Mother Falcon

Mother Falcon
Origin Austin, Texas, United States
Genres Symphonic rock, orchestral pop
Years active 2008 (2008)–present
Labels Creme Fraiche, Punctum Records
Associated acts The Arcade Fire, Beirut, Sufjan Stevens
Website motherfalconmusic.com

Mother Falcon is a symphonic rock band from Austin, Texas, known for their wide-ranging instrumentation and collaborative songwriting. Formed by bandleader Nick Gregg in 2008, the group has grown to include a collective of up to twenty musicians playing strings, horns, guitars, and percussion.

History

Nick Gregg formed Mother Falcon in 2008 with members of the Red Armada String Quartet, a high school ensemble that had studied with the noted Austin composers Graham Reynolds and Peter Stopschinski at the Austin Chamber Music Center. Additional members came from McCallum High School, Westlake High School, and the University of Texas at Austin, where Gregg graduated in architecture.

As the band grew in number, live performances could include as few as eleven and as many as twenty musicians. The core group of vocalists came to include Gregg, as well as guitarist Claire Puckett and accordionist-pianist Tamir Kalifa. Their music was reviewed positively by the local press and placed twice on the cover of the Austin Chronicle. At the 2010, 2011 and 2012 Austin Music Awards, Mother Falcon won the "Best None of The Above" award. In 2011, the group performed at the abandoned Seaholm Power Plant in Austin at the opening of the Fusebox Festival. In 2012, Mother Falcon headlined The Austin Chamber Music Festival. The band is known to perform in all black clothing with red accents, which bandleader Nick Gregg says allows audiences to focus on the music but is also an homage to the band's classical roots.[1]

The band began to garner national attention after the 2013 release of their album You Knew, including press from NPR,[2] The Daily Beast,[1] The Washington Post,[3] The New York Times,[4] and Texas Monthly.[5]

Touring and collaboration

After the release of You Knew, Mother Falcon began touring regularly.[6] While in New York in June 2013, the band collaborated with other composers and performers including Jherek Bischoff, Amanda Palmer, Raul Midon, Tony Trischka, Ben Sollee, Kelli Scarr, and Gary Lucas.

The band returned to the Northeast in January 2014, playing as a part of the Winter Jazz Festival at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City. They toured the West Coast in August 2013 and again in February 2014, and headlined the IdeaFestival in Louisville, Kentucky in September 2013. In 2015, Mother Falcon co-headlined a major American tour with Ben Sollee called The Fall Migration.[7]

Summer camp

Since 2011, Mother Falcon has hosted a summer camp[8] for middle and high-school aged musicians in Austin, Texas.

Discography

Members

Current and former members

References

  1. 1 2 "Mother Falcon the 18-Piece Indie Symphonic Rock Band Taking Texas By Storm". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2014-05-19.
  2. ↑ Thompson, Stephen (2013-08-17). "Mother Falcon: Tiny Desk Concert". NPR. Retrieved 2014-05-19.
  3. ↑ "Mother Falcon album review: ‘You Knew’". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2014-05-19.
  4. ↑ "TEXAS MONTHLY : GTT ★". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
  5. ↑ Hoinski, Michael (2013-12-27). "Six Must-Attend Events: Dec. 27-Jan. 5". Texas Monthly. Retrieved 2014-05-19.
  6. ↑ "Red Ryder Entertainment :: Chicago Illinois :: Upcoming Shows". Rryder.com. Retrieved 2014-05-19.
  7. ↑ "Mother Falcon - #TheFallMigration | Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2016-03-22.
  8. ↑ "Mother Falcon'S Music Lab". Motherfalconmusiclab.brownpapertickets.com. 2014-02-07. Retrieved 2014-05-19.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, April 21, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.