New band alert!
Long-time listeners to Ball of Wax Audio Quarterly (and I do mean looooong time) might remember a singer-songwriter known as Kelli Hanson and her song “Risk Free” from Volume 2. Kelli released a fine album called Lullaby for an Astronaut back when Ball of Wax was new, and followed that up a couple years later with Our Buildings. You might be forgiven for thinking she’d fallen off the face of the earth, as her musical output has been minimal of late. She’s been very busy though, first getting married and thus changing her name to Kelli Faryar, and then working year-round to help make the Northwest Folklife Festival the wonderful, vibrant institution it is today. I have missed hearing her singing voice, though, so I was very excited to hear that she had joined forces with drummer Mike Bundy (first heard in these parts playing with Kelli and our pal Mark Johnson in Yeek Yak Air Force, most recently heard as Bundy on Ball of Wax 24), and her husband, guitarist John Faryar of Amateur Radio Operator, to form a new rock band, called oh lo lo.
The band is so new that they don’t have any recorded material yet, but these videos from their very first show at the Mix in Georgetown definitely bode well. The sound quality is less than perfect, as is usually the case with such things, but it’s enough to make me want to hear more and hope I can make their next show. Riffs and drone and Kelli’s soaring vocals combine most compellingly. Have a listen for yourself: