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"Everyone who sees these guitars falls in love with their imagery..."
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Ophelia Rising
Having made a name by virtue of the legal maelstrom that swirled around her after her arrest for protesting censorship of the band White Zombie, Lexa Vonn emerged from court after an ACLU-led battle resulted in the case's dismissal and headed west to launch her musical career. Though it had to wait a bit while she worked her way through a variety of odd jobs, the classically trained vocalist (Berklee School of Music and the Boston Conservatory) eventually put together a group that combined rock, punk, metal and goth into the show-stopping sound of Ophelia Rising.
Though the group broke up over legal problems in 2004, the band's guitarist and co-founder, Satania Hera-Manic, reteamed with Lexa and Ophelia is Rising again. The pair is looking to follow up their debut EP with an acoustic album, for which they're writing new tunes and choosing other material. Both women started composing at young ages -- Lexa at 10 and Tania at 16. Both hail from musical families, too. "My mother and sister are skilled pianists," Lexa says, and Tania adds, "My husband, father and sister play guitar."
"The beautiful paintings on the bodies of the instruments initailly lured me to Luna Guitars," Lexa explains. "Upon taking a closer look, I noticed that some of them featured the pre-Raphaelite model Elizabeth Siddell, who was the inspiration and model for the original Ophelia painting by Waterhouse. Since my band is called Ophelia Rising, and I remember Elizabeth, I knew it was my destiny to support Luna."
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"This company is a driving force to help empower women to rock," adds Tania. "If it weren't for Yvonne de Villiers and her vision to help create comfortable, quality instruments for women, I would not have the honor to play such a beautiful guitar. It feels like it was custom made for me."
"Everyone who sees these guitars falls in love with their imagery," Lexa notes. "I hold a lot of private musician jams at my Hollywood apartment, and the rocker boys have enjoyed playing them too."
Her bandmate adds, "Everyone who sees the guitar has the same reaction I did when I first laid eyes on it. They gasp and remark on the artwork. And when I play it, they comment on what a nice tone the guitar has. Even a non-musician can hear the quality!"
Although there is no official release date yet in sight, Lexa reveals that Ophelia Rising's forthcoming acoustic album is to be called "Gothika Acoustika" Along with covers of existing songs, Lexa says there'll be "some new stuff all done in a kind of evil Ani DiFranco punk folk rock way." Who could resist such a prospect?
"We are always looking to add more girls to the project," Lexa says. "I'd like Ophelia Rising to be a place where women can unite and collaborate." Check them out and contact them directly at their Myspace page - click here.
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Luna is pleased to call Ophelia Rising a Luna Artist.
website: www.myspace.com/theofficialopheliarising
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