Consummate road dogs EOTO just announced a jam-packed fall tour with headlining dates spanning both coasts before topping off a wildly successful 2010. The 30+ day tour will kick off on September 21st featuring 11 dates with DJ's MiMOSA and MartyParty on the west coast and then beginning in October the duo will fly solo in the Mid-West before heading east for the remainder of the winter.
Throbbing bass and thudding beats are the signatures of this project from drummers Michael Travis and Jason Hann. Born out of their shared love of electronic dance music, EOTO's M.O. is to take the free-wheeling party vibe of a DJ set to the next level by using organic instruments, innovative performance technology, and uncharted musical exploration. Live drums, guitars, and keys, and vocals are mixed, remixed, and sampled on the fly using cutting-edge programs. This is all done without a script, and without a net.
Hann plays a hyper EQ'd drumkit, chock full of multi-touch screens and MIDI controllers, and throws a number of effects on his otherworldly vocal styles. Travis takes on subsonic frequencies, generating the band's crushing low end with analog, digital, and software synthesizers, occasionally picking up guitar or a bass guitar and showing off his proficiency with instruments of all shapes and sizes.
Hann, has been playing percussion professionally since the age of 12. Years of collaborating, touring, and recording with the likes of Youssou N'Dour, Isaac Hayes, Dr. Dre, Loreena McKinnett, SCI, and a slew of other established artists running the gamut from Latin jazz to R 'n' B and soul allows him to move fluidly between styles. Adding to this is his depth in African and Latin drumming traditions, allowing the futuristic EOTO sound to keep itself rooted in the past.
For the last 16 years, Travis has been the drumming octopus in SCI. He morphs roles to melodic multi-instrumentalist in EOTO, providing the raw basslines and harmonic tapestry that fill out the soundscape of the duo. Both Hann and Travis have the chops and stamina for physically demanding, EOTO improvised sets, which have been known to go upwards of 4 straight hours.
"When we're playing live for 3 hours a night, it's like playing tribal drums in a ceremony," Hann explains. "I'm looking at one person at a time out there, and thinking "what can I do to make you dance?"
Hann and Travis play almost 200 shows a year, together, EOTO has played more than seven hundred unique showcases in 48 different states in the five years since the project's inception. Each set is recorded and released (www.livedownloads.com) so fans can capture their unique EOTO dance throwdown, reliving the experience again and again.
TOUR DATES INCLUDE: 21-Sep-10 Moe's Alley Santa Cruz, CA 22-Sep-10 Belly Up Tavern Solana Beach, CA 23-Sep-10 Music Box Los Angeles, CA 24-Sep-10 103 Harriet San Francisco, CA 25-Sep-10 Wurk Reno, NV 26-Sep-10 Blu Nightclub South Lake Tahoe, NV 28-Sep-10 McNear's Mystic Theatre Petaluma, CA 29-Sep-10 Arcata Theatre Arcata, CA 30-Sep-10 Wow Hall Eugene, OR 1-Oct-10 Wonder Ballroom Portland, OR 2-Oct-10 Neumos Crystal Ball Reading Room Seattle, WA 8-Oct-10 Bourbon Theatre Lincoln, NE 9-Oct-10 The Ogden Theatre Denver, CO 15-Oct-10 Granada Theater Dallas, TX 16-Oct-10 La Zo Na Rosa Austin, TX 31-Oct-10 The Granada Lawrence, KS 2-Nov-10 2720 Cherokee St.Louis, MI 3-Nov-10 The Canopy Club Urbana, IL 4-Nov-10 Majestic Live Madison, WI 5-Nov-10 Epic Minneapolis, MN 7-Nov-10 The Intersection Grand Rapids, MI 8-Nov-10 Blind Pig Anne Arbor, MI 9-Nov-10 Rex Theater Pittsburgh, PA 10-Nov-10 Tralf Music Hall Buffalo, NY 11-Nov-10 The Westcott Theater Syracuse, NY 12-Nov-10 Higher Ground Burlington, VT 13-Nov-10 Port City Music Hall Portland, ME 17-Nov-10 World Cafe Live Philadelphia, PA 19-Nov-10 Brooklyn bowl Brooklyn, NY 20-Nov-10 Paradise Rock Club Boston, MA 23-Nov-10 Headliners Music Hall Louisville, KY 25-Nov-10 Southbound Knoxville, TN |