wright - james@elasticartists.net
Record label: Naim Label - info@naimlabel.com
Band: trioVD - triovd@gmail.com