Virginia Coalition is an American rock band from Alexandria, Virginia, whose five founding members met in the early 1990s at T. C. Williams High School.A Band on the Run. Washington Post, May 17, 2001. Often referred to as VACO by fans (and the band), the band self-released their first album, The Colors of The Sound, in 1998.Virginia Coalition biography at Allmusic The group toured between Boston and Virginia heavily in the late 1990s, supporting The Colors of the Sound and its 2000 follow-up, Townburg; the band's tour van logged more than 100,000 miles by May 2001. The band's 2003 album on Koch Records, Rock & Roll Party, peaked at #18 on the Billboard Top Internet Albums chart.Virginia Coalition chart history, Billboard. This album marked their transition from a band that primarily played in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States to a nationwide touring act.Rock and Roll Party review, Pop Matters, April 7, 2003. The group's next full-length, OK to Go, was released in 2004 and was produced by Matt Wallace. In 2008 they followed up with the album Home This Year.Review of Home This Year, Alternative Addiction
The band's original lineup consisted of:
Andrew Poliakoff - lead vocals, guitar, percussion Steve Dawson - lead vocals, guitar Paul Ottinger - keyboards, percussion, vocals, bass guitar, guitar, Jarrett Nicolay - bass guitar, banjo, guitar, vocals, Casio John Patrick "JP" - drums, percussion, vocals
Former songwriter and lead guitarist Steve Dawson left the band in late 2003. Dawson was a significant contributor to the band's first three albums, singing lead vocals on approximately half the band's released tracks. In February 2007, VACO announced the departure of another founding member, John Patrick. Steve Dawson re-joined the band for concerts in early 2011.
In recent years the following musicians have joined the band live for occasional concerts: Adam Dawson - drums Eli Staples - keyboards Jay Starling - lap steel guitar
Discography 1998 - The Colors of The Sound 2000 - Townburg 2003 - Rock and Roll Party 2003 - Fake Out Takes (Not for Production) 2004 - OK to Go 2005 - The Bob Years 2006 - Live At The 9:30 Club 2006 - Winter '07 (side-project of bassist Jarrett Nicolay as My New Mixtape) 2008 - Almost Home (EP) 2008 - Home This Year 2021 - VACO 2021EP (EP)
References
External links Twitter page Facebook page Virginia Coalition collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive