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CD Reviews & NominationsUNSIGNED Victoria and Zeta Five: Have you ever heard an electric violin sound like an electric guitar? Better yet, a child whining? These are some of the amazing things Victoria makes her "fiddle" sound like on the band 's CD "To Be Announced". Victoria and the band do a great job of delivering some down home blues influenced/jazz inspired material. The band is composed of some brilliant musicians, but dare I say the things Victoria does with her violin are simply magnificent ... the music is phenomenally good, especially the 10:49 long Voodoo Child. I would love to hear an all-instrumental CD from V and ZF. VOODOO CHILD Victoria Hammill is a modern pioneer in electrice blues violin. Texas-bred, now Nashville-based, most people of that region of the country would call what she played a fiddle. It is anything but. She's custom modified and modernized the instrument with electronics, allowing her to do with the violin what Jimi Hendrix did with his guitar ... While still one of those talented musicians in the huge pool of Nashville hopefuls, Hammill will find success with her instrument. MUSIC CITY BLUES SOCIETY, NASHVILLE, TN Native Texan Victoria Hammill is a master of the electric violin, and has melded her vast talents, along with those of backing band the Zeta Five, into a cool blues-rock-jazz fusion that has a lot in common with the sounds that Jean-Luc Ponty and Papa John Creach brought to the Frank Zappa and Jefferson Airplane bands back in the Seventies. "To Be Announced" is an excellent set of eleven cuts of Victoria's clever fusions of these genres', five of which are band originals. Victoria brings a lot of energy to the table in her style of playing, and that energy level translates well onto this disc. She drew a lot of inspiration from Hendrix and fellow Texan SRV, and pays tribute to them via "Close To You," "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)," and "Say What." On the latter, everyone gets a chance to strut a little, and, of particular note is the lead guitar work of Markus Rodriguez and the B-3 work from one of our favorite keyboard men, Larry Van Loon. They all complement Victoria's playing perfectly. Her funkier side is represnted by "Let Me Go," which features some seriously-cool sax work from Waldo Weathers. And, the jazzy title cut woulda been right at home on any Herbie Hancock album from "back in the day." We had two favorites, too. "Wild Turkeys" is an amped-up instrumental featuring Victoria's violin going toe-to-toe with Bayou Williford's harp. And, good friend James Nixon does a neat duet with Victoria, as he takes lead vocal on "Crosscut Saw," and she takes the lead on "Don't You Lie To Me," again driven by Bayou's hot harp licks. "To Be Announced" is a very impressive and eclectic set from one of MCBS' most versatile members. Check out Victoria Hammill and Zeta Five today and get ready for some red-hot blues!! Until next time...Sheryl and Don Crow. BLUESWAX A Hammond B3 groove and Victoria's trademark electric violin jump-start this compilation of covers and originals that visits Blues, Rock, Jazz, Fusion, and Jam band territory. Perfection and originality are the standards on this initial effort by Victoria & Zeta Five. What's Victoria's secret? She credits the "Electric Zeta Music 5-String Jazz Fusion Series Violin" powered by "Marshall, Mesa Boogie, and Real McCoy." While the Hammond B3, Blues harp, and sax each take a turn in the spotlight, it's Victoria's Hendrix-influenced altered electric violin that makes this CD a must-buy. From chops and wah-wahs to warbles, wails, and choo-choos, Victoria experiments with "wave-form propagation." Her days as a Classical violinist and Swing fiddler behind her, this Texas native and former seismologist now calls herself a Blues violinist. Husband, co-producer, and guitarist Edward T. Hammil introduced Victoria to the Blues world, and she's clearly found her place in it. The husband/wife team creates a new standard for love songs on the co-written track "He Makes Me Feel So Good"; Hammill's liquid vocals are clear as a mountain waterfall and cover a similar range. Classic covers like "Down by the River" and "Voodoo Chile" are freshly interpreted here. — Deborah Douglas NASHVILLE MUSIC GUIDE If you're into hot rockin' electric violin blues and jazz and fusion, let's go! Victoria Hammill is a fiddler extraordinaire when it comes to her genre of music. Released on the independent Digimind Records label, the album features eleven eclectic cuts that keep your body groovin' to the sound. — Brad Fischer, Music City Guide: Music City CD Corner MUSIC COLLECTOR "Great Sound!!! Exciting feeling, perfectly playing from start to finish!!! I'm very proud to have [To Be Announced] in my collection." — Jacek Trzmiel, Warszawa, Poland THE BEFUDDLED UNIVERSE Victoria has secrets! And she's not talking! Victoria Hammill won't tell anyone how she gets her violin to sing, dance, whine, talk, and massage your soul. Dang, if Victoria doesn't get connected to lightening every single time she touches bow to string. You have to experience Victoria's violin. To miss out on this experience would be like missing Jimmy on guitar or Miles on trumpet. I know enough about language to know that you can only say ``unique'' once. So let there be no confusion when I say, Victoria is a unique violinist. (Be sure to listen to the Stevie Ray Vaughan song ``Say What!''; plus the original Zeta Five songs ``It's A Lazy Morning Rain'' and ``Wild Turkeys''.) ... Don't tell anyone, but when Zeta Five has their Coffee with Tim, I'll announce that I'm giving ``To Be Announced'' [on a scale of 1 - 5] a rating of 5 plus a ScramJet Violin. — Tim Null, The Befuddled Universe MUSIC CITY BLUES SOCIETY, MCBS Bluesletter, Nashville, TN Music City Blues Society Bluesy Award: Certificate of Nomination in the category of "Best Other Blues Instrumentalist of the Year, Victoria Hammill, Blues Violin" for three consecutive years. NASHVILLE SCENE Victoria Hammill plays an electric fiddle as if jamming with Stevie Ray Vaughan and Robert Randolf — and as if trying to match the tone and freedom of both. Running her dramatically altered violin through a Mesa Boogie amp, she makes a mind-bendingly original bowed sound; if you weren't watching, you'd want to see how a guitarist was creating such wildly expressive solos. A geophysicist who has worked with wave-form propagation and microseismics, Hammill is not afraid of experimenting with the mechanics of her instrument and the sounds it can make." — Michael McCall, Nashville Scene, Critics' Picks BIG CITY RHYTHM AND BLUES "... The Music City Blues Society's jam is held at the Boardwalk Cafe on Thursdays ... [There] you may catch the electric fiddle of Victoria Hammill … I've never heard anything like the wah-wah violin she produces for blues anywhere else!" — Deborah Douglas NASHVILLE MUSIC GUIDE "Victoria & Zeta Five is the name of a new band built around the violin and vocal talents of Victoria Hammill. This is a lady who is, in my opinion, making sounds that have never been made before on her violin. A dynamic stylist on her instrument, she recalls the great blues-rock guitarists, such as Stevie Ray Vaughan." — Shannon Williford, Music City Guide, Music City Blues Corner RADIOUnited States Internet Radio Streaming & Radio AirplayThe Rock 105.9fm, Sunday Blues Show, Nashville, TN NETTE RADIO, Dallas, TX High Plains Public Radio, Garden City, KS Smack FM, Wyoming, MI DESERT HIGHWAY, San Diego, CA THE ON THE HORIZON NETWORK SHOW, North Carolina Affiliates Include:
iSOUND.COM RADIO, Dallas, TX (Unsolicited) DR. LOVE RADIO, Atlanta, GA Internet Radio Play MOOZIKOO.COM Internet Radio Play INDIE 104.7fm LA & iRADIOLA.com - iSOUND.COM RADIO. Dallas, TX International Internet Radio Streaming & Radio Airplay"DESDE LA TORRE", LT 38 GUALEGUAY Gualeguay, Entre Rios, Republica Argentina "ROCK & BLUES & "MINISTERIO" Shows 97.5 FM Rock, CORDOBA GOOD TIME BLUES SHOW, FM Arinfo PULSIONS 70 Radio Aria THE ON THE HORIZON NETWORK SHOW Affiliates Include:
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