Photos by Randy Jarosz
Pittsburgh Winery
May 24, 2014
Cello Fury couldn’t pass up this opportunity, even if they had to strap their cello’s into their own airline seat. Cello Fury is made up of cellist’s Simon Cummings, Ben Muñoz and Nicole Myers along with drummer David Throckmorton. They are not what you would typically expect from a band that contain cello’s. The professionally trained cellist’s are a hybrid of classical musicians with a heavy emphasis on rock and roll.
The Pittsburgh based quartet has performed in 25 different states and will be able to add one more feather to their cap, August 7th as they arrive for the first time in Alaska. Cello Fury played SXSW (South by Southwest) festival in Austin, TX in 2013 and were fortunate enough to parlay that into an Alaskan tour. “The booking agent for the Tanana Valley State Fair happened to be in the audience and he loved the show! He invited us to headline the fair in 2014. Once we had those dates locked in, we were able to plan a tour from Fairbanks to Anchorage,” explains Nicole Myers. The 83rd annual Tanana Valley State Fair in Alaska started in 1924 and spans over 9 days starting August 1st.
The Tanana Valley State Fair will be covering the cost for the four musicians to fly to Alaska, but all costs were not eliminated. “We could use more support to reach the final goal. We decided to add a donation button on our website and let our fans know via social media about the trip. We are getting close to our target goal! The biggest cost is flying our three cellos to Alaska. We can’t put them under the plane and had to buy seats. We are also fundraising for our van rental. We are driving ourselves to and from gigs, housing, gas, etc.,” says Myers.
Along with performing at the fair twice on two different days, Cello Fury has also booked The Marlin, a local hotspot in Fairbanks. The crew then head South to Denali National Park for an outreach performance and a show at Denali Education Center as part of their community series. From there they travel to Anchorage for a show at The Tap Root and then a two and a half hour trek for their last show in the Alaskan wilderness at the Trapper Creek Music and Arts Festival.
The trip is not all work though, “We will have some free time to explore when we are not performing. We’ll have a day in Fairbanks and Anchorage, to see the sites. We are most looking forward to touring the Denali National Park and seeing the wildlife there. It’s something on our bucket lists,” admits Myers.
It will be tough to perform in Alaska without Cello’s, to help defer the costs of the trip, and ensure their instruments arrive safely, you can donate any amount of money at http://cellofury.com/#/alaska-tour-2014. The group will be blogging about their excursion on their facebook page and at cellofury.com.
