May 10, 2005
The Star - Sonoma State University

"Attila & Dave Project Coming to SSU"

By Michele Thomas,  Staff Writer

As I sat down and took a break from my crazy schedule of work, school and final papers, I flipped my CD player to Attila and Dave Project's newest CD "Illuminated." Knowing that I only had a small window to listen, I had planned on skimming through the songs and just getting some ideas for this review, but I began to really listen and relax through their music. Although this genre is not the type of music I would normally turn to, I found myself winding down after a crazy day, really listening and to my surprise, enjoying it.

I thought to myself, what kind of music is this? It seemed to be very hard to categorize their style, so I turned to the source. The band describes their music as "an original rock band whose basic concept floats between Pink Floydian psychedelia, the Beatles at their most experimental, some Led Zeppelin-esque grind and jazz."

The Attila and Dave Project consist of three members, Attila Medveczky, Dave Stevenson and Rusty Aceves. The band has been a trio for the past seven years, although Attila and Dave have been collaborating together for over 10 years. The band is aware that their name suggests that there are only two members, their website explains that "It should be stressed that all three members contribute equally to the writing of the music as well as the funding and decisions regarding the group." The only reason that the name was not changed was because they already had a following and did not want to "start over from a name recognition standpoint." The Attila and Dave Project have shared the stage with bands such as Third Eye Blind, The Bay City Rollers and Steppenwolf. They tour a few weeks out of each year and focus mainly on the Western U.S. When asked where they play the band replied "Clubs, colleges, acoustic shows at coffeehouses, anywhere we can. We really enjoy college shows more than anything."

Although you cannot currently find Attila and Dave Project at your local record store, they are working hard to get a record deal to make that possible. At this point you can purchase all of their three albums on their website www.attilaanddaveproject.com. This is a great way to support local bands, seeing as the members all hail from the East Bay area.

If you haven't heard of them, it's not because they have not been trying to get recognition, they have been recording and touring for the past seven years but labels have traditionally dubbed them "not marketable” therefore they only way to get their name out is by playing colleges and using word of mouth. All in all, I would say that Attila and Dave Project's latest CD "Illumination" was excellent and I encourage everyone at SSU to go to their show on Tuesday and support this local band. It's great music, easy to listen to and is a wonderful idea for an amusing Tuesday night.