Villanova LIVE! at Icehouse Amphitheatre with special guest Maddie Rean

Villa*Nova returns

When you’re a band that has earned a reputation as a funk and hip-hop-inspired party rock outfit with powerful radio-friendly mid-tempo ballads over the course of a decade and a half of touring and recording, what do you do to reinvent yourself and move forward?
For Villa*Nova, the answer is to crank up the volume and the intensity, while keeping the groove intact. “Vipers,” the band’s recent single, recalls the glory days of 90’s alt-rock with a hard-hitting wall of guitar sounds accompanied by stacked vocal harmonies and an undercurrent of old-school hip-hop grooves. The core band is a stripped-down musical machine featuring longtime members Bobby Dredd on bass, the bombastic Travis Lempesis on drums , Able One on the turntables and keyboards, and frontman and band founder BC Villa*Nova on guitar/ vocals and providing the dramatic flair that’s become a hallmark of the Villa*Nova sound.

After taking a few years of hiatus to work on various projects, the band is back together and ready to satisfy longtime fans and brand-new ears alike.

Villa*Nova has been through the major label wringer and come out intact, even improved by the experience. They recorded an EP under the name Weaving the Fate for Universal Republic in 2012 with producer Howard Benson (Papa Roach, Hoobastank, Seether) and played shows with Korn, Shinedown, Evanescence, Staind, Chevelle, Panic! At The Disco, and more, and tracks such as their remake of Tyga’s hip-hop rant “Rack City” gained the band fans for their cross-genre appeal. In 2015, “Thread of Life” saw the band return to the indie ranks and their melodic, hard partying, funk-rock roots.

While “Giant Light”, BC Villa*Nova’s solo album debut, focused more on melodic ballads and piano-based music, their new material is a lot heavier and ready for rock music fans in droves.