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Photo courtesy of Ben Jackson.
0714 Velouria
Michael Harp, who graduated from MBHS in 2013, writes most of Velouria’s lyrics along with vocalist Deanna Medina.
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Photo courtesy of Ben Jackson.
0714 Velouria
Vocalist Deanna Medina sings to the crowd at the Forge, where Velouria frequently plays shows.
Velouria is not a high school band.
You can tell by listening to the haunting vocals, reverb-soaked guitar and emotional yet mature lyrics of their first EP, “Smile Until It Hurts.”
“No one wants to hear about how I’m comfortable,” said Michael Harp, vocalist and guitarist for Velouria. “Our Facebook page says we play emotional dream pop/indie rock. [Our music] has a lot of reverb, a lot of delay and a lot of dramatic vocals. It’s kind of theatrical sometimes. It’s angry. It’s sad.”
Vocalist Deanna Medina does, however, assure fans they have a happy song coming soon.
The band began when Harp and Medina, both Mountain Brook students, met at MBHS’s Relay for Life talent show in 2012. Since then, Velouria has transitioned from an acoustic coffee shop duo to a five-person layered wall of sound, performing in venues such as the Bottletree Cafe and Iron City Birmingham.
“We kept adding members because we weren’t loud enough,” said Harp.
Velouria made the leap from popular high school band to a local Birmingham favorite when they won recording time with Lester Nuby III (MBHS class of 1992) in the Birmingham Mountain Radio (BMR) Jam at Stillwater Pub in early 2013.
“At the time, [BMR Jam] was a way to showcase local talent and have some fun. They just had a song that stood out from all the other stuff that had come through the contest,” said Scott Register, host of the Sunday morning radio show Reg’s Coffeehouse on BMR, referring to their first single, “Speak.”
Velouria recorded “Speak” with Nuby, and after hearing the final product, they recorded the remaining four songs of “Smile Until It Hurts.”
As their first EP caught the attention of music lovers around Birmingham, Velouria began to play more and more shows.
“At first only our friends would come, but eventually we saw people we aren’t friends with or who would come to see the band itself, not us as individuals,” said Harp.
On May 16, Velouria opened for Welsh alternative band The Joy Formidable at Iron City’s one-year anniversary celebration.
“We’ve been through a lot of practices, a lot of bad shows and a lot of good shows,” Harp said. “For that show to also be right before our one-year anniversary as a band, it was a reminder that all this time, money, energy and effort is worth it.”
In between concerts around Birmingham and a five-day tour in July to Nashville, Knoxville, Atlanta and Athens, band members have been working on recording their next album, which they hope to finish by the end of the summer.
The two newest members, guitarist Zane Lake and bassist Stephen Wills, have been a creative influence on the new album due to their experience in other local bands.
Harp said that the sound of the new album is “bigger, even a little more atmospheric” than their first EP.
While the album does not have a name or a set release date, Velouria has already begun playing some of the new songs at their shows.
“Obviously, there’s tons of room for development,” said Register. “It’s just going to come down to hard work and luck at the end of the day. They’ve got to keep writing and touring and growing as a band, and if the pieces continue to fall into place, then they’ve got a nice career ahead of them.”
Velouria’s concert schedule and merchandise can be found on their Facebook page. To listen to Velouria’s music, you can find them on Bandcamp or purchase “Smile Until It Hurts” from their Facebook page.
