Zilla

Colorado-based Zilla is an instrumental rock group with a heavy emphasis on improvisation featuring Michael Travis of <a href="spotify:artist:7N3JfLDzzjXdPbsyco7X0l">the String Cheese Incident</a> (drums, percussion, keyboards, mallet Kat); <a href="spotify:artist:5wVZG2JBp9jPBqh8pFQ69Y">Jamie Janover</a> (hammered dulcimer, mini-kit, percussion, sampler, electric kalimba, sitar), who formerly played with Travis in the band <a href="spotify:artist:5WfZCvDbbKcCrh876ve8CN">Zuvuya</a>; and Aaron Holstein (guitar, bass, sampler, keyboards), former guitarist with <a href="spotify:artist:2THJmsMH1pYseuwtnR2T65">Boogie Shoes</a> and Vibe Squad. (When it was founded, the band also included keyboardist Steve Vidaic, whose commitment to <a href="spotify:artist:7enBrBojgBJuPPdqTq4Z5F">Citizen Cope</a> caused him to leave Zilla in May 2005.) In 2003, Zilla began self-releasing a series of live albums with the first volume of the Crop Circle Brain Factory series. The second volume followed in January 2004; the third on May 11, 2004; and the fourth on November 20, 2004. The band's next album, Zilla, was released February 23, 2005. Egg appeared on August 1, 2005. On November 2, 2005, Zilla embarked on a six-week national tour. On February 13 and 14, 2006, the band went into the studio and improvised for over 16 hours, later culling the performances down to the double-CD set all iZ, their first studio album, released by <a href="spotify:artist:7N3JfLDzzjXdPbsyco7X0l">the String Cheese Incident</a>'s record label, SCI Fidelity, on September 5, 2006. ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi