Esthero
I first became familiar with
Esthero when she performed "Heaven Sent" on the Chris
Rock Show, and I've been in love ever since. Her sound is
different from many of the other sirens on my page, but if you're
into trip-hop and artists such as Portishead, Hooverphonic, and
Bjork, then give her a listen. She cites Bjork as being one of her
influences, which you can definitely hear when she sings.
Latest News
Discuss
Esthero at the Discussion Board on the new
Sirens of Song Facebook Page.On May 22, 2006 Esthero graced the Roxy in Los Angeles with an acoustic set. With no set list to work from, she basically took requests from the sold out crowd for the entire night. Plenty of photos are online. I also uploaded a few videos to youtube.
Seven years after the release of Breath From Another, Esthero's follow-up full-length, Wikked Lil Grrrls is finally in stores. Listen to Sirens of Song Online Radio to hear tracks from the new album.
Supporting her new album is a must-see video of "We R In Need Of A Musical Revolution." If you get Much Music, thank your lucky stars because they should be showing it quite a bit. For those of us stuck with MTV and VH-1, for now we have to be content with the streaming version available at
http://www.rollingstone.com/esthero.
Check it out. I guarantee you'll love it.After a long wait, due to label issues, Esthero's back on the scene with a new project titled We R In Need Of A Musical Revolution. The six song EP includes guest appearances from Cee-Lo Green and Sean Lennon.
For those of you who prefer mp3s, iTunes is offering up not only the EP for digital download, but also the O.G. Bitch maxi-CD which includes six version of the single and the non-album track, "I Love You."
For the most up-to-date news on Esthero, visit www.nearlycivilized.com.
On December 8, 2004, Esthero played a special, invite-only show in Los Angeles for friends and members of the Swallowme mailing list. I'm still kicking myself for not taking any pics from this intimate event, but surf over to www.nearlycivilized.com to see a few.
The February 24, 2005 edition of Toronto's Eye Weekly sat down with Esthero for an interview. Click the link to read all about it (and check out the killer cover shot!)
You can check out a real audio broadcast of Esthero at the following link.
- June 10, 1998 Broadcast (if link doesn't work, just visit kcrw.org and do a search on Esthero)
Concert Reviews
2005 Tour (San Diego, CA - House of Blues)
After
getting to Esthero's July 9th L.A. show at the Avalon late, I was
forced to watch the show from the back of the venue.
Luckily, there was still the San Diego show, so I took a two and a
half hour road trip to see the show.
She brought the whole band with her, including a horn section (how
can you perform "If Tha Mood" and "Wikked Lil
Grrrls" without a horn section), and as with every other time
I've seen her, they were tight. And I don't know where she
finds her back-up singers, but time after time they turn it out
too. What makes her shows so great is that she's not afraid
to share the stage with all of them.
The show seemed a lot longer than the L.A. show. She went way off the setlist
(pictured at right) and did a bunch of songs she didn't do in L.A.
("Swallow Me," "Joey," and
"Amelia"), so that made the show even sweeter.
"Swallow Me" was a request someone shouted out from the
crowd and because she hadn't rehearsed it with her band, she
performed it a cappella and hit every note dead on (in spite of
the fact that she was feeling a bit under the weather - a trooper
indeed)
She brought her brother Jason on stage to accompany her on
"Joey" the song which she explained basically started it
all and let her know she had a gift and was meant to perform.
After that, the two performed "Amelia," an unreleased
track that didn't make the current album.
A couple of my favorite highlights of the show were the
performances of "Country Livin'" which always brings the
house down (the riff she does at the end gives me chills every
time) and the acoustic rendition of "...Musical
Revolution."
The only beef I had with the show is that no cameras were allowed
(evidently a house rule). One of the main reasons I got to
the venue so early was to get a good position to take some
pictures. She wore a similar outfit to the one she wore on
the Jimmy Kimmel Show, expect it was a black top and matching
pants, instead of white. If she comes anywhere near your town, make sure you all go out and
give her some love. It's been seven years!
1999 Tour (Washington, DC - 9:30 Club)
I
was able to catch Esthero in concert for the third time. She
opened for Gus Gus, so unfortunately she only played a 30 minute
set. She was already halfway through "Breath From
Another" when I got there. She was accompanied by her usual
band members, with the exception of the trumpet player who had to
miss the show because of a family emergency. Talking with Esthero
after the show, she did admit that without him there, there was
kind of a void, especially during "Swallow Me".After her set, there was a meet and greet back in her dressing room, and somehow about 10 or 11 people managed to squeeze in. I was kinda insulted that she had such a small dressing room, and then remembered that it was only because she was the opening act. It was definitely one of the most intimate meet and greets I've attended. The most amazing thing about her was she talked to everyone like she had known them for years. I felt like a dummy when I met her because I was carrying a handful of things (set list, t-shirt, video, and a poster), and when I went to shake her hand I had to clumsily shift everything into one hand.
We
just sat around and talked for about 20 minutes. I wish I could
remember the exact name of this game we played, but it was sort of
like Scruples. Anyway, she would pick someone out and then come up
with two out-of-this-world situations and ask which you'd rather
do. Since there might be some kids reading this, I won't go into
details :-)A couple of her friends from Toronto were there, too. I asked her how they met and she went on to tell me how they met at a reggae club, and I honestly had no idea they even existed in Canada. She went on to tell me that the reggae scene is very large in Toronto and how she was always made to feel right at home. If she had grown up here in the States, she wouldn't have had those same musical influences, and it would've hindered her musically. It wasn't until she went to clubs in L.A. that people started to make her feel a little self-conscious about being the only white person there. I came out of there knowing a whole lot more about the Toronto music scene than I did before.
There was also a meet and greet after Gus Gus for members of the Swallow Me mailing list. It was a sad turn out though (only me and Tonika and a few of her friends). In other cities, the turnout has been well over 30. We had a chance to go on her tour bus and hear a new song she just recorded (sorry, but don't remember the name of it). We didn't get to stay that long because they had to make their way to New York. All in all, even though they were only given 30 minutes to play, it was definitely worth the trip.
In Concert 1998 (Baltimore, MD - Fletcher's)
If you get the chance to see Esthero live, DO NOT MISS IT!! I was
lucky enough to see Esthero twice within a week, once in D.C. and
later on in Baltimore. Both shows blew me away. I'm glad I went to
the Baltimore show because they performed one of my faves,
"That Girl", which they didn't do in D.C. (set list
from Baltimore show on right). I don't think I'll ever forget
when I first saw her walk onstage wearing a red sweater and a
Whitesnake t-shirt. At both shows, Esthero connected with the
audience by bringing an audience member onstage to dance with her
(I forget which song it was for).A lot of artists get tired of singing/playing the same song the same way all the time, so they change the arrangements a bit in concert. Usually this really annoys me because it doesn't sound quite as good as the album version, but I really like how Esthero changed things up. It sounded great! I never really paid much attention to "Swallow Me" or "Indigo Boy" until I heard them live.
I was really impressed with her backup singer, Kathyrn Rose. She has a great voice and it made each show that much better. Her vocals on "Indigo Boy" were amazing. She has a two albums out, Every Lurid Detail and My Little Flame. To find out more on Kathyrn, go here. Also, photographer and interviewer extraordinaire Mikal Haddox (of Cheekie Magazine) sat down with Kathryn to get the 411. Read all about it at http://communities.msn.com/cheekie/kathrynroseinterview.msnw
Image Gallery
Concert photos and vidcaps from "Weekend," "Heaven Sent,"
"Country Livin'," "That Girl," and her
appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live, the Chris Rock Show, Conan O'Brien, and
Farmclub.com
are available at the
Esthero Image Gallery hosted on flickr.
Albums/Singles I Own
The songs with a 
are
the songs that I like the most on each album.
To find out more
about Esthero, definitely visit
Estheronline.
It's a great page that has just about everything!
Wikked Lil Grrrls (2005)
We R In Need Of A Musical
Revolution - EP (2005)
Breath From Another (1998)
(sound
clip is her performance on the Chris Rock Show)(sound
clip is the radio edit)
Short of Breath
- Promo CD (1998)
Heaven Sent (1998)
Go - Music from the Motion Picture (1999)
