Village

Village performed their first show in August of 2008 at the Pepsi Stage in the Yakima Fairgrounds to an audience of friends and family. Landon Wilkinson first began writing and recording his music months earlier and the gig was a snap decision. The band name (originally “The Village Musicians”) came about 10 days before the show, at the same time his younger brother Sean Wilkinson bought a bass guitar and played for the first time. Alex Fliescher was the original drummer for the band and played the first year on percussion and drums. The first show was rough but life changing for Landon and Sean – as it would mark the first of hundreds of performances over the next five years. It was six months after that performance that Village recorded their first EP in the basement of Landon’s math tutors home. Several of the songs featured Kylon Gienger on drums – but more on that soon. Flash forward to 2009 and Landon and Sean’s older brother Riley takes Alex’s place on drums as well as vocals. This would influence the music greatly in both of the next records “Frequency” and “Dear Destiny”. There were several west coast and NW tours taking place between each album. One highlight during this point was the charity event/local movement “Apples For Haiti” which Village created after the devastation caused by the hurricane. Zack Riel took Riley’s place on drums and Riley stepped into the spot light as a lead front man from 2011-2014. During that time the band traveled to Lima, Peru and on the return home stopped in California to record with Warren Huart (of Aerosmith and The Fray fame) at Swinghouse studios in Hollywood. The first recordings there would become the basis for the Dear Destiny album; which was released in 2012. Zack Riel left the band later that year and Village went through a long process of finding another drummer before childhood friend and drummer Kylon Gienger moved back from Florida and began working with the band. They returned to LA and Warren producing once more to record the “Labyrinth EP” in later 2013 after a few months on the road performing at colleges along the coast. The latest EP was a marked departure from Dear Destiny – which was primarily made up of love songs (as with the earlier records). From the dark and introspective title-track, to the rap-rock pepperesque “honest man”, and finally the repentant “Crusade” took the band from the teenage years to their twenties in depth of writing and musicianship. In the summer of 2014 Riley announced his leaving the band to pursue another long time passion of his – and it was a bittersweet ending to that stage in the life of Village. However, having been a trio for the better part of their career – Landon has returned to the head of the three-piece band. Ironically, it’s the same line-up from the first song on their first record (“Other Way”). Coincidence? The word on the street is that the trio has plans to hit the studio in November with producer/engineer Robert Carranza (Jack Johnson, Los Lobos, Mars Volta) and follow up with a tour in the spring. It's just music for the kids.