Lavapop is a four, occasionally five, piece rock'n roll band based in Texas.
Members incude Michael Jerome Moore on drums, Gary Adgate on bass, Rio Wallace as lead guitarist, James Shields on vocals and guitar.
In the Spring of 1997, Austin singer-songwriter James Shields joined up with Denton singer-songwriter Greg Ellenwood, Carrolton bass player/songwriter Gary Adgate, and Dallas drummer Michael Jerome Moore to record(w/ the aid of Dallas music producer David Rosenblad) and perform original rock songs.
Beginning in the Summer of 1997, the band began regularly rehearsing Sunday nights in the old front room of Alley Cat Productions on Denton's only Fry Street. In the late Fall, Rio Wallace joined the band bringing to the band's groove rock sound, his sometimes explosive, but always amazing lead guitar playing. The band continued crafting the new songs while recording them, giving the music time to breathe, and ultimately spending nearly a year in the studio.
In the Winter of 1997, James Shields got a rough pre-master of the band's forth coming CD into the hands of Willie Nelson. Willie liked what he heard, and invited the band to perform at his annual Fourth of July Picnic in Luckenbach, Texas.
That same Winter, Greg Ellenwood was diagnosed with cancer. In the Spring of 1998, the band performed at Dallas venues Club Dada and the Dark Room.
The recording project that began in the Spring of 1997, became a physical entity when CD's were manufactured, and then delivered July 2, 1998. The band's performance at Willie Nelson's picnic, in front of a crowd of nearly ten thousand, was a tremendous success. The band's performance can be viewed occasionally on the Austin Music Network.
Fall 1998 found the band crafting new songs and performing on a regular basis at the Ft.Worth venue The Aardvark and occasionally at Dallas' Barley House.
During the Winter, the band started work on recording a new three song demo CD. Over the course of two years of playing together the band's sound and songwriting has matured substantially, hence the need for the band to document more accurately than their first CD where the band is now musically and what direction they're moving in. This demo project will be released in late March, 1999. The band plans to resume gigging on a regular basis soon after that.
The Winter of 1999 was a very trying time for the members of Lavapop as member Greg Ellenwood finally lost his year long battle with cancer Feb. 4, 1999. He was forty one.
Lavapop's sound has been described as early U2 meets The Smiths meets Chris Isaac.
CHECK IT OUT!
Here are a couple of their MP3's
NOTE:All images and music on this page are the soul property of "Lavapop"
