Nico Vega

History

Nico Vega is a rock band hailing from Los Angeles, CA that formed in 2005. The band is made up of Aja (pronounced Asia) Volkman (Vocals), Rich Koehler (Guitar), Dan Epand (Drums), and touring with Jamila Weaver (Bass). Interestingly enough, before Epand took over as drummer in 2007, their original drummer was Michael Peña, actor from films such as Million Dollar Baby, Crash, and End of Watch. Peña left the band to take on his acting career full time, but his legacy stays with the band as Nico Vega is his mother’s name. In 2009 they managed to gain some popularity when they performed on the SXSW episodes of Last Call with Carson Daly and released a number of self-made music videos on MySpace and YouTube.

Their first self-titled album was released in 2009 on MySpace Records and was produced primarily by Tim Edgar and had three songs specially produced by historic musician & producer Linda Perry (4 Non-Blondes).

The band tours constantly with a number of different bands, but happens to tour primarily with band Imagine Dragons as Aja is married to and just had her first child with Imagine Dragons member Dan Reynolds.

They’re currently growing a in mass popularity as their song “Beast” is has been used in trailers for films The Collector and Jack Reacher in addition to the trailer for video game Bioshock Infinite.

They are releasing their sophomore album We Are the Art later this year. But if you want to hear new music from them right now you can head over to Rolling Stone to give their new EP Fury Oh Fury a listen.

Nico Vega Website

Nico Vega on Facebook

Nico Vega on Twitter

Albums

Nico Vega (2009)

We Are the Art (2013)

EPs

Music Videos

My Opinion

I actually first started listening to Nico Vega in 2006 when I procured the SXSW sampler album via… erm… let’s say “internet means” which had their song “Beast” featured on it. I enjoyed it for a few months and the forgot about it.

Flash forward to 2009 when my brother had discovered the same song and forced me to listen to their full length album in addition to watching all of their videos online. Man, I was hooked. Nico Vega became the soundtrack to my summer and I made everyone I know listen to it over and over again.

I’ve seen them a few times now, even making my poor (at the time) underage brother wait outside in downtown Seattle because we didn’t know the show was 21+. He has nothing to complain about, though. Damn kid made $40 in 2 hours by just sitting on the corner and drawing in his sketchbook. That aside, I will say that seeing Nico Vega is nothing short of a religious experience. The band brings so much energy and fun to a live show that you can just close your eyes and feel the music flow through you. Let’s not forget that it’s extremely entertaining to watch Rich dance like James Brown while shredding on the guitar and the fact that Aja is the epitome of “dance like nobody’s watching”.

I can also say without a doubt that they are some of the nicest people I’ve met. Rich and Dan are willing to make small-talk with anyone who wants to come chat with them but are also willing to sit down and just talk. Aja herself is a little bundle of energy and joy. The first time I met her I was pleasantly surprised to learn that she likes to hug pretty much everyone she meets. I was also a little surprised to learn how much taller I am than she is (I’m 6’2″, which I don’t consider tall but not short either). I was just astounded that her amazingly smokey voice came out of this person I was meeting. I love going to their shows and I try to get to as many as I can

I highly recommend picking up any and all of their music and checking out their tour schedule. If they’re going to be coming to a town near you, go see them and have fun.

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Curtis is going to be looking for more music to include every week on this, so if you feel there’s something that people NEED to hear then let him know in the comments or on the Facebook page. It will be listened to and possibly make it in to a future post.

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