The Emerald Lounge
Heavy Renovations, Bigger Space, Great Experience
Venue Stats
Capacity: 208
Stage Size: 15 X 15 feet
Gear: FOH 24-channel Soundcraft GB4; 12 channels of gates and comps: Alesis and TC Electronics effects; four on-stage monitor mixes; in-house intelligent lighting and LED lighting rig run by Lightjockey.
Genres: All
Famous Alumni: Perpetual Groove,
Stanton Moore Trio, Entropy
The Emerald Lounge reopened in June 2008 with new owners, and a new look as well. The club went through heavy renovations, which resulted in some big improvements. In the past, Emerald Lounge only held 94 people. Since then, the capacity of the club has doubled to 208. The sound system and lighting rigs also improved to top quality equipment, guaranteeing a great experience for performers. Emerald Lounge manager Frank Bloom commented on the changes. “The venue is a small room as far as music venues go, but we have a big venue vibe where we definitely go for making the audience’s experience the best possible,” says Bloom. “The crowd also gets to be very up close to the band, which a lot of artists really like about the venue.”
Contact: Frank Bloom
Booking Policy: Make sure you have a strong PR/street team in place, as the Ashville scene is very competitive.
Music Schedule: Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights; Tuesday and Sunday nights when requested
112 N. Lexington Ave., Asheville, NC 28801 | (828) 232-4372
www.myspace.com/emeraldlounge emeraldloungebooking@hotmail.com
-Chris Homer
Echo Mountain Records and Recording
Inspiring Surroundings
Welcoming All Kinds of Musicians
Set in an old Methodist church from the mid-1920s, Echo Mountain has plenty of atmosphere. Some may even recognize the gorgeous stained glass windows towering over Band of Horses in the group’s cover story with Performer back in June 2007. The charming character of the studio’s surroundings have been so captivating that many bands of top caliber have used the studio, even though it hasn’t been around for even three years yet.
Along with the welcoming studio are the equally welcoming lounge, kitchen (with optional catering) and the studio house, which offers accommodation for out-of-town artists, complete with flat screen TV, wireless internet and full kitchen.
Studio Stats
Gear: George Augsperger designed the control room. It features a vintage Neve 8068 with Uptown Automation, a Studer A800 with eight-, 16-, and 24-track head stacks as well as an Ampex ATR 102 ½-inch 2-track. A full gear list is available on the studio’s website.
Engineer Names: Steve Wilmans, the producer and owner.
Past Clients: Avett Brothers, Toubab Krewe, VHS or Beta, Amy Ray, Annuals
Asheville, NC | (828) 232-4314
www.echomountain.net jessica@echomountain.net
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IN THE NEWS
Despite their geographical inaccuracy, Asheville-based band Arizona will release its second full-length album October 14. Titled Glowing Bird, the album will be released on Echo Mountain Records. Although Arizona has yet to make it into any magazines, they have created quite a buzz among music bloggers, earning comparisons to the tune of bands like Modest Mouse and The Decemberists.
www.myspace.com/
arizonatheband
The third annual POPAsheville Festival will be held on January 16 to 18, 2009. The event is the first venue-based festival in the history of Ashville. POPAsheville will feature more than thirty bands at three yet-to-be-announced venues. The festival is more than great music; it also includes a music business panel discussion with the goal of facilitating gig-swaps and helping indie-bands with the business and touring side of music. The festival committee will be accepting band submissions from July 7 to September 5 and hopes to get 20 bands from the Asheville area and five to ten from other Southeast cities. Past performers include Warm in the Wake, stephaniesid, Heypenny, and If You Wannas.
www.popasheville.com
Music industry veteran Ron Phillips joined the staff of Asheville music marketing agency Music Allies in July. Phillips now heads up the retail sales and marketing department at Music Allies. His past experience includes VP of catalog sales for Warner Music Group and Director of Purchasing and Inventory Management at Amazon.com. With Phillips’ help, Music Allies hopes to offer a complete solution for artists looking to release and market music without the help of a major label. The firm already represents indie-artists Aimee Mann, G. Love & Special Sauce and Ani DiFranco.
www.musicallies.com
Asheville band Descolada has been busy lately. In July, the band signed a digital distribution deal with Iris Distribution. Iris Distribution is the largest indie digital distributor and also distributes Chemikal Underground, K Records, Fat Wreck Chords, and Gigantic Music records. Descolada’s tunes can now be found on iTunes, Rhapsody, and Amazon, among other places. Along with the distribution deal, the band just finished up their third record at Giraffe Studios in Hendersonville, NC, with engineer Andy Bishop. The title is still forthcoming. Finally, the band is featured on an international compilation put together by Itai Itai records, released on July 22.
www.myspace.com
/descolada
The 7th Annual Lexington Avenue Arts and Fun Festival took place on September 7. The festival featured three stages, with music ranging from reggae to bluegrass. Performers included the Josh Phillips Folk Festival, Snake Oil Medicine Show, The Ashville Horns, Cabo Verde and many more. The Lexington Avenue Arts and Fun Festival is now considered the largest festival in Asheville.
www.myspace.com
/lexfestasheville
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