Artist/Bassist/Producer/Engineer
📍New Jersey Based
Life is Art and Art is Love.

“One of the area’s best harmonica players and musician,” “…the hottest blues band in Jersey,” and “the next generation of the Blues” are some of the most common phrases being used to describe one of North Jersey’s youngest and hardest working band leaders, Vin Mott. Upon witnessing one of his band’s electrifying live shows, it becomes clear what all the buzz is about, and why such accolades as “the one carrying the torch” seems to surround his name. 

	“Quit the Women for the Blues” is Vin Mott’s first effort as a solo Blues artist. The album includes 10 original tracks and features a studio band comprised of top roots musicians: Vin (vocals, harp), Sean Ronan (guitar), Dean Shot (upright, electric bass), Andrei Koribanics (drums), and Phil Silverberg (organ). Vin’s style draws heavily from the classic Chicago/Memphis blues artists such as James Cotton, Little Walter, Junior Parker, Muddy Waters, and Howlin' Wolf while adding flares of rock n roll and soul to his tunes. The music is live and raw, ballsy and guttural, a true testament to the 12 bar blues form with every instrument in the band working together perfectly to find the groove. Vin’s lyrics are angry, sometimes sarcastic, written with an urgency, nothing to hide and no longer holding back on tunes like “Quit the Women (for the Blues),” “Don’t Make Me Laugh,” “The Factory,” and “I Wanna Get Ruff,” and others. He also lets his sweet side show in the original ballad “Living The Blues” and swings for the fences in “Hott Mott’s Theme,” an ode to his live band’s original name, Hott Mott’s Rhythm & Blues Band. 

	Vin Mott is 27 years old from Pequannock, NJ. It was in high school when Vin began discovering his love of Blues and Roots music, the sound of the harmonica, and began teaching himself, with a little help from the internet, to play the Blues Harp. In 2007 Vin went on to study music at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA where he graduated in 2011 with a BA in Songwriting. By the late summer of 2013 Vin had returned home to New Jersey. Over the next several years Vin, along with the help of guitarist Sean Ronan, would book countless gigs in local taverns, roadhouses, and restaurants such as the Great Notch Inn, the Robin’s Nest Rhythm & Blues, Hat City Kitchen, and Ruthie’s BBQ & Pizza, as well as branching into Eastern PA and the Philadelphia area. The live band has included some of the areas most talented young Jazz, Blues, and Roots musicians. 

	You can find Vin Mott’s Rhythm & Blues Band on Facebook, Youtube, Reverbnation, and CD Baby!

Jersey Shore spoken word poet and hip-hop artist.
Front man of the Chris Rockwell Collective. 

@mrchrisrockwell
www.mrchrisrockwell.com

Fans hear it so often it’s almost become cliché, their favorite artists paying lip service to the idea that their music, like life itself, is a journey rather than a specific destination. Singer/songwriter Mike Montrey, whose dynamic fusion of Americana, neo-soul and rock and roll has been lighting up New Jersey, and far beyond for over a decade, didn’t specifically set out to chronicle this experience when he was creating songs for Mike Montrey Band's latest album. Yet over the course of seven tracks, from the longing, heart-searing first lead single, “I Can’t Wait Any Longer”, through the reflective, acoustic-driven “Searching for the Sun", he and his veteran crew perfectly embody the reality that, some two decades after starting this journey, Montrey is still in the process of Searching for My Soul.

“Sometimes when I’m in the process of creating music and lyrics at the moment, it’s not readily apparent what the overall intent of the project or its possible theme and aesthetic will be,” says Montrey, who prior to launching a brief solo career, and then MMB, was a touring member of the veteran epic rock band, The Samples from 2007-12. “The title of the album really says a lot about the songs we recorded here. It’s what they and my journey, be it through the lens of past, present or potential future, are about."

On the musical and sonic side, the intense, edgy voiced singer/guitarist’s desire to bring a fresh perspective and take MMB’s vibe to a whole new level prompted him to tap two-time Grammy winner Marc Swersky to produce Searching For My Soul. Renowned for “Trust in Me,” his co-write recorded by Joe Cocker, Swersky has long been a champion of developing indie artists. Montrey first worked with him when the singer sang a duet with Helen O’Shea on the well-received Swersky-produced contemporary Americana version of The Pogues’ holiday classic “Fairytale of New York” in 2020. In addition to mainstays Montrey, vocalist Jen Augustine and bassist Anthony Duca, the MMB lineup on the new album include John Ginty (keys), Jack Stanton (pedal steel guitar), and Brian Prokop (drums). The album is mixed by Seth von Paulus (Smashing Pumpkins, Christina Aguilera). 

Rather than rest on his indie laurels and bona fides, Montrey’s ongoing commitment to his creative evolution a decade on is all the more impressive, because the Mike Montrey Band has enjoyed quite a bit of success with their albums and live performances. Released three years after the singer/guitarist’s lone solo album A Perfect Reality, MMB’s 2011 debut album Weaving The Basket earned high praise from Aquarian Weekly, which crowed, “(It) rocks, it is spontaneous and dynamic. The songs are true works of art, gems in the rough that have been presented to the listener for their own individual interpretation of value.”

Their 2014 follow-up Song by Song By Song – which reached the Top Ten on the Relix Radio Charts - was produced, incredibly, in six different studios across three states with the help of Grammy-winning engineer Carter William Humphrey (Rod Stewart, Dr. Dre), and Grammy-winning producer Hod David (Maxwell). For John Street (2018), Montrey reached out to another Grammy winner, L.A.-based producer Jim Scott (Wilco, Tom Petty, Tedeschi Trucks Band). In addition to a sea of critical praise from Aquarian Weekly (“The choruses click like magic”), NJ Stage (“A masterpiece”), and Relix (“Introspective, uplifting choruses), the album led to MMB  touring the country for two years in the pre-pandemic era, hitting SXSW, L.A., Denver, Nashville and beyond. 

Mike Montrey Band’s discography also includes the 2020 EP In the Middle of Hope - "Soaring guitar work, and blissful harmonies take expert songwriting to new heights."  - Indie Band Guru (penned and produced, ironically enough, pre-pandemic, but offering a much needed hopeful message during an anxious time) and the live album Live Cal Series, Vol. 1, recorded in 2019 at the Highland Brewing Co. in Asheville, NC.  


   

Andy Feldman is a pianist/multi-instrumentalist and songwriter from New Jersey that creates a wide variety of piano-based music. In addition to currently playing and gigging with the Asbury Park based jam band, Secret Sound, he writes and records music varying from solo piano compositions, to cinematic instrumental music and indie pop/rock. Through his studio work, he has recorded on tracks by Chris Webby and Skrizzly Adams. In 2020, Andy continues to collaborate with other artists in both live and studio settings. As a performer, he has shared the stage with Umphrey's McGee, Lettuce, and Rusted Root, and has performed with Bernard "Pretty" Purdie.

"It’s got a dash of jazz, a pinch of the blues, and a serenity that I find hard to find in music these days. There’s a real subtlety in the way the chords roll together. If there was such a thing as an Americana and neoclassical mashup, that’s Andy Feldman’s writing." - Ear To The Ground Music

There’s no question about it: singer-songwriter Aliah Sheffield has always loved music. For her, it isn’t just a “thing” she does, it’s a way of life. It’s in her blood; her heart; her soul.

Born in Newark, New Jersey and raised in Savannah, Georgia, Aliah has always been a singer. Her musical influences cover a wide range—Deniece Williams, Donny Hathaway, Aretha Franklin and Patti LaBelle, to name a few. She played a number of instruments in grade school, including clarinet and saxophone. In high school, she was encouraged to explore the piano as she discovered her songwriting abilities. While studying film scoring at Berklee College of Music she began to experiment with fusing genres, particularly soul and R&B, to create her unique keyboard driven style. Yes, her music is heartfelt; her vulnerability definitely shows. But at the same time, her songs are also inspiring and empowering.

Today, Aliah is fulfilling her dream of performing and sharing her music, capturing audiences in settings from intimate to grand. Working with industry veterans as well as other rising stars, she is currently writing and recording songs for her debut album.

Aliah Sheffield is ready to take the world by storm, so have your best umbrella ready!


Cashapp
$nikkialiah
 Venmo:Aliah-Sheffield

Drummer/Composer
Louisiana State University

Phil Silverberg is following