Posted on June 05th, 2008 by admin
I’m terrible at updating this, but I’ll promise to be better at it.
I’d like to thank everyone who made it out to The National on Friday, May 23rd to catch the Upper East Side Big Band’s performance of The Beatles’ “Abbey Road”. Kudos to the Mills Family Band and Bio Ritmo for playing along the same bill as well. Thanks to Adrian Duke for helping me out with the arrangements. It was a first for the big band to have a total of 19 members on stage. The crowd was awesome and singing along with the songs. You could also see tears coming out from most of the audience. It touched me that Richmond loves The Beatles! Now if only I can run into them so we can have deep conversations about the best band in the world.
All of my friends know that I’m obsessed with The Beatles. One of the things that I loved most about our performance that night was that we weren’t trying to mimic or impersonate them. We were paying tribute to an album that I feel is The Beatles’ best work. Our vocalists, Adrian Duke, Allyson Mills, and Curtis Mills had their own take on the songs and all three of them sounded amazing! And of course, I couldn’t do it without the horns and our rhythm section. I believe one of our trumpeters, Bob Miller said that it was more like a rock band augmented with horns versus your usual swinging big band. I’m cool with that.
So what now? We’re going in the studio next week to record all of it! Yes, it’s that soon. The break is over and it’s time to get back to work. The Upper East Side Big Band’s take on “Abbey Road” will be in your hands by this September!
After that, it’s The Fest Oh 8! Fri 6/20 & Sat 6/21 in Lancaster, PA with Brandon, Sean, Ang, Nick, Scott, Tibbs, Jeff, Wonder, Monkey, Adam, Jaima, Mandy, Eva, Matti, Coxie, Kristen, Baseball Cards, Mills Family Band, and the crew!
Get your tickets for this weekend of awesomeness @ www.bsmitrick.com to see what it’s all about!
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Posted on April 28th, 2008 by admin
Come out Friday, May 23rd to hear The Beatles - ABBEY ROAD "LIVE" @ The National !!! (performed by Upper East Side Big Band w/ Bio Ritmo, Mills Family Band, & Adrian Duke) 8PM
708 East Broad St, Richmond, VA 23219
Three Richmond bands making their debut at The National! There will be a wide range of music happening that night: A blend of Americana & jazz from the Mills Family Band, old-school salsa with Bio Ritmo that will get dancers moving, and topping it off with the 19-piece Upper East Side Big Band (w/ guest vocalist & pianist Adrian Duke) under the direction of Samson Trinh performing "Abbey Road" by The Beatles (considered their best album) in its entirety!
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Posted on April 16th, 2008 by admin
CLICK HERE to purchase the Mills Family Band’s debut album, "Live at the Ram’s Head Tavern" at CD Baby!
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Posted on January 08th, 2008 by admin
Happy New Year, everyone! Hope you all are doing well. I feel like this year is the one… the good year. I have excellent gut feelings most of the time and this one’s good! So I didn’t win the Independent Music Awards in the Jazz Category. I think I lost to a new aged jazz band that screams in a microphone for five minutes, which they call "improv" coupling it with a Man-Flute. Man… I knew that I needed to add a Man-Flute to the song that I entered in. Oh well, ho-hum!
I’m very excited (and I mean EXCITED) about a new group that I’m with called the Mills Family Band.
Talented siblings, Allyson and Curtis Mills head the group.
The style is very folk, country, pop and jazz influenced (what?!). I know that sounds odd, but this is a group that loves every juice of music! We recently opened up for Nellie McKay at The Ram’s Head Tavern (Annapolis, MD) and recorded the show live. The recording was so good that we’re about to make it into our first CD entitled "Live At The Rams Head Tavern." And this was a band that formed two and half weeks before the gig!
The Mills Family Band are:
Allyson Mills – vocals / acoustic guitar (rhythm)
Curtis Mills – vocals / acoustic & hollow body electric guitar (lead)
Chris Hale – vocals / mandolin
Samson Trinh – tenor saxophone / clarinet
Matt Harris – upright bass
Andy Brockmann – drums / percussion
I’ll keep ya’ll updated with this band’s upcoming gigs, website, and the CD Release Party very soon. Till then, be safe and watch the movie, "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" if you want an excellent lesson in popular music history from the mid-1950s to the tip of 1980! Oh yeah… my older brother, Keen and his wife, Susan are expecting a baby girl soon in March. They’re naming her Madison Trinh!
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