Seems like all we have is concert reviews of late, and thats a good thing. Well, im honored and excited to have a new contributor to the site to help juggle all the great concerts in the Cincinnati area. Jilly will be giving us a nudge in the right direction thanks to her extensive knowledge of music and the Cincinnati scene. Welcome Jilly!

Once upon a time, when i got my first guitar at the tender age of 16, i was told by a male friend that chicks can’t play guitar. To an extent, the sentiment is sort of true. Now, before you jump on me, keep in mind that i’m a girl, and i’ve heard the same drippy, sappy songs by Jewel and the like… two years later, i saw Viva Voce play a festival, and I never bought that sentiment again.

Viva Voce, which means ‘word of mouth’ in italian, is a charming husband and wife duo from Portland, Oregon. Band and life mates, Kevin and Anita Robinson are anything but your typical couple, however. While Kevin is the backdrop of of beats and synths oddly reminiscent of early grandaddy, Anita is quite busy blowing your mind with some of the most amazing guitar work you’ve seen in a long time, man or woman. Not only has she been my ‘girl guitar hero’ for a long time, but she’s also quite easy on the eyes.


The Robinsons proved to be as rockin’ at their afternoon Shake It Records in-store performance and in the Southgate House ballroom as you would anticipate with a new release earlier this month called “Get Yr Blood Sucked Out”, which is a bit of a change from their earlier releases. After opening with two tunes “Alive with Pleasure” and “The Lucky Ones” from their previous release, “The Heat Can Melt Your Brain”, they get right down to business with the intro to the aptly titled, “We Do Not Fuck Around” from the new record. And fuck around they did not, indeed. Kevin, who was quite the busy man playing a kit and synths at the same time with ease laid down the groundwork for Anita to all-out shred on a Les Paul with a custom overlay, staggered between the sometimes sweet, sometimes saucy tone of her Nina Persson-esque voice. It’s a difficult thing at times to get midwestern kids to come to the front of the stage at shows that aren’t completely packed, but Viva Voce didn’t seem to have a problem with this… I think everyone was trying to see if she was really playing like that. And she was. And then some.

Viva Voce had the same sort of humble beginnings that most bands have. Sort of. The Robinsons, teamed with a third member, had somehow found their first studio recording released by Cadence records in 1998. Yes, i said Cadence – pretty odd for two non-church kids, and it proved to be a labor of love for them. Kevin and Anita told me the story of this record and the frustration was evident on their faces: It was supposed to be a 50/50 record, with each of them singing, but Cadence was having none of that. They gave all vocal responsibility to Anita and the both of them were uneasy about this. After that record was released, they moved to Portland and decided that they would never step into another proper studio to record a record again. So far, it’s proven to have been good to them.

They took a bit of a hiatus to recompose and released “Lovers, Lead the Way!” in 2003 on their own terms and label. They were then picked up by Minty Fresh, who released “The Heat Can Melt Your Brain” in September of 2004, but with the stipulation that they had creative control. “Get Yr Blood Sucked Out” was released on Barsuk almost two years later to the day, and exudes the same passion and creativity that they’ve been working diligently on since their beginnings, but with more say of what goes on.

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