Soraia in the Studio with Jon

Soraia has announced on their website that they're hitting the studios in April to work on a new record, and Jon Bon Jovi not only offered the use of his studio, but also said he wanted to be involved in making the record with them.  Here's [part of] what was posted on the website:

We're starting a new record in mid April....finishing up all the songs we already have begun in demo form that we've shared with you live and writing a ton more amidst the shows we're playing over the next month.

And here's a piece of truly inspiringly-good news about the upcoming record as well:

Not only are we on FIRE in our writing and excited to get started, but also - after the show we did in Philadelphia last week - Jon Bon Jovi offerred us the use of his studio for the making of our record. If that wasn't enough, he also said he would like to be involved in the process of making this record with us....

SON OF A GUN. WHAAAAAAAAA???

It's all happening, yeah?

So, we are truly excited, honored, still reelin' AAAAAAND rockin' with this amazing news...and so ready to get to work to bring you some new material.

So I'll be honest with you.  Soraia only came to my attention because of the work Obie does with them.  Obie's in the Jovi sphere, so viola.  Since then, however, I've come to really like the music, based on the merits.  The clincher for me?  A [very] recent unplugged performance from a radio gig where they performed their new track "I Want What I Want".  (You can download the track here.)

For me, the true measure of a band is listening to them live.  And unplugged.  Anyone can mask weak vocals with slammin' guitar licks or pounding beats on the drums.  Take the LOUD away, and give me the voices and the rhythm.  That's what you get here.

The guitar/tambourine lead in a perfect intro to Sue's lyrics.  The first time I heard this, I immediately thought of Janis Joplin.  Sue seems to have the same sort of rasp on this track, and it made me want to give it a second listen.  And a third.  That's not to say she doesn't have her own sound, because she does.  Her voice is raw and powerful and sensual and in-your-face, and by the third listen, I was singing along in my head.  You will too.

In any event, I'm looking forward to Soraia's new record, and hope HOPE that Jon's involvement includes a different production staff than who worked on The Circle.  Just sayin'.  It would be a shame to ruin Soraia's sound with too much smoothing.

Just sayin'.

OK (rubs hands together) onto the good stuff.  My dear friend @JovisWillow is working with Soraia somewhat, helping with social networking and photography/videography, and basically doing whatever kinds of things they need doing.  She and Catte have put a BUNCH of things together, and the lovely Ms. Catte took time out of her day today to put it in one place for me -- a big-ass email that I'm going to pretty much dump here for you.  Interviews, songs, websites, all sorts of yummy goodness. 

Here goes.

All the Bon Jovi/Soraia stuff that aired on WMMR on Jon's birthday / Concert Day is here.

On my Mediafire, I have a folder for All Things Soraia.  That link is here.

Inside that folder is a BUNCH of stuff: 

Slave (2010 single)

Runaround (2010 single)

Damn Dirty Woman (2010 acoustic rehearsal track)

Vampire (cover of Concrete Blonde song)  -- Catte, I have to agree, this is a GREAT showcase for Sue's voice.

Had Enough (from Shed the Skin, 2009 album, featuring Richie on guitar)

The new song Sue has been working on with Jon (that she talks about in the WMMR interview) is Love Amnesia -- both JovisWillow and Catte did YouTube videos of it (from opposite sides of the Pit)  They're linked on BJCT.  They'll be duly ripped for the BJCT MediaFire folder soon.

On Soraia's homepage at ReverbNation you can listen to Runaround, Love Like VooDoo, Not the Woman, On the Horizon, Little Cat, and Shed the Skin

http://www.reverbnation.com/soraia

The video they did in 2009 with Obie and Jon in the giant Fro Wig is Not the Woman.  It's on YouTube on Soraia's channel.  There are also some clips of Soraia warming up backstage at Wells Fargo, doing a shoot with Mark Weiss, in studio, backstage before the SPAC show, etc. Some fun stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/user/soraia23

Immerse yourself.  You'll thank me later.

~ Hath