BIO

Hilary Thavis & Gaia Groove was born as an original blues band.Inspired by a variety of musical currents, including blues, jazz, folk, rock and Morricone-style western melodies, its sound has evolved over the years as it has taken the essence of each of these styles and combined them to create something new, unique and exciting.

The band has a distinctive global pedigree: Hilary Thavis is American, born to Minnesota expatriots, while Gaia Groove is based in Rome, Italy. Over the last three years, they have toured extensively in the United States and in Europe, fine-tuning a repertoire of original and cover songs in both English and Italian.

Summer – Fall 2011: the promotion of the album “Trouble & Truth” coincides with the band’s participation in various music festivals:

Åmål’s Blues Fest – Åmål, Sweden
Pistoia Blues – Pistoia, Italy
Play Art Festival – Arezzo, Italy
Capoliveri Blues Festival – Capoliveri, Italy
MetaRock Festival – Pisa, Italy
Rawa Blues Festival – Katowice, Poland

July 2011: Hilary Thavis & Gaia Groove opens for Lou Reed on the closing night of Pistoia Blues, Italy’s biggest blues festival.

July 2011: Hilary Thavis & Gaia Groove record the full length studio album “Trouble & Truth.” Instruments are recorded at Buonalaprina Recording Studios in Scauri, Italy, while the vocals, mixing and mastering are done at “Suonomatica” Recording and Mastering Studios in Frosinone. The album is released July 12th, 2011, and is available in online stores.

April 2011: Winner of Pistoia Blues — Obiettivo BluesIn, Italy’s most important blues contest.

June 2010: Featured guests on the live, nationally-broadcast radio show “A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor” at the Tanglewood Music Festival in Lenox, Massachusetts.

Spring 2010: it forms, along with other songwriters, a musical and cultural association called “Cantes”.

February 2010: selected to participate in the live auditions for Musicultura XXI edition, Italy’s biggest songwriting contest and festival.

December 2009: the band publishes a self-produced single, recorded at Buonalaprima Recording Studios in Scauri, Italy, titled “Memoria”, available in major stores online.

Summer 2009: Hilary Thavis & Gaia Groove, as an acoustic/electric duo, tour from Minnesota to New York, where they participate in the first edition of the live contest “Bam Bam Slam”, winning first place.

July-August-September 2008: the band tours the United States, presenting a live show called “Blue Horizon” about the history of blues, and produces a series of videos documenting its road trip across the United States (called “Driveabout”), which subsequently airs on the National Geographic Adventure Channel on SKY.

June 2008: the band publishes an EP called “Gaia Groove Promo”, produced by Giorgio Leoni and recorded at Play Wave studios in Rome. The EP is available in major online stores (iTunes, Amazon, eMusic, Zune) under the name “Il Pipistrello Nictofobo”.

January 2008: selected as members of the “Scuderie MarteLive”.

July 2007: warm-up band for the John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers concert in Rome at the Stadio Pallacorda.

August 2005: winners of the Cassino Birra Live Music Festival

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Technical info:

BAND NAME: Hilary Thavis & Gaia Groove

Hilary Thavis – Lead Vocals

Emiliano Martino – Acoustic & Electric guitars, Backing Vocals

Giordano Muraglia – Bass Guitar, Double Bass, Backing Vocals

Luca D’Epiro – Drums, Percussion

The band usually performs with these four elements: vocals, guitar, bass and drums.
However, depending on the requirements of the venue/event, the band can adapt its performance, adding elements such as a wind section — trumpet, saxophone and trombone — as well as a piano/keyboard; or perform as a smaller group, a guitar and vocals duo.

The REPERTOIRE includes:

- up to 90 minutes of original songs in Italian;

- up to 1 hour of original songs in English;

- more than 3 hours of blues, jazz, folk, country and rock cover songs.

Musical Style:
Sound and melodies are influenced by Texas blues and classic rock (Cream, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Hendrix, Led Zeppelin…)
Harmonies and certain rhythmic patterns are reminiscent of Delta blues and jazz (Charlie Parker, Leadbelly, Henry Thomas, “Skip” James …)
Original Italian lyrics are inspired by Italian folk singers and songwriters (in particular Vinicio Capossela and Quinto Rigo.)

Original lyrics in English draw on the tradition of Delta blues artists, but with a modern twist.